Mindpoke dance

So it's time to get to the heart of Breeze - a week and a bit on. To be fair I hardly danced and also to be fair one tiny thing put my completely weekend out of kilter. More of later. There's been some startlingly candid and unintentionally comical comment on the music - most of it more heat than light except where it was blowing smoke.  The debate revealed the contradictions of the whole business of change (and indeed the change in business).  It was interesting to read and note the blunt edged approach to what the people paying for the event think. That aside for a while, it was a weekend of the usual suspects provided high standards of musical choice though some were hampered by low standard of fidelity.  There were random bits of brilliance but nadirs were also achieved including an ear-bleeding cover version which should remain well under cover. As I have said elsewhere there wasn't nearly enough slow stuff for my liking on Friday or Saturday night.  Thi...

The generals of the Roman empire reported back to their emperor that everything was going well.  They were the last to notice when their empire started to collapse from within.  Futile expeditions, wasteful extravagance, expensive wars, decentralised control of the provinces, integration with local cultures and barbarians at the frontiers all lead to the empire collapsing.  But the main thing was that nobody knew whilst it was happening. There's been no time in the history of modern commerce when companies have had such short lives - the turnover of the FTSE 100 is much greater than it has ever been before.  Companies which thrive generally do so by diversifying from the core business and having every now and then root and branch overhaul of products that are not selling so well.  Sometimes they move to selling something else (more money to be made from printers when no one has them, when everyone has one make money from printer ink).  Business models nee...

I rarely post on this blog nowadays - nothing much changes in dancing, but I'm moved to write on this topic because something very important happened this weekend. Welsh Champs has expanded since it's early days and is now as much a test of endurance and ingenuity as it is pure dancing.  Virtually everyone to whom I spoke was thrilled but exhausted by the end of a day which finished at 1am.  The stakes were high though as competition goes there was a great deal of camaraderie.  These factors heightened the drama of last Saturday night and as a result dancing competitions just became a bit more grown up. They do say you find out what people are really like under pressure and in adversity. And so it was at this Championship where the judges started tentatively but finished vigorously arguing for more discipline from the competitors.  Video's were reviewed and some competitors were ruled out for transgressions.  The results came and one team was relegated...

Northern Champs 2015 Cerco Addiction's Northern Champs - a midsummer party  and dance competition combined hit the ground running last year with a three day even that many regarded with great fondness and this years was event has been keenly anticipated.  It wasn't just the innovations and enthusiasm of the crew - it was in truth a different kind of championship.  A championship where sitting outside with an ice cream was to be enjoyed as much the intricacies of picking a winner in Lucky Dip. Relaxed, confident and still competitive. So there was much expected of this year's event and it brought dancers from London, Scotland, Essex, Wales and the South West so the players are set for a good battle for medals. It started this evening (as I write at 3am) with a superlative freestyle where Sheena Assiph provided a play list of the familiar and the extraordinary.  Ceroc Classics mixed with the most challenging tracks one might find.  All good fun - along w...

The evenings are getting lighter, and the nights are warmer and it's time to think about how we are going to spend our time before Southport.  The next BIG thing for dancing folk has to be the ambitious Freestyle Kieran Moore has planned for mid May in Colchester.  In time honoured fashion, I asked him a few questions about what's in store... SN: How are preparations for Prizm going? KM: Preparations are going well for Prizm! We have got a great team that is very enthusiastic and prepared to go the extra mile, to make sure this event is one not to be missed by the dance network. This is the first major event that i have run. I apply the same fundamental rules I work by with running regular freestyles events concentrating on what is best for those looking for a great night of dancing and socialising. It’s all on a much bigger scale. I'm learning new things and taking on much more of a challenge and I find this very exciting! Working with a corporate venue i...

There was much to commend about this event: The Bronze highlight of the weekend was a decent patch of weather that didn't give us the snow, floods or continuos driving rain we'd had in previous years Stu had constructed some of the most elegant fairy light arches to be seen this side of Disneyworld in the bar.  Gaff tape was - he said  - a vital ingredient. This was the silver medal highlight of the weekend. Gold highlight was a chalet dance which beautifully realised some challenging music with a smile that lit up the room. Such dances fill the heart. In other news it was less difficult to find space to dance than at a summer Camber. The music was, on the whole, good from all quarters - I particularly loved Rachel Pears Blues set which was wonderful paced, taking us down to some very old fashioned slow blues. In the bar area, music was more variable but Mark Kerr filled the room with love and energy, as did Denise Jacques, though in a very different way. Some of the DJ...

Most of my weekenders look remarkably like this from about an hour in....until they finish 60 odd hours later.  They are the most fun you can have but they can be daunting.  They are full of great dance enthusiasts and ideal places to combine learning new dance styles and techniques in a concentrated wine.  They are the peak of dancing finesse (or they should be see below). I know that the behind the scenes staff worked very hard to get this Southport event (called Blush for reasons that are unclear until the biting cold of an Irish sea wind brings out your rosy cheeks).  Pontins seem to invest money here and there in this site but it's starting to show signs of wear.  The floors in the pub were grim in places - but mostly manageable.  Not for the first time a layer of cheap varnish proved to be a reminder how not to treat a floor.  That stayed with us as dust most of the weekend.  The cracks and bumps near the bar were an adventure. ...

I don't know much about the technicalities of dancing - as anyone who has seen me dance will know - I have a limited number of moves and I don't really have anything technically challenging in my repertoire.  So I would forgive people for say I know bugger all about dancing, so you may discount my view on dancing in these blogs - but people ask my views and sometimes I think it's easier for me to write them down. Judges say musicality is important for competition dancers. I have spent most of my adult lift striving to study and understand music - and it is one of the most important things in my life - not the kind of music I hear at dancing.  So I decided to write about music and dancing and competitions here.  I promised a blog on musicality because here I see a disjunction between what judges see as important and what is presented to them and to the rest of us on the dance floor. For me the best dances 'dance the music' - they don't dance to it, they ...