World Dance Masters 2010 took place between 6-8 August 2010 at the 4* Grade II listed Palace Hotel in Manchester, UK.
Preparation
For the World Dance Masters Team the “Weekend” started as early as Tuesday! Transporting lighting & sound equipment, computers, paperwork plus MUCH more to Manchester and preparing for what was to be an amazing weekend ahead. Wednesday was the 1st Official day we could access the venue and the majority of the spaces we were to occupy, so without hesitation or hindrance we descended on the Palace Hotel early to ensure everything was set as soon as possible.
Pedro Machado and his 3 man Pro Dance Floors Team (http://www.prodancefloors.com/) arrived by 10:00am to start unloading, marking and laying the 5 ProDanceFloors we were to have laid in the Grand Room, Whitworth Suite, Buckingham Suite, Directors Suite and Palace Room. Whilst they forged ahead in record time, we were busy planning with the hotel the logistics and planning of the event. Believe us when we say these events are a true team effort and that an unbelievable amount of time & planning goes into it.
No sooner had Wednesday started then it was already Thursday morning. This started with Sam giving Jamie a lovely morning wake up call at 07:00am (URGH). With lots to do we were all of a sudden a flurry of activity, Sam with his iPhone in one hand, Blackberry in the other, Walky Talky headset on and 12 dozen things flying through his mind. DJ Big Dave & his wife Pauline (http://www.bigdavegastap.com/) arrived with even more sound equipment, which had to be transported around the venue and set up. Thank goodness for the lifts! The whole team worked hard all day, Nicola Lafferty, Elizabeth Lafferty, John Lafferty & Sydney Smyth spent all day ensuring all the material was ready to go and the event was ready to go flawlessly as possible.
Airport pick ups, check ins, sound and lighting equipment setup, prop deliveries & set up, registration set up, seating, trophies, dressing rooms, balloons and more. PHEW! And that’s just the start. By now the ProDanceFloor boys had done themselves proud and had all the floors down and fixed in place. 18:00 was nearing and that meant one thing – Masters Elite Show Team practice. As we’re sure any of our Show Team will tell you, at our larger events, they literally have 3 to 4 hours to learn & master the choreography, and often it’s changing as they are learning it. A difference this year was the performance’s choreographers – Superstar Champions Jodie Seedel & Emily Drinkall. To say it was such a professional job is an understatement. The Show Team sweated getting the choreography perfect and we are sure it showed as we had unprecedented positive comments about the Variety show. Many Thanks to Jodie and Emily for doing such a fantastic job.
Warm Up
As many of you will know, and some of you won’t, for the 1st time in it’s 8 year history, World Dance Masters 2010 held an Official Warm Up party in Copperface Jacks under the venue. This was a phenomenal success. With around 75 people expected, we actually had 176 attendees! Hosted by Jamie Whalley, Ed Lawton, Danny Last, Pedro Machado & Rob Fowler this was an 5 hours of fun, dancing, games and singing to get everyone ready for the weekend ahead. The Quiz went down a storm with the eventual winners being ‘Drunken Feet’ from Buckie, Scotland.
Followed by Pedro storming round the room with vodka jelly babies, LOTS of line dancing, west coast swing dancing and general boogieing the night away was the order of the night. Along with the great party tracks – Oops Upside Your Head, Time Warp, Hand Jive, Macarena, Grease Medley and many more.
The evening finished at 02:00am with everyone happy and craving their bed, however a select few stayed up and carried on the party in Tempus bar upstairs.
Competitive Line Dance – Grand Room
Friday
The 8th World Dance Masters competition kicked off on Friday with warm up from 10:00am. In the new venue it was a very surreal experience after 7 years in the Winter Gardens but our dancers took to the new set up like ducks to water. In a change to previous years, we had male and female changing areas that lead directly to the staging area with seating, hanging rails, tables and mirrors, WC and water tanks available to all competitors. This was met with great enjoyment as competitors from different divisions, background and countries interacted, some for the very 1st time.
Judges for the weekend were Competition Director & Head Judge Nicola Lafferty, along with Danny Last, Jodie Seedel, Emily Drinkall, Sydney Smyth, Rachael McEnaney, Scott Blevins, Bridget Zerah, John Lindo, Charlotte Macari, Jenny Stephenson, Deborah Szekely, with Bruno Vastel scoring, Floor Co-Ordinators and comp runners Zoe Ruston, Jacqui Fowler, Anita Redfern, Marie McNally, Shirley Taylor & Elaine Fox & competition DJ’s Jamie Whalley & Tommy Weafer. All topped off with charismatic Emcee Pedro Machado.
