Swedish Dance Masters 2010

Swedish Dance Masters 2010 looked set to be a fantastic event. Event Directors Göran and Åsa had again set up an impressive line up of guests including Swing King John Lindo, Sam Robins, Nicola Lafferty, Shaz Walton, Lee Easton, Fabienne Henshall, and Mr Guyton Mundy, as well as World Famous DJ Big Dave. Also in attendance were special guests Carey Parson from the USA & Team Unique Vision from Finland along with Hollands Pim Van Grootel, Norways Arild Lekanger, Nicolas Cort & Benny Jeppsson DJing in the beginner room, Zumba instructor Marlene Björkdahl and from the Masters Team was Jamie Whalley. A truly international event we're sure you'll agree.

For some of the team the weekend started on Friday morning... you guessed it... very early - 4:30am in Sam & Jamie's case. Everyone had arrived safely at the gorgeous Stenungsbaden Yacht Club by 4pm on Friday, ready for the event to kick off at 6pm. Swedish Dance Masters takes the form of not just a competition but a social & workshop weekend, featuring a main line dance room, a West Coast Swing room holding workshops and Jack & Jill competition, Beginner line dance room, secondary workshop room with the addition of street dance, body isolation  & Zumba workshops this year, and of course no weekend event would be complete without SHOWTIME!

All of the workshops were well supported; with everyone enjoying what was on offer, with even some inexperienced dancers tackling some of Guyton’s advanced choreography. The beginner room was especially busy, with a full dance floor for the majority of the weekend. Teaches for the weekend were as follows:

Guyton Mundy

You're Amazing [Int]

"Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars

Imma Be [Adv] ("523" - Guyton Mundy, Pim van Grootel, Will Craig, Daniel Trepat & Ryan Lindsey)

"Imma Be" - Black Eyed Peas

 

Club Can't Handle This  [Adv] (Guyton & Carey Parson) Script To Follow

"Club Can't Handle Me' - Flo Rida ft. David Guetta 

Ooh I Like It [Int] (Rachael McEnaney & Ryan Lindsey)

"We No Speak Americano (I Like That)" - Yolando B Cool, DCup, Nabildon (UK radio edit)

Let Me C It  [Adv] (Guyton &Will Craig

"Let me C it" - Get Cool, featuring Petey Pablo, From the "Step up 3D" Album

Shaz Walton

Written In The Stars [Int]

"Written in the Stars" - Tinie Tempah ft. Eric Turner

2012 [Int]

"2012" - Jay Sean Feat Nicki Minaj

Nicola Lafferty

Hip To Be Square [B]

"Hip To Be Square" - Huey Lewis & The News

Sweet & Simple [B/Imp]

"How Sweet It Is" - Michael Buble

Fabienne Henshall

Lady Madonna [B] Script To Follow

"Lady Madonna" – The Beatles

Friday kicked off straight into the swing of things (get it) with both a workshop from John Lindo in the West Coast Swing room that was full to bursting, as well as the 1st of many teaches from Guyton. Dinner followed - the exquisite food we raved about last year was just as nice this year. Some changes to the dining room, but still the same great taste. Following dinner, the workshops carried on in succession in the main line room and WCS room until 11:00pm when it was Showtime. 

And what a show it was. 1st to the floor were John, Lee, Nicola & Fabienne who performed a Lead & Follow WCS routine, ending with Johns legendary multi lead! Next up, the man that needs no introduction, Guyton. Back by popular demand, he was joined by the very talented Carey Parson, displaying some poppin', lockin', breaking and some impressive moves. Everyone was wowed. Following this was Lee & Fabienne performing their 2 Step routine. If you were at Worlds 2010 you will have seen this wonderful routine. And last but certainly not least Team Unique Vision. TUV are the undefeated World Dance Masters Cabaret Champions presenting some of the most creative & intelligent choreography our judges have seen. They performed their winning Zombie routine from Worlds 2009. After the show, we had a midnight workshop with Shaz, then social dancing until around 4am!

