World Dance Masters 2010 - Competitive Line Dance

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 1^st 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 1^st 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 8^th 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 1^st 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 1^st 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 1^st 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

World Dance Masters 2010 - Social Line Dance

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 1^st 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 (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 (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 Party 

As many of you will know, and some of you won’t, for the 1^st 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 took place in what was probably the 1^st major amalgamation of both line and swing dancers boogieing the night away. Along with all requests were 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.

 

Social Line Dance – Whitworth Suite & Directors Suite

Social commentary courtesy of DJ Big Dave

Friday

First up Friday Rob taught a funky Zoomba beat one called “Cha Cha Your Body” & a cool West coast called “Quoyote's Twist & Groove” And Kate taught a lovely waltz called “Emotions” - Awesome track.

You'll have heard mention of the others perhaps recently - All quite new though - All well received. Rachael's Snap Your Fingers, Peter & Alison's Commander/Don't Give A Blank, Scott's Trouble Is, Craig's Pack Up, Dee's Fashion & Shaz's The Club Is Alive - Love them all :-) Dance of the day from the DJ Booth was Snap Your Fingers.

Andrew DJ'd the 'Social Room' until around 11pm - And then we danced until late in the main ballroom - Earlier in the ballroom Irish Tommy DJ'd & Guyton & Will taught a cool new funky dance, which was a hit with the social & competition dancers alike - Let Me C It (Get Cool).

Saturday

We managed to get up to get things going at 10.00am Saturday morning!!
Andrew was in the workshop room looking after the music for the
choreography competition with judges Dee Musk, Shaz Walton, Craig Bennett, Rob Fowler, Peter Metelnick & Alison Biggs.

Choreography Competition

This year was more successful than ever with 33 entries to the competition with many beginner, intermediate and advanced dancers. The placings were as follows:

Choreography Competition

Beginner/Improver

1st - It's A Replay (Joyce Plaskett)

2nd - A Star In Heaven (Rebecca Armstrong)

3rd - Room Service (Rebecca Lee)

Intermediate
1st -Mighty Good Time (Joyce Plaskett)

2nd - A Minute Away From You (Lottie Hertzman)

3rd - Hot Hot Hot (Helena Jeppsson)

Higher Intermediate/Advanced

1st - Cry Me Out (Malene Jakobsen)

2nd - Zip It (Ryan Hunt)

3rd - Angel Of Inspiration (Stephen Rutter & Claire Butterworth)

ALL CHOREOGRAPHY ENTRY SCRIPTS CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM OUR SITE HERE

The 3 winners are teaching their dances on the Sunday workshop schedule. Overall winner was Mighty Good Time and as a result Joyce will be featured on the Worlds 2011 instructor/choreographer roster as well as being featured on the World Dance Masters website in September 2010 as their “Featured Choreographer”. As well as this all dance scripts for every entry are also on the site. Be sure to check out her page in the Social section of the site.

I (Dave) was in the social/workshop room where Rob taught a lovely smooth country cha cha called Gypsy Rosa Li - A great dance really well received - Then Kate released her new Alexandra Burke one Drip Droppin' (Start Without You) - A cool/catchy rumba/mambo - Rachael taught another smooth west coast called Cyclone - Peter & Alison's new one was a lovely night club called Johnnie Walker's Eyes (Lady Gaga/Speechless) - Great new dances. The room was also full for Guyton's “Imma Be” & Scott's “Murder Machine” – Peter & Alison also taught a beaty pop one called Je Ne Sais Quoi, Will Craig “Trouble Maker”, Craig Bennett “For The Lovers” & Andrew “Can't touch”, all popular teaches.

Dances of the day - Kate's Drip Droppin' & Rachael's Cyclone.

Sunday

On Sunday Rob taught a really cool waltz call “Wonderland Waltz”, the 'Dance Of The Day' I'd say - Ray Scott & it sounds like Chris Rea's Road To Hell - Lovely track - Kate had a new one too, a neat easy one called Pantaloons (Charleston style). The choreographer competition winners workshops were all well supported It's Alright (Beginner), Mighty Good Time (Intermediate) & Cry To Me (Advanced) - And to wind up the day Dee's “Aphrodite” & Peter & Alison's “One Step Leads To Another” also went well too - Cool intermediate pop ones.

Some of the most popular of recent releases in social dancing over the weekend - Faith & Desire, Everything I Do/Bobbi With An I, Haunted, Trouble Is/No Salvation, Hands Up, Oh Ruby, Plan B, Must Get Free/Corazon Cha, Latin Crazy, NY Cha/Murder My Heart/American Girl/Play For Keeps, Rah-Rah/Broken Heels, Fashion, Quarter After One, Don't Kill The DJ, The Stroma Dance, Tik Tok Drop, One Last Dance, Shoes Of Another Man, My DNA, Martini Moments, Night Owl, Stoked & Gave It All Away ... To name but a few!!! – Then all the popular oldies & classics too.

