Midland Masters always takes place in the fabulous Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent, a 100 year old venue of grandure. The team have now got setting up for our day qualifiers down to a fine art, so we all arrived and set up in record time.
The queue was already forming outside at 08:40am, even though doors weren't to open until 10am! The team for the day were Judges Zoe Powell, Sydney Smyth, Fabienne Henshall, Nicola Laffferty & James Maclauchlan with Leigh Welch apprentice judging, Scorer Sam Robins, DJ Jamie Whalley, Floor Co-ordinator Abbie Ingram, and on the door Elizabeth Lafferty. A special thanks to Charlotte O'Connor for being the photographer for the day.
As we entered our Pro-Am divisions the light flooded into the hall. The days Pros were Lee Easton, James Maclachlan, Sam Robins and Gemma Harrison-Watkin. It was great to see our dancers circumnavigate the floor, obviously they are getting excited for World Dance Masters 2011 in August as the standard is forever increasing.
On to the solo divisions and we had heats. Some of our youngest dancers had to dance up to 4 times (so thats 12 dances) to get to the final. It was incredibly difficult for our judges and this was apparent on their faces. Finals progressed and were stunning. We have to say a big WELL DONE to 2 of our newest dancers who were not only competing with World Dance Masters for the 1st time, but competing at all for the 1st time! They did fantastically :)
Nicola did a quick teach of the fun and novelty dance 'The Wobble' to Wobble by V.I.C. This dance has taken the USA by storm so if you can, try it out.
Following all the dancing and awards were went into our evening social, with competitors and families sticking around and dancers travelling from the local area and sounding counties! We danced til late with requests galore, and with sure a diverse mix of dancers it was such a delight to have so many differing requests. Golden Oldies, Top Ten, Competition dances, REALLY Golden Oldies (Jamie's been dancing for 18 years and these were the 1st ones he learned!) and more.
A big thanks to all who attended. Don't forget the upcoming German Masters, Irish Masters and East Coast Masters and make sure you're attending World Dance Masters 2011 - the best value for money event of the year!
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