Our most Northern event in the UK is the Bon Accord Masters which is Peterhead (above Aberdeen for those of you who don’t know). We arrived at the Palace Hotel – no not the same one as Worlds :p – in plenty of time the day before the event started.
On the morning of the competition doors opened at 10:00am to a stream of customers. Nicola was partaking in a little fundraising for St Vincent’s hospice, raising money for a sponsored Zumbathon (See the bottom of this blog)!!! We also had merchandise on sale – limited edition World Dance Masters hoodies! (If you’re interested in purchasing one, contact jamie@worlddancemasters.com to see if we have any left in your size )
We started the day with warm ups as everyone got settled in for the day, kicking off with Pro-Am at 11:30am. Our Pros for the day were Sam Robins & James McLachlan. The rest of our event staff: Judging Pro-Am were Competition Director Nicola Lafferty, Fabienne Henshall & apprentice judging Abbie Ingram, who were joined by James for our Solo Divisions with scorer Sam Robins, DJ Jamie Whalley, floor coordinator Shirley Taylor, photographer Catriona Cameron & Iris Stein on the door. Our dancers of all divisions wowed the room, dancing Waltz, Cha-Cha, WCS, 2-Step & ECS.
Following the Pro-Am divisions we went straight into our Solo finals. There’s a great warm, friendly & relaxed atmosphere in the ballroom at the Palace Hotel and this showed with lots of smiles on everybody’s faces. We finished Dance 1 for a short break for dinner, starting again at 2:30pm for Dance 2 – Waltz or Nightclub.
Again a short break after Dance 2 in which Nicola taught her new dance to a great WCS track – “Stuttering” by Loick Essien featuring N-Dubz, that was very well received and led straight into Dance 3 – Funky or Showdance. This is the division that lights up the room and brings everyone alive, clapping and cheering.
Jamie then taught a novelty dance called “Kabouterdans”. Some old skool dancers might remember this from around 2002/3 – such a laugh to be had, especially if you move places during the chorus. That led nicely into our Junior and Teen Duos who impressed us greatly. Onto the Awards and this really REALLY was a close competition. In one of the divisions, 3 dancers essentially tied for 1st place! Great job everyone
After a short break for dinner we resumed with our evening social at 8:00pm, keeping everyone dancing until 11:30pm. A pleasant mix of classic & top 10 dances, competition dances, and party tracks kept everyone entertained, whilst both recapping “Stuttering” and “Kabouterdans”.
The WDM Team would like to thank all our event staff & volunteers, our competitors, parents and dancers & the Palace Hotel Peterhead for their hospitality. Remember to check out Stuttering, and most of all please give whatever you can to Nicola’s fundraising efforts. Contact the fundraising team on 01505707635, email lorraine.valentine@svh.co.uk or check out the Zumbathon Facebook Page.
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