No sooner were we in bed than the alarm clocks went off to be up for Breakfast and a start to the day with the choreography competition. Judged by Shaz, Lee & Guyton and MC'd by Jamie, this year we had an impressive 22 entries. Winners in each category were:

Beginner
Got U - Stig Ekstrom

Intermediate
Not The Same - Helena Jeppsson

Advanced
Carrickfergus - Malene Jakobsen

All of the winners got the chance to host their own workshops later on Saturday and teach their dancers. Scripts for all of the choreography entries can be found on our website HERE 

Following the announcement of the winning entries, it was overdrive for workshops with a quick succession of workshops in Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced line dance, West Coast Swing, Zumba with Marlene & Body Isolation with Carey, both of which were packed. Dancers couldn't get enough of the diverse offering. With a stop at 1:30pm for lunch then straight back into workshops in all 4 rooms, it was a real dance fest, only slowing a little for DJ Benny's Golden Oldies 2 hour special - there's SO many dances we'd forgotten we loved, it's like falling it love with line dancing all over again.

Dinner at 7:30 followed by lots more social dancing and the Saturday show. A pre show warm up performance at 9pm came courtesy of Team Unique Vision, who performed a new Werewolves routine in amazing costume and make up - the effect was stunning. Then on to the main show at 10:30pm. First to the floor was Sam & Nicola performing a Cha Cha, closely followed by Lee & Fab dancing their latest WCS routine to 'Walking in Memphis', receiving rapturous applause. Next came Guyton & Carey dancing their latest dance 'Club Can't Handle This' along with their Swedish Crew of dancers, lots and lots of fun. Then it was the turn of the Masters Team together who performed an excerpt from the Worlds 2010 Show Team routine. If you didn't catch this at Worlds it is a MUST SEE - you can see by clicking here. Again as the night before, show time was ended with TUV who performed their Worlds 2010 winning Pirates routine, a haunting performance. A selection of videos of the shows is on our Facebook Page. Again open dancing carried on until 5am - we all had very tired feet by the end of it.

On the social line dancing side of things the weekends two most requested floor fillers were Snap Your Fingers & Shoes Of Another Man - Others hits included Rain Against My Window, Dog-Gone Blues, Drip Droppin', Broken Heels, Time To Play, Wakira/Wak Waka, Pack Up, Amame, Mojo, Ease On Down, Hands Up, Time To Swing, All Summer Long & Plan B with Playing With Fire was still huge too as it is most places. Because of the workshops Guyton's You're Amazing & Shaz's Written In The Stars were especially popular - And the Country big hits were Louisiana Swing, Rhyme Or Reason, Quarter After One & Bobbi With An I - Night Clubs rule too - Popular recent ones including Everything I Do, Haunted Gave It All Away, Jesse James & Trouble Is with a few doing Rachael's Don't Miss A Thing. Also there was a long list of classics too including Holding On To Yesterday, Poetry In Motion, Guardian Angel, Feel, Evergreen, With These Eyes & Where We've Been.

There were also quite a few floor filling 'Euro' dances too - As well as We Speak No Americano the most popular included NoNoNoNoNo Not So, Mi Rowsu, Cry Me Out, Blue Sky, Respect & Wade In The Water.

As we said before the Beginner/Improver room was very well supported, with favourites including Brazil, People Are Crazy, Chica Boom Boom, Under The Sun, Singing The Song, Walking In The Rain, Fujjiama Mama & Don't Kill The DJ - Craig's latest waltz Know Me By Now was much requested too - At the other end of the spectrum popular requests included Cyclone, Sentimental, Tik Tok Drop, Stoked, Oh Ruby & Private Dancer - Lots of Guyton & Shaz's dances too, especially Guyton's SOB & Shaz's Hypnotized.  