With new lighting rigs, enhanced sound equipment, Stylish award displays plus Pedro’s Thrones, the stage was set like never before. The competition started with an electric atmosphere that wasn’t to let up for the entire weekend. First up were the Line Dance heats with dancers competing to get to the Semi-Finals on Saturday. And what a fierce competition it was. Pro-Am couples heats were up next one after the other circumnavigated the Championship size ProDanceFloor with ease. This was a tough job for our Pros – some of whom had to dance 30 times in a row so we’d like to give a special thanks to our Pros for the weekend – Samuel Robins, Lee Easton, Fred Whitehouse, James Mclauchlan, Nic Bartlem Anne Buchan & Tiina Aalto.
Everything finished on schedule and the Friday competition ended on time to break for dinner. The hotel has a beautiful restaurant with tasty food and great service.
Nighttime brought about social dancing in not only the Grand Room but also in the Whitworth Suite (See Social Line Dance section later in the Blog). All the ballrooms closed at 21:30 for the Showtime! And what a show it was on Friday night (See Showtime section later in Blog)
Following the show, dancing continued until well into the morning, when as the Grand Room closed at 3am people could retire to bed or carry on the dancing and partying in Copperface Jacks in the Late Night Swing Room.
Saturday
After a very late night, it was time for a very early morning. Breakfast was served from 07:00 to 10:00 so it was grab some food followed by dashing to the Grand Room to warm up. Lots of chatter and gossip from the night before reverberated around the room. Warm Ups over it was Semi Final day!
We always say this, and it will surely be repeated later in this Blog, but the standard of dancing at our events NEVER ceases to amaze and astound us, and this year was no exception. The judges had such a hard time judging all divisions, in particularly all the younger divisions where our dancers and their parents obviously put a great deal of time and effort into what they do. Keep up the good work everyone, you are the future!
Again, with our phenomenal dancers, great DJ and judges, we once again kept to schedule and everything ran smoothly. As we stated earlier, the dressing rooms were proving to be a major hit, giving everyone the change to warm up, breathe, fully engage themselves and really enjoy the competition. Something that was new this year was bringing all competitors one by one to the floor from the stage – something which everyone seemed to enjoy, as our DJ and floor coordinator will tell you there was lots of chatter and laughter backstage from the competitors.
Saturday closed nicely for dinner ready for the Mardi Gras Party!!!
Now, every year for the last 8 years, World Dance Masters has a theme on the Saturday night, but never in its 8 year history has everyone made so much effort to be part of the party and for that we say a huge thank you. Rob, Danny, Jamie, Sam and Nicola were at the door to welcome everyone with masks and over 1000 bead necklaces as they entered, but not that many people needed masks as they’d brought or even made their own! The array of colours, styles and looks was amazing.
Saturday night’s atmosphere was INCREDIBLE, that’s the only word that can be used. With a room full of masked dancers it really was a Mardi Gras Party. Again as on Friday the other rooms closed at 21;30 for the Saturday Variety Show which as you’ll read in the Show Time section was our most impressive and best received to date.
As usual, dancing carried on well into the night, but not before crowning our King and Queen of the Mardi Gras, The senior winners were John Riddoch and Mary Farrel and our Junior winners were Josh Fowler & Emma Findlay. Dancing carried on well past the stated closing time of the schedule, finally finishing at 3:45am, but still enough time to join Swing Masters in Copperface Jacks until 6am!
Sunday
FINALS DAY!!! With a packed room as friends and relatives came for the day to see their loved ones compete, the room was electric. One by one our dancers proved what we have long known – we have the best competitive line dancers in the World. We’ll reiterate that the standard is simply incredible and that each and every competitor should be extremely proud.
As the competition drew to a close and the room cleared it was a mad rush for the Masters team who had an hour to set the room for the awards (and Sam had to change into his Tuxedo). Running a little over time, the room was opened to see our dancers all in costume flood the room in anticipation. Trophies, medals, plaques and flowers on the stage, it looked stunning. But before the awards could begin there were 2 new additions to the Masters competition.