Great to see some dances catching on though that are already favorites of my own like Zenyatta's Waltz & Be Back Soon - Lots of requests for Neville & Julie's most recent Burn It Down too & Nonononono a catchy fun one going well.

A great night dancing on Sunday evening, with a diverse crowd. The Whitworth Suite was scheduled to finish at 11pm, but we actually danced until 1am! It was awesome to work with a great choreographer line-up & to see all our regular Masters friends from UK/Europe/USA.

From Sunday evening requests the most popular dances from teaches over the weekend I'd say:

·       Rob's Wonderland Waltz & Gypsy Rosa Li

·       Guyton/Will's Let Me C It, Imma Be & Trouble Maker

·       Kate's Drip Droppin' & Emotions

·       Scott's Trouble Is & Murder Machine

·       Craig's Pack Up & Dee's Fashion

·       Rachael's Snap Your Fingers & Cyclone

Just about everything was requested though!!

SCRIPTS FOR ALL DANCES TAUGHT DURING THE EVENT CAN BE FOUND HERE

Then the bad news Monday morning - Packing up the van with 4 rooms of gear! Appreciation to Masters for inviting me to DJ - And a big thinks to Pedro for great quality Pro-Dance floors in all the rooms (& keeping a team on-site all weekend to keep it all spot-on) - Well done to Sam & all the Masters team, especially Jamie who never stopped! Rachael too, who has to share her time between the Competition, Swing & Social rooms all weekend - She never stops, but we miss seeing more of her in the social room being selfish - But a big big thanks to her for trying so hard to be in there as much as possible over the weekend. Thanks to all the choreographers who danced in the social room with us - As dancers (& DJ's) we need to appreciate more who they are that do those extra miles over & above their workshops/recaps to make the social dancing so much more special.

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 1^st 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 1^st 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

Irish Challenge 2010

It was late on Friday night when the Masters team arrived at Dublin Airport for the Masters Irish Challenge. Nicola flying in from Glasgow and Sam, Abbie and Paul from Manchester had a few Magners before being picked up by the lovely Marie and heading to bed for the night.

It was an early start for the team on the Saturday as they headed to the Auchnamullen GAA Club in Castleblayney to set up for the day’s competition.  After a slight panic over the layout of the room, and a quick change about thanks to the incredibly helpful staff members, everything was ready to go and it was time to open the doors.

Staff for the day included our DJ, Tommy Weafer, MC Damian Brady, Floor Co-ordinator Elaine Fox, Door – Sharon Kennedy, Comp Runner, Jason Hill, Comp Registration Rosita Shekelton, Scrutineer, Sam Robins and of course our judges Nicola Lafferty, Ann Cuningham, Lee Easton, James McLauchlan and apprentice judging were Paul Culshaw and Abbie Ingram.

Competition started for the day with Pro-Am.  The numbers are continually increasing in this division, with the first heat of the year being no exception and our pros, James, McLauchlan, Lee Easton and Fred Whitehouse, got us off to a great start to the day.

Line dance heats followed the pro am as the Irish competitors battled it out for a place in the Finals.  The atmosphere for the finals was amazing.  The support that the Irish show to the competitors is second to none.  The Starter & Rugrats divisions had the Irish screaming their support, and even some of the club’s footballers came in to see what was happening and couldn’t believe they were witnessing line dancing.

The standard of competition was unbelievably high and left the judges struggling to try and place everyone.  Scores in, and Sam had the results ready to go in record time.  With teddy bears for our Primary dancers and trophies and certificates for all, the competition day ended with smiles and some tears as people either headed home or stayed for the Social.

With DJ’s Tommy Weafer and Nicola Lafferty ready to play music until the wee small hours, the social began.  Requests were played for all, and some party tracks too (Paul Culshaw’s YMCA was a sight to behold!); people from the club drifted in, as well as a crowd of young footballers who again, couldn’t believe that this was line dancing!

The first qualifier of the Competition year over and everyone headed to bed, tired but happy!

Look out for the next Masters Heat in Ireland, the Irish Masters, Sat 11^th June, The Fairways Hotel, Dundalk!.

3rd World Swing Masters

The 3rd World Swing Masters 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 1^st 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 (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 (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 2 to 3 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 Party

As many of you will know, and some of you won’t, for the 1^st 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 took place in what was probably the 1^st major amalgamation of both line and swing dancers boogieing the night away. Along with all requests were 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.

3rd World Swing Masters – Buckingham Suite

WCS commentary courtesy of Lee Easton

We can hardly believe that our 3rd World Swing Masters is already over, without doubt our best event yet. With attendee's from all over Europe, the USA and even Russia it is wonderful to see the growth and expansion of West Coast Swing.

