Skip to main content

eNErgy 2017

The Beach at Tynemouth

 A weekender by a beach, with two rooms of workshops with great teachers and freestyle music for 48 hours, 20 minutes from a buzzing city and the same from an area of great natural beauty. Fine restaurants, pubs and cafes all around and a group of welcoming local dancers from Newcastle and groups from Yorkshire and Scotland.

 Tynemouth was traditional the holiday destination of workers from Glasgow but it has a lot more to it than a getaway from 20th century industrial labour.  A priory, a port and public school give away other aspects of the early pre-holiday destination history of this great stretch of the English coastline.  It's now a mix of well-to-do commuters, artists and artisans and holiday makers.

Cullercoats
The Park Hotel was for those of us who stayed there something of a mixed bag - my room was clean, comfy and always warm.  Others got less then they paid for...not Ceroc's fault but I think an under-estimation of the size of the event by the hotelier.  The public rooms were comfortable and the bar replete and not expensive: the sea view was incredible.  The dance rooms had been well prepped by Ceroc NE (despite more hotel hiccups) and were the right size for this the fourth weekender in the North East. Many came along for the classes on Saturday and Sunday and many for the freestyles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Calum and Becca doing their thing on the main stage.
There was much to commend the weekend and I'd certainly go back again. Dancing aside the bracing walk on the sea front or the beach where runners, squatters and planners were shouted at by their trainers.  Thankfully the only exercise for me and my lovely companions was deciding which table to take in Crusoe's cafe for brunch.  Local pubs and restaurants were notable for good food if one didn't want to eat there.  The Geordie welcome in the hotel and beyond was marvellous.

All Day Breakfast at Crusoe's
The key features of the event were for me - a relaxed timetable that allowed for plenty of time for socialising, practising or further consultation with the teachers.  Plenty of new faces at the freestyles so the weekend's dances were varied and fresh.  A good choice of places to eat and enjoy around the venue (though sadly I didn't get the promised round of Crazy Golf).  And a clear description of what the workshops would cover and the level of difficulty. And everything went to schedule!

 The music in the freestyles was varied - both rooms operated so there was a mixture of SILC and Blues in room 2 and a full variety of tune sin Room One at a faster tempo.  The DJs really mixed it up so there was something for everyone.

 Kerry Rutherford and her team worked very hard - I think they got it right.  We partied hard in the evenings but not so hard the next day was blunted.  The event finished with a flourish - tea and cake and super music from Des.  

 On the plus side - and this is a big plus for me - there was none of the pressure or stress I've come across at other hotel based events.  None of the desperately needy and unnecessary forced group participation, dressing up & party games.  Instead there was plenty of opportunity to learn and practice, to take that to the dance floor, to explore the area and also sit and catch up with friends.  A wonderful relaxing weekend - thanks to all involved.

The assembled dancers, teachers & demos
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How a Competition is born - making it happen

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?  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Social Dance?

A weekend at Ceroc Southport reminds me that modern jive is a social dance...but only sometimes. This account of a Ceroc dance weekend will be my last as the waves of positivity and utter claptrap overwhelm me elsewhere in reviews on the internet and in social media. There were some very good bits to this weekender. I enjoyed it a great deal. Many of the songs in many of the sets in the Boudoir were very good, too few of the dancers did them justice, because there's the problem and here's my take on it. The trend toward slower, simplified music drags dancers down to a place where dancing is merely moving on the beat.  Some songs subsist on a diet lacking harmonic complexity, syncopation, melodic line over a dozen or so bars or intricate instrumentation.  This low calorie music is not the realm of the 20th Century minimalist composers like Adams and Reich, but a series of predictable notes which sound right even in the wrong order ( pace Morecambe and Wise).  Swi...
1 comment
Read more

Réjouissance (or get your dance shoes love)

We might imagine all was well in the centre of Sheffield this Thursday.  A city centre funfair attracted lots of families to enjoy something akin to a seaside prom experience a mere 60 miles away from the chilly North Sea.  But there were three concerns behind this festive offering: the social, the economic and the public health and they illustrate the position in dance right now. There was a palpable sense of relief and joy for parents to get their kids some break from the reminders of isolation which has so badly effected so many lives.  There was some relief that punters were in the city centre spending money in the lucky business in the area.  The balance between health/wellbeing and illness were difficult still for some but for many straightforward.  It was sunny and hot, an outdoor event and health and safety measures were in place.  Of course I don't know how many chose to stay away or had to stay away.  How many, I wonder, still stayed indoors ...
Post a Comment
Read more