Classics of all levels too - The floor was full for the likes of Irish Stew, Crazy Foot Mambo, Bosa Nova, Zjozzy's Funk, Higher & Higher, Stitch It Up, Chill Factor, Not Like That, Charanga to Pot Of Gold, Ja Da Boogie, Shakatak, Caught In The Act, NIMBY, Black Horse, Stop It, Hold Your Horses/Ice Breaker, We're Alive, Doctor Doctor - Through to classic competition event favourites like Swing Your Chains, Slow Burn, Chill Factor, SXE, Jukebox, Deeply Completely & Have Fun Go Mad.

Sunday meant we arrived at our competition. WCS workshops, Beginner room and social dancing carried on throughout so everyone had an option. The competition was great. 1st was Pro-Am. Sam danced with his students non-stop throughout until everyone had shown what they could do. Next was the line competition, dance A, B and C in close succession to finish in time for lunch. The standard is always improving, and we always enjoy seeing our Swedish dancers compete with the biggest smiles on their faces - check the photos on our website if you don't believe us.

Following lunch was award time and a great conclusion to a fantastic and successful event. We would like to thank Göran and Åsa and everyone involved in putting on such a fantastic event.

Scandinavian Masters 2010

The 2nd Scandinavian masters took place in the beautiful City of Stockholm at the SAS Radisson Blu hotel. Event Directors Marianne & Ingemar Kardeskog had invited a great range of staff to the event to cater for all possible tastes. Scott Blevins, Kate Sala, Robbie McGowan-Hickie and Craig Bennett were on hand for the social dancers, and Sam Robins, Nicola Lafferty and Arild Lekanger were there to teach in the Swing Room. As well as a main room for social dancers where the workshops would take place and a swing room, there was a fast track social room for non-stop requests plus super-fast teaches of the dances being taught in the main ballroom! Talk about catering for everyone!

On Friday evening the event began in the main room with a social and workshops from the choreographers. Ingemar and Marcus kept everyone dancing until late with a great mix of music, from beginner to advanced. In the swing room there were beginner workshops from Arild and Sam & Nicola to teach the basics of West Coast Swing and an introduction of West Coast Swing Jack & Jill, where Sam took it upon himself to force everybody in the room to sign up! Pressure...
Saturday started early with a wonderful breakfast and then some great workshops. Dances taught over the weekend included the following; from Scott Blevins we had ‘Trouble Is’, ‘Murder Machine’, ‘Oh Ruby’, ‘Cold Blooded’ and ‘Cha Cha Tonight’. Kate Sala taught ‘Pantaloons’, ‘Yolanda’ and ‘Plan B’. Robbie McGowan-Hickie taught ‘All Cool’, Burn It Up’ and ‘Work It Out’ and from Craig Bennett we had ‘Latin Crazy’, ‘For The Lovers’, ‘Standing In The Shadows’ and ‘Running in the Wrong Direction’.
Workshops in the Swing Room continued with Novice and Intermediate classes, accumulating in a fun Jack & Jill competition. Again, Sam made sure almost everyone in the room had been signed up to compete and even threatened to lock everyone in if someone tried to leave. The competition ran with great success and our winners, Fredrik Wallin & Merete Brandli were presented with two free passes to Worlds 2010. Congratulations to everyone who competed, we hope you all enjoyed the experience.

After a quick break for another great meal, the main room opened for the evening. Kicking off the show for the Saturday night were Sam & Nicola with their West Coast Swing routine, followed by Tiina Aalto and Juho Paivenen from Finland impressing the audience with their Pro-Am Couples routines. Sam and Nicola then finished the show with a mixture of line and couples dancing to the theme of Annie Get Your Gun. Social dancing then continued well into the small hours, and everyone went to bed exhausted but happy after a fantastic night’s dancing.
Sunday morning arrived quickly enough with another busy day. The swing room became the Scandinavian Masters competition room as competitors from all over Scandinavia battled it out to become Scandinavian Champions in Choreography, Pro-Am and Line Dance. The judges included Scott Blevins, Nicholas Cort from Sweden (our newest Masters Judge), Kate Sala and Nicola. They all had a difficult job with all the talent on show. Congratulations again to everyone who danced! You were all magnificent.

