Your correspondent Stephen North has been floating around competitions for too many years. I competed once and had to stop because it made my eyes water. I am fascinated by the process, the atmosphere, the venues and the huge variations in definitions of what good dancing is. This latter varies with time and place and to a certain extent to how competitive the event is. I've been to comps in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham and each time I'm struck how hard people try to catch that most elusive thing - the perfect dance. Northern Champs this year - under the auspices of Ceroc Addiction, move dot the very splendid Town Hall in Hyde complete with its turn of the last century ceramics intact in the entrance and spacious acoustic and lovely fast floor. The hall was built 1883-84 and one can imagine thousands of functions there. Less easy to imagine today are the police cells and magistrates court in the building where murderer...