Mindpoke dance

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...

This blog is one of an occasional commentary on dance events I attend. I'm not affiliated in any way to the dance organisers, I've been to all of the Southport weekenders since Ceroc took over the venue from Jive Addiction in August 2008, including Jive Addiction's last event.  As I've commented before, it is interesting to see how patterns of behaviour have changed.  More people arrive later in the day nowadays - partially because roads seems to be more congested and also because I think more people only leave after work rather than taking the day off.  Similarly more people, it seems, leave on Sunday afternoon and early Sunday evening.  I think the age of the participants is changing upwards and the expectation of the customers is changing too.  Summer SP is normally pretty well gender balanced but this year that seemed to go awry and I was very aware that some of the best female dancers in the country were sitting out through lack of partners.  It woul...

So it's time to get to the heart of Breeze - a week and a bit on. To be fair I hardly danced and also to be fair one tiny thing put my completely weekend out of kilter. More of later. There's been some startlingly candid and unintentionally comical comment on the music - most of it more heat than light except where it was blowing smoke.  The debate revealed the contradictions of the whole business of change (and indeed the change in business).  It was interesting to read and note the blunt edged approach to what the people paying for the event think. That aside for a while, it was a weekend of the usual suspects provided high standards of musical choice though some were hampered by low standard of fidelity.  There were random bits of brilliance but nadirs were also achieved including an ear-bleeding cover version which should remain well under cover. As I have said elsewhere there wasn't nearly enough slow stuff for my liking on Friday or Saturday night.  Thi...

The generals of the Roman empire reported back to their emperor that everything was going well.  They were the last to notice when their empire started to collapse from within.  Futile expeditions, wasteful extravagance, expensive wars, decentralised control of the provinces, integration with local cultures and barbarians at the frontiers all lead to the empire collapsing.  But the main thing was that nobody knew whilst it was happening. There's been no time in the history of modern commerce when companies have had such short lives - the turnover of the FTSE 100 is much greater than it has ever been before.  Companies which thrive generally do so by diversifying from the core business and having every now and then root and branch overhaul of products that are not selling so well.  Sometimes they move to selling something else (more money to be made from printers when no one has them, when everyone has one make money from printer ink).  Business models nee...

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...

Northern Champs 2015 Cerco Addiction's Northern Champs - a midsummer party  and dance competition combined hit the ground running last year with a three day even that many regarded with great fondness and this years was event has been keenly anticipated.  It wasn't just the innovations and enthusiasm of the crew - it was in truth a different kind of championship.  A championship where sitting outside with an ice cream was to be enjoyed as much the intricacies of picking a winner in Lucky Dip. Relaxed, confident and still competitive. So there was much expected of this year's event and it brought dancers from London, Scotland, Essex, Wales and the South West so the players are set for a good battle for medals. It started this evening (as I write at 3am) with a superlative freestyle where Sheena Assiph provided a play list of the familiar and the extraordinary.  Ceroc Classics mixed with the most challenging tracks one might find.  All good fun - along w...

The evenings are getting lighter, and the nights are warmer and it's time to think about how we are going to spend our time before Southport.  The next BIG thing for dancing folk has to be the ambitious Freestyle Kieran Moore has planned for mid May in Colchester.  In time honoured fashion, I asked him a few questions about what's in store... SN: How are preparations for Prizm going? KM: Preparations are going well for Prizm! We have got a great team that is very enthusiastic and prepared to go the extra mile, to make sure this event is one not to be missed by the dance network. This is the first major event that i have run. I apply the same fundamental rules I work by with running regular freestyles events concentrating on what is best for those looking for a great night of dancing and socialising. It’s all on a much bigger scale. I'm learning new things and taking on much more of a challenge and I find this very exciting! Working with a corporate venue i...