Pros for the weekend were Brennar Goree & Torri Smith, Deborah Szekely & Robert Cordoba, Paul Warden & Catriona Wiles, Lee Easton & Fabienne Henshall and the Fabulous John Lindo. We also saw a lot of the wonderful Rachael McEnaney, who has to divide her time between the WCS room, Competitive Line Dance & Social Line Dance room all weekend, no easy feat we can tell you!

Swing Masters were concentrated in the Buckingham Suite where the lights really helped to build a fun and cool atmosphere.  Each night was themed to create a mood – with Friday being “House of Blues”, Saturday was “Saturday Night Red Light” and finally Sunday “Mello Yellow Smooth Grooves”. The air con worked itself out after the first day (Human error).  Our late night venue was Copperface Jacks where we danced until 4am Friday night extended until 6am on Saturday and on Sunday night we wrangled an extension in the Buckingham Suite until 3am with John Lindo's music closing out the event. Yes it still wasn’t over – many people headed down to the closing party in Copperface Jacks until 5am. The last of us awake saw the first of the staff leaving for home Monday morning.

With a secondary workshop room upstairs we covered a wide range of levels from absolute beginner to advanced and subjects such as Choreography, Basics, Connection, Breaks, Variations, Shag, Musicality and footwork in our WCS classes and 2-step was a scream, hope you all enjoy learning it as I do teaching it.

Show's were fantastic as you’ll read below. It was the first time that Carolina Shag was demonstrated at the highest standard or at all in the UK.  The response from the audience was amazing for every act.  Look out for the poll on-line for your favourite performance.

Swing competitions were a big success with over £800 in cash awarded, trophies, as well as event passes for Europe's coolest events and of course, WSDC points in Novice and Intermediate. Below is the top 5 placing for all divisions:

Strictly Swing -  Novice

5th Paul Buckley & Susan Minor

4th Rob Day & Michelle Fletcher

3rd Grigory Lebedev & Conny Griehsler

2nd Jean-Christophe Saville & Vicky Wood

1st Thomas Escaravage & Virginie Escaravage

Strictly Swing - Open

5th David Higgins & Lisa Jane Ferrie

4th Peter Fradley & Kate Lovegrove

3rd Paul Harris & Anna Lumsden

2nd Steve Hunt & Melanie Boyle 

1st Steve Hall & Sarve Didar

Jack & Jill - Newcomer
5th Abhilash Mathews & Adele Collins
4th Caro Abulin & Emma Bond
3rd Nigel Pontee & Vivi Mentula
2nd Nigel Pontee & Helen Hanlon 
1st Manal & Rachel Martin

Jack & Jill - Novice  
5th Thomas Escaravage & Laura Carvill
4th Grigory Lebedev & Linda Ratcliffe
3rd Rob Lawrence & Kate Lovegrove
2nd lam duy Nguyen & Vicky Wood 
1st Randal Boyd & LeeAnne Forsen

 Jack & Jill – Intermediate 

5th David Higgins & Anna Lumsden 
4th Rafael Quixada & Dora Makhouf
3rd Paul Harris & Katia Avlasevich
2nd Matt Oakley & Sarve Didar 
1st Steve Hall & Naomi Hulbert

Videos of the competition can be found on YouTube

Massive congratulations to all of our winners and everyone that entered. It was nice to see some of the "Line Dancers" crossing over with 3 of them making it to the Novice final.  Also, congratulations to one our "Swing Dancers" who won the Newcomer Pro-Am division in the main line dance competition room.  We hope to see and encourage more and more cross over at the event in years to come.  There is also discussion of a Swing Pro-am division being created for next year! Do you like the idea?  Let us know your thoughts on that via our CONTACT US form.

Finally, a huge thank you to all of you that came and helped us make this a fantastic weekend!

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 1^st 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 1^st 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

East Coast Masters 2010

The 1st East Coast Masters took place on Saturday 26th June 2010 at Blue Dolphin Holiday Park in Filey, Scarborough. Event Staff for the day were MC Nicola Lafferty, DJ Jamie Whalley, Judges Danny Last, Jodie Seedel & Emily Drinkall, with Anne Buchan & Zoe Powell apprentice judging, scorer Alison Eadie, Photographer Paul Rhoades, floor coordinator Elizabeth Lafferty with John Lafferty on the door. Also making an appearance was Mr Rob Fowler who’d flown over from Spain.

The day kicked off to a great start with a long queue outside for doors opening at 10:00am. With almost 100 solo dance entries as well as Pro-Am, duos, quads & teams it was going to be another busy day. The room soon filled up as practise music was played.

First off the block was Pro-Am, danced by our Pro dancers Anne Buchan and Nic Bartlem & their students. After they’d danced it was apparent that everyone was itching to get on the floor & show us what they’d got.