Sunday didn’t offer just competition though, the main room held workshops again from Kate, Craig and Robbie all day with lots of social dancing in between. The variety at this event was amazing!
After a long day of competition and social dancing, the awards presented and the dancers all danced out, it was time to say goodbye. Thanks to everyone who attended the event, all of the staff, helpers, DJ’s and Instructors. It takes a lot of background work to put on such a diverse and well run event, so a special thanks to Marianne & Ingemar for such a fantastic job!

Keep your eye out for the launch of the new World Dance Masters website to find out whats happening at the Scandinavian Masters 2011!

German Masters 2010

With clouds of ash from Iceland, it seemed unlikely that any of our Masters team were going to make it to the German Masters event!  Dancers Lee Easton and Fabienne Henshall were stranded in LA and it was doubtful that Sam Robins & Nicola Lafferty were going to make it either; luckily the air space was reopened and Sam & Nicola were able to make their flights.  German Instructors, Jasmin Oetzel and Joachim Armbruster were on hand to step into the shoes of Lee & Fabienne, so the event was able to go ahead.

Arriving at the venue in beautiful Florsheim (only 10 minutes from Frankfurt airport), Friday afternoon was spent preparing the hall and competition paperwork and having a quick practise of the demos for the show before joining the new BFCW team for an Italian meal.  Josip, Jurgen, Tine, Sabine, Robert & Anke had done a great job of organising the competition and helping Sam & Nicola learn a few words of German! Although Sam studied German at school, he was exceptionally rubbish at remembering any German words and proceeded to instruct with his poor English accent (sorry everyone!!).

Saturday started with a wonderful welcome from the new President of the BFCW, Josip Miolcic, and an introduction to the Masters team.  Nicola started the day with an easy, fun workshop, teaching ‘Swingin’ The Lead’, which then led into the competitors meeting and the competition, starting with the Newcomer and Intermediate divisions.  Joachim Armbruster then took to the stage to teach his dance ‘Oopsy Daisy’ which was very well received, to a fabulous track by the same name sung by Chipmunk.  Jasmin Oetzel then taught the Masters Newcomer Dance  ‘Rockin’ Robin’ and Sam & Nicola taught some basic couples West Coast Swing, followed by Sam teaching the line dance ‘Parachute’.  At this point all the dancers were undoubtedly 'workshoped' out. The ballroom shut down for dinner break and a small show practice.

Saturday evening opened with a cool mix of social dancing from the DJ’s and then it was time for the show.  There were solo demos from Nicola, Sam & Joachim, couples from Sam & Nicola and a couples routine from Sam, Joachim, Nicola & Jasmin to Lady GaGa’s ‘Telephone’. This was definitely an experience to behold....in a reversal of positions, Joachim turned into Lady GaGa with Sam taking up the role of Beyonce!! After the team had had a small recovery (and a small amount of beer) Joachim taught his fun contra dance ‘Homo Dance’ which went down wonderfully (with a large amount of laughing).  The dancing continued until 12.30am and then it was time for bed.

Sunday started with some more workshops.  Jasmin taught ‘Take your Time’ and Nicola taught ‘Kiss & Tell’.  Competition then started for the day with the Novice and Advanced dancers taking to the floor. Another great display of dancing from our competitors! Throughout the Sunday more workshops took place,  including ‘Absolutely Positively’ and ‘Faith & Desire’ as well as recaps of all the dances taught over the weekend. The day finished with the awards ceremony as all the competitors from both days of competition waited to see how they had placed.  Awards over and dancers from all over Germany, Holland and Switzerland began to pack up to begin the long journey home.

Masters would like to thank the BFCW for running the event and to all the staff and helpers.  A special thanks to Tine Knisel who had to organise the event with very little time (including all the stress of placing the contingencies) and to Jasmin and Joachim for stepping in at such short notice and for doing such a wonderful job. The event couldn't have taken place so successfully without these people and Nicola and Sam can't thank them enough!

Keep checking the website and Facebook for updates on when and where the Masters event will be next year! We are definitely looking forward to it. We hope to see you all there too.