It's a mark perhaps of how little I'm dancing that the last thing I wrote about was the June Weekender at Southport. But it's a surprise to me that I'm writing anything at all....
I should first off point out that I am booked on the next Southport weekender in Spring 2018 - these are the only weekenders I do now and 2018 will be my tenth year.
But I should also say even before I made the journey to the Fylde coast - I had decided that September 2017 was to be my last weekender. Years of weekenders have taken their toll - I was jaded and more than a little bit cautious of a future that contain fewer friendly faces, more poor floorcraft and a diminishing return in terms of music, dancing and clean and comfortable accommodation. All of those things were reinforced by my most recent visit - but my determination to ride this storm was tested and I came out the other side clearer where the value is. Some will ask why I don't stop banging my head against this wall, or indeed writing the same things down in post after post.
So I will be brief - for the record and blunt too.
1) The floors were shockingly bad especially the higher SILC floor was bare, devoid of varnish. My knee was sore at the end of every day of dancing. The laid floors were spongy and the main room was nowhere near as fast as last time.
2) For me there were too many sets the SILC room were repetitive and uniform: samey tracks with little to break them up - none of the ebb and flow of the late master. It smacked of unpreparedness - but how could DJs prepare when so many were doing so many sets. Whilst the new guard had more misses than hits, the old guard were stretched with multiple slots and they generally showed why they are quality DJs. All that said Denise Jaques was the DJ people were talking about in glowing terms - a welcome addition to the roster.
3) The blues dancers got what they expected musically - I'd love to hear a piano playing more often in there. Whatever the track - until their bedtimes - there were generally a third of the dancers doing fast Ceroc moves in a room that was generally moving at one tenth of the speed that they were. The lure of tea and coffee and biscuits was also great for some. On Friday I watched one guy filling his pockets with biscuits, on Saturday another stuffed three or four slices of cake in his mouth whilst making a cup of tea in a water cup...with no milk despite his desperate search....
4) Which brings me on to manners - from car parking in disabled spaces to floor space, from inter-chalet shouting to barging across the dance floor drinks in hand - to desperate biscuit hoarding. Manners were in scant supply.
5) The quality of the sound in the SILC room was variable but at it's worst comical. Though I'm profoundly grateful the volume problem has been sorted.
6) Pontins made a rod for their own back by a) not letting Ceroc crew in until Friday morning and b) not checking chalets we were given. The horror stories were legion this time - pictures on Facebook testify the lack of thorough cleaning, tatty furnishings and the desperate state of the site. For some it was grim.
7) There was though a distinct absence of teachers out dancing - why wouldn't they dance for pleasure? My guess is that it is probably a function of the bizarre obligations placed on them to do at a weekender what they do all week anyway.
All of that...... yet I am still going back. Here's why.
There's no dance weekender with the number and wide range of high quality of dancers all in one place at the same time.
There's no dance weekender with the hours of dancing, especially dancing outdoors on the schedule
There's no weekender where the crew have to work so hard to get it right and will work hard to make it better for people. There were a few more younger people this time good to see.
And my friends are there - fewer than of late - but I won't stop whilst they are there.
PS I left at midnight on Sunday - enduring knee pain, bored with the music, knowing getting up in the morning after a third night on those beds would be ghastly. I left sad not to say goodbye, but my goodness the roads were clearer. But I'm glad I did it, and I can recommend it. Those last six hours don't add a lot (unless you have an ache to be in a photo with a group of people who've just got up....).
I should first off point out that I am booked on the next Southport weekender in Spring 2018 - these are the only weekenders I do now and 2018 will be my tenth year.
But I should also say even before I made the journey to the Fylde coast - I had decided that September 2017 was to be my last weekender. Years of weekenders have taken their toll - I was jaded and more than a little bit cautious of a future that contain fewer friendly faces, more poor floorcraft and a diminishing return in terms of music, dancing and clean and comfortable accommodation. All of those things were reinforced by my most recent visit - but my determination to ride this storm was tested and I came out the other side clearer where the value is. Some will ask why I don't stop banging my head against this wall, or indeed writing the same things down in post after post.
So I will be brief - for the record and blunt too.
1) The floors were shockingly bad especially the higher SILC floor was bare, devoid of varnish. My knee was sore at the end of every day of dancing. The laid floors were spongy and the main room was nowhere near as fast as last time.
2) For me there were too many sets the SILC room were repetitive and uniform: samey tracks with little to break them up - none of the ebb and flow of the late master. It smacked of unpreparedness - but how could DJs prepare when so many were doing so many sets. Whilst the new guard had more misses than hits, the old guard were stretched with multiple slots and they generally showed why they are quality DJs. All that said Denise Jaques was the DJ people were talking about in glowing terms - a welcome addition to the roster.
3) The blues dancers got what they expected musically - I'd love to hear a piano playing more often in there. Whatever the track - until their bedtimes - there were generally a third of the dancers doing fast Ceroc moves in a room that was generally moving at one tenth of the speed that they were. The lure of tea and coffee and biscuits was also great for some. On Friday I watched one guy filling his pockets with biscuits, on Saturday another stuffed three or four slices of cake in his mouth whilst making a cup of tea in a water cup...with no milk despite his desperate search....
4) Which brings me on to manners - from car parking in disabled spaces to floor space, from inter-chalet shouting to barging across the dance floor drinks in hand - to desperate biscuit hoarding. Manners were in scant supply.
5) The quality of the sound in the SILC room was variable but at it's worst comical. Though I'm profoundly grateful the volume problem has been sorted.
6) Pontins made a rod for their own back by a) not letting Ceroc crew in until Friday morning and b) not checking chalets we were given. The horror stories were legion this time - pictures on Facebook testify the lack of thorough cleaning, tatty furnishings and the desperate state of the site. For some it was grim.
7) There was though a distinct absence of teachers out dancing - why wouldn't they dance for pleasure? My guess is that it is probably a function of the bizarre obligations placed on them to do at a weekender what they do all week anyway.
All of that...... yet I am still going back. Here's why.
There's no dance weekender with the number and wide range of high quality of dancers all in one place at the same time.
There's no dance weekender with the hours of dancing, especially dancing outdoors on the schedule
There's no weekender where the crew have to work so hard to get it right and will work hard to make it better for people. There were a few more younger people this time good to see.
And my friends are there - fewer than of late - but I won't stop whilst they are there.
PS I left at midnight on Sunday - enduring knee pain, bored with the music, knowing getting up in the morning after a third night on those beds would be ghastly. I left sad not to say goodbye, but my goodness the roads were clearer. But I'm glad I did it, and I can recommend it. Those last six hours don't add a lot (unless you have an ache to be in a photo with a group of people who've just got up....).
Comments
Post a Comment