Welsh Champs 2015

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 in the Cabaret category.  Then a little later they had an administrative hitch which caused disappointment and joy to be reversed in one category.

The truth of these situations is that require some compromise of the general party atmosphere of the day - rules are applied, details are examined and re-examined and people are put under the microscope.  It has happened before - but nearly often enough.  Moreover it has sometimes been faceless.  Not this time.  The organisers stood up for their competition and Ceroc South Wales showed itself to be interested in fairness, excellence, skill and resilience.  What I felt more than in any competition before was a sense of personal commitment to the true competitive spirit.

Mark and Lyndsey, the competition organisers, and their comperes Steve and Charlie, had a hell of a night but they handled it with empathy, sympathy and with respect for all the competitors and their adherence to the rules.  Their clear emotional response got to the heart of the matter, as competitors themselves they understood that this will hurt for a while and the hurt will go away and the competition will grow stronger (as I think will the competitors).  This competition has set the bar for rigour and I hope others will do the same.  I guarantee the rules will be scrutinised more throughly from now on.

It is sad for those who's fortunes turned - they will be winners another day I'm sure.  We've too often wondered about how rigorous and robust competition rules are applied since the days when back room discussions caused popularity to be put ahead of fairness.  In Wales, the emotions ran high on all sides and what won out?  A spirited defence of standards. It was a great day for dance competitions.

But there's always some side commentary which might enliven the rules for next time: Gary Stubbs and Emily Attwood provided more fun in the Funked Up final than I'd seen before so why not allow their example to set the rules for next time.  They were amazing and demonstrated in Funked Up at least Modern jive moves aren't the only way to skin that particular cat.

The standard of challenge in some categories was weaker, Advanced being particularly undersubscribed by ambitious intermediates. So why not raise the bar higher and eliminate those who are not hitting the standard?

The Open category was a feast and plenty of new faces mixing it with established champions. And the styles were varied, the energy revved up as the competition progressed and in the last dance with all of the couples on the floor - dregs of fuel and nervous energy provided just enough for some to get over the line.  It was exhilarating and akin to a marathon - winners all.

So next year make sure you are in Wales for Welsh Champs - the day will belong to those who come back and try again having been thwarted.  And I hope they win!

So many thanks for restoring my faith in dance competitions to those judges who knew their stuff and argued their case, to Mark and Lyndsey who set the tone and to my dear friend Steve Thomas - a braver man than most: he told the Welsh they hadn't won a two horse race in their own backyard!

And thank you all who competed - it was a remarkable championships.  See you next year.