Mindpoke dance

The birth of a new competition on the Ceroc dance circuit gives me chance to talk to some of those involved to illustrate what it's all about. To kick this off I sent over a few questions to one of the key people in the drive to create Northern Championships, Jamie Stormer. Photo credit: Terry Hills Jamie is a well respected Ceroc teacher and successful competitive dancer.  He works for Ceroc Addiction (which covers Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Manchester).  This area has become something of a powerhouse of competition dancing and Jamie has been instrumental in bring on new dancers to the competition circuit. A week ago Jamie was competing with great success in Ceroc UK Championships - now he's busy on the final preparations for Northern Champs which I first previewed here . The other day I asked Jamie via email a few questions about this new competition with a view to sharing them with you:- SN: How did you get the idea for Northern Champs?  ...

So after the Ceroc UK Championships in Watford - the next stop of the dance competition juggernaut is on the weekend of 20/21/22 June in Manchester at the Ukrainian Club in the Cheetham Hill district just north east of the city centre.  The event is run by Ceroc Addiction. You can read about the Watford Competition here . This promises to be a key part of the growing competition network - not least because competition dancing thrives in the franchise area and because this region currently boasts some of the most talented dancers there are in modern jive. You can learn more about the event here on the Northern Champs website  or follow their Twitter account  @NorthernChamps  and on Facebook by liking this page Given the strength of both Ceroc Scottish and Welsh Championships - both built on national competition success - the auguries are good for the Manchester team.  An experienced core to the judging team will see the right conduct of pro...

Update 30 May - you can find the winners and runner up here on the Ceroc Championships results page I had never intended to go to this championship event in the late May Bank Holiday weekend, I didn't attend last year and I'd grown weary of it all.  That I found myself there was tribute to the persuasive skills of one of my closest friends: I'm very grateful to her. The overwhelming impression was that this was a very well organised event.  It ran professionally, like clockwork, there was a focus on what dancers want and need in terms of facilities, and the result was an event where people were happy and relaxed. There were chunks of freestyle later in the day for spectators and some genuine efforts to make the administration of the various heats slicker, smoother and fairer.  Mike Ellard and the judges had a long day - his staff even longer.  But as events like this go was impressive. The Watford venue seemed much better geared up for dancers than previou...