Firstly, our Division 1 Allstars had this year been given a Showcase Medley to perform. This is a pre determined, cut piece consisting of 3 songs in different genres, all from the TV Shows Glee. The dancers have to choreograph their own routines, in which there are no rules. They can wear what they like, use props and can perform aerials. And the best way we can try and convey what happened: WOW. These dancers personified greatness on the floor, giving it their all and getting the crowd on their feet giving a standing ovation.
Secondly, the competitors parade. Rachael did the unthinkable and called out the name of each and every competitor as they took to the floor with their countries flag – a major feat as you’ll see in the video. With everyone in high spirits, confetti canons were let off in the final celebration of a successful competition before the awards took place.
Award time – some surprises and tears of joy, everyone congratulating each other. Competitors won trophies, medals, and beautiful bright sunflowers courtesy of Venus Florist (http://www.venusinmanchester.co.uk/).
Show Time
Friday
Friday’s Showtime at World Dance Masters is usually centered on West Coast Swing, and this year was no different. Fantastic and superb performances from Paul Warden & Catriona Wiles dancing a smooth WCS, Brennar Goree & Torri Smith performing the Carolina Shag, Lee Easton & Fabienne Henshall dancing their Country 2-Step and finished off with Robert Cordoba & Deborah Szekely, who performed a WCS routine to one of the most famous WCS tracks – “How Long Can A Fool Go Wrong” a sight to be hold with their incredible musicality.
In an addition to the WCS this year, we were also treated to a pirate’s themed performance by Team Unique Vision from Finland who were competing in the Cabaret division which was added to the show which was very well received, and our Showcase Duos competition with duos from England, Scotland and Sweden competing to “Fame”. Check Facebook & YouTube for videos of each performance.
Saturday
Saturday’s show time kicked off with Mr Guyton Mundy from the USA with the kids crew performing a Street Dance to “Imma Be” by The Black Eyed Peas, followed by Jenny Stephenson’s Studio #1 performing a Street Dance routine, with some of the boys taking their tops of for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” which had the room in fits of laughter and applause. Not to be outdone Guyton called Jenny out for a dance-off, a great sight watching these 2 power houses of street dance battling it out…Until that is, Jenny brings out her secret weapon, 7 year old Star Spooner. Star battled for her life and finally defeated Guyton who was bowing down to her as the crowd went wild.
Closely following this was Emily Drinkall who performed her Superstar winning Cha Cha with such presence on the floor. A couple who mix line and swing in their careers, Lee and Fab were to take to the floor, performing an exclusive routine especially for Masters. And we weren’t to let up, Sydney Smyth performed her 1st Place Masters Invitational routine to “Popular” from the hit musical Wicked, which a little help from Mr John Lindo. John then performed a West Coast Swing lead and follow with Rachael McEnaney AND Deborah Szekely AND Catriona Wiles. Is there no end to that mans talent? A popular couple for the weekend, Brennar & Torri performed their 2009 US Swing Open Young Adult 1st Place routine to “White House” by Vanessa Carlton, a winner from the start.
Finally it was time for the Pièce de résistance – The Masters Elite Show Team. This is always the highlight of the performances, showcasing the huge amount of talent we have within our event. And as we’ve said before, with such little time to perfect it, it’s always amazing to see how polished the group routine is. With so much positive feedback, rapturous applause and continuing buzz on Facebook and YouTube it is undoubtedly our best Show Team demo to date.
Close Party
Following on from the Official Warm Up Party, we also had an Official Close Party, with everyone from competitors, spectators, social line dancers, west coast swing dancers, event staff and everyone in-between letting their hair down. Copperface Jacks was opened at 11pm with DJ Ed Lawton, with the Social Line Dance room staying open until 1am, and Buckingham Suite till 3am, there was something for everyone, and once all the other rooms had closed, Copperface Jacks ran until 05:30am when it was finally time to call a close to the whole event.
If you have any constructive feedback, positive or negative, the only way we can improve our events is via your direct feedback. You can fill in our online survey HERE or contact us through the website HERE.
Finally, we’d just like to say Thank You to anybody who attended and to EVERYONE for your continued support. Make sure you check out Facebook and the website extra regularly to ensure you’re getting the latest up to date information!
Happy Dancing
World Dance Masters
Posts
