2017 begins - two weekenders

Southport: Swing

It's rather sad to see how much of a blog post written 8 months ago still rings true after a weekend at the Fylde seaside in turbulent February weather and after a sunny sojourn to the Sussex border in March.

I last wrote about Southport here (last June) http://mindpokedance.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/summer-ceroc-southport-2016.html about such matters as the Pontin's upkeep of the site which this time was I think worse for the winter lay off.  Some chalets were filthy.  The site was a bit of a wreck - in our block there was a cable partially rolled up at the bottom of the stairs! Sodden tissues of unknown origin scattered around the bins and bits of the shuttering on our block blew off during the stay.  By contrast the chalet at Camber was in better nick except for the much missed sofa bed which suffered from an unfortunate stuffing droop similar to the one the Scottish Rugby team exhibited on the Saturday afternoon.  

This Southport bathed in what can only be described as watery light - between tremendous showers.  So the focus was on music indoors.  The music was fine but the reproduction was not.  A swift purchase of a sound meter app showed just how much the speakers were pushed.  I can only assume the DJs involved can't hear which is beautifully ironic or they don't care.

In the sunshine two weeks later at Camber there were similar problems - the knobs were turned so far that a more curious outcome was achieved. A failing bass speaker belched and farted it's way to a stop on Sunday early evening.  Even without that beast the music was too loud.

Camber Beach

Moreover at Camber there was a distinctly forced energy about the music on Friday night - as though DJs had a mission to keep it upbeat and fast - despite being surrounded by weary travellers.  It was a rather empty experience.  None of this behind the desk seemed to be in their natural territory.  If on instruction, then it was ill-advised.  Music is always best left to a good DJs discretion: all requests from whatever quarter should be shunned.

The difference between DJs who think and people who play music fuelled by their emotional response seems crucial to good dance events.  Some DJs we hear are purely the latter - but they aren't always the new people.  Brent and Galina in Southport, Garry Turner playing S'Funk on Sunday at Camber were exemplary.  Unsentimental, careful choice can better hold a room on the floor between than most.  Reflecting on these weekends I will happily say how much I enjoyed the SILC sets - giving me options in a subtle aural backdrop of plenty though generally upbeat.  I didn't find my way to the blues room.  At Camber I also loved the kind of music played in the "Tonz" sets by a trio of DJs driven first and foremost by a deeper musicality. Complexity was key: the clash of harmonies & sounds, vivid rhythmic devices and endless melodic hide and seek were the keys to the fare. For many of us the lack of familiarity made it an obvious antidote to the same old Ed Sheeran.  It defied that "upbeat" sensibility too - reiterating the banality of much in the arsenal of the "player of music".

But one DJ remarked at the demise of slow music: I too wonder where the place was for slow music.  And by that I don't mean the slow to winsome pace of the twee and soggy sentimentality of the player of music.  I'd go further to say that Tonz aside - the demise is of slow music AND of dark music.  There is a huge disjunction between the bitter sweet and the bitter - in blues terms I've often heard the disparaging "slit your wrist" description of some blues music.  I dare say given the associations with oppression - there's a lot worth slitting your throats about.  But we can't complain if music makes us sad: only listening to music that makes is happy is to only half appreciate it.  For centuries music has harboured a dark side - and it's often a dramatic side. Blues, Jazz, the classical symphony and TV themes tunes all set the tone with this darker approach. Goethe said such sadness prepared us better for life.  Though I fully expect some dance escapists to scream we do not want to be reminded of life here...

The other major crime in these weekends has been floor craft: a dismal scene of injury, near misses, thwarted moves and dangerous drops.  A clever friend of mine suggested a floor craft test should be in place for all weekender attendees.  And I tend to think that it should be a test or corporal punishment on the day...with a taser.   A woman in red stilettos at Southport should have been asked to go and change them - not least for the sake of the floor.  Someone could lose a toe under such heels.  At Camber there was pedestrian traffic through the floors every night.  A simple 15 minutes on the rules of floor craft could be part of offer in them first few weeks and a flag on the Ceroc database could stop people without the training booking.  Those who slip through as guests would be stopped by their local teachers and hauled in on pain of refused membership at a local venue.  If that sounds a bit draconian then consider my taser proposition - that is my second most reasonable approach...

And I end this high-handed diatribe with a point about respect - which some will find most hilarious from such a disrespectful author.  There is however a growing entitlement fever amongst dancers.  I heard at Camber stories of men who complain that they were entitled to close hold dances ("because I saw you doing them with someone else").  Women do the same by the way. And the entitlement to a dance is spent if you don't maintain respect on the floor.  This includes if you don't follow my lead: swapping my slotted dance for your circular follow was a particularly prevalent: disrespectful, rude and bloody ridiculous way to dance.  Bobbing up and down isn't following either.  And leaders who drop anyone at any time on the busy floor should get the taser as should those who don't ask if dips and drops would be welcomed. For the show off who brags about the number of dips and drop he can do - tasering would be enhanced through handing an appliance to every victim of this dumb-arsed bragging.

I didn't dance well this weekend: I enjoyed what little dancing I did with the help of many others.  The prospect of dancing alone would destroy me.  I think it would for many of us: let's be grateful and respectful to our partners.  And let us give them permission to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who goes too far: teacher, DJ, fellow punter - so all the operators need to do is put in place some obvious way of getting people to stop being dick heads........or I start an online petition for tasers...

Love and Peace x