On to the line dance divisions & heats were danced by Division 4 Junior. It was a great competition with lots of closely fought battles on the dance floor. Following dance 1 it was time for a spot of lunch so a 25 minute recess was in order to allow everyone to grab a bite to eat. With a restaurant, Burger King, Pastry shop, Spar & Smooth stall on site everyone was spoilt for choice.

The break was closely followed by dances 2 & 3 respectively bringing us up to 5:00pm. A 45 minute break for some social dancing took place with everyone flooding Jamie with requests for right then and for the evening social later on. 5:45pm brought around the awards with some surprises & tears of elation. Everything wrapped up right on schedule at 6:30pm an hour break was needed to give everyone the chance to change & the Haven staff the opportunity to set the room for the evening.

At 7:30pm the evening social got underway. This would promise to be probably our most diverse social yet. In a unique twist to our usual set up, the room was not only open to our dancers, but was also made available to holiday makers at Haven, meaning by door open we already had a huge crowd of couples, families & groups intrigued to see what all this line dance malarkey was about. And our dancers wasted no time showing them. Requests included:

Louisiana Saturday Night, Shoes Of Another Man, Latin Crazy, Man in the Mirror, Telephonic, Cha Cha Slide, Rita’s Waltz, Coochie Bang Bang, Sister Kate, Trouble Is, Jesse James, Cha Cha Loco, Jukebox, Good Ol’ Boys, Acapella, Quarter After One, Have Fun Go Mad, Americano, Chill Factor, Tik Tok Drop, With These Eyes, NY Cha, Spotlight, Inside Your Heaven, Broken Heels, Patient Heart, Fuego, Playing With Fire, 5678, Wild Wild West, Drive Me Wild, Swing Your Chains, Ain’t Goin Down, JR Drop, Hands Up, 5,6,7,8 and Cupid Shuffle (9 Times!!!)

Phew! With the majority of requests played everyone was happy. Rob taught a fun little dance, the 16 count "Upside Down" originally choreographed to a the song of the same name by the A*Teens, but instead danced it to the Madagascar version of “I Like to Move It” which also saw not only the Haven guests get up and have a try, but the Haven staff too! He then showed them it could be danced a little more shall we say “funky” to Justin Timberlake’s “Sexyback”. The non dancers definitely had the “Oh My Gosh, this can’t be line dancing” look on their faces!

Onto more social dancing with a break at 9:30pm for the Haven show “Boogie Fun with the Allstars”!!!! A 20 minute high energetic dance routine medley to entertain the youngsters, but would you believe the dance floor was…..you guessed it, completely full of line dancers!

Followed by even more social dancing, we were treated to a live show from one of the Haven Cabaret singers. This went even further to show those non dancers in the room that line dancers really can dance to anything at the drop of a hat. She sang a variety of songs including “9 to 5” (Mojo Rhythm), “Stuck in the Middle” (Walk The Line), “Summer of 69” (Got To Be Funky), Ego (Cupid Shuffle again!). Her set was finished off nicely with The Sway to her rendition of Leona Lewis’ version of “Run” by Snow Patrol.

And would you believe it, even MORE social dancing, with a “demo” by Rob of THE BEAST, being joined halfway by some of our dancers, took us right up to midnight. It was time to say our goodbyes & take our tired feet off to bed.... or to the Galaxy Bar in some cases! We would like to thank our Masters staff for the day, the staff at the Blue Dolphin holiday complex who couldn’t have done enough for us, offer our congratulations to those who competed & extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone who attended.

Don’t forget the 8th World Dance Masters is being held in Manchester 6-8 Aug. Visit our website for information on entry, accommodation & more. 

http://www.worlddancemasters.com

Irish Masters 2010

Another weekend, another event. Nicola and Sam made their way to their respective airports late on Thursday night to arrive into Ireland with enough time to prepare everything that needed preparing for the Irish Masters 2010.

Held in the beautiful Park Hotel, Dundalk, the event was bound to be an exciting one with World Dance Masters' biggest registration of the year so far. Over 220 dancers had registered to compete. The only thing about this bothering the Masters Team was how they were going to manage to get through all the heats in just one day!

Saturday morning arrived quickly enough and Nicola and Sam were up early to make sure all things were in order. On Friday evening Tommy Weafer arrived to set-up for being our fabulous DJ for the day and the Park Hotel staff worked through the night to ensure the venue ballroom was set-up according to our meticulous specifications! All was ready to go and our nerves were calm.....until we saw the queue waiting to come in!!!

The next mission was getting everyone through the door and registered as quickly as possible with thanks to Jason Hill. Job done in 30 minutes, on schedule, even though Sam had lost a good clump on his hair though the stress of having to calculate everyones entry in his head! By 10:30 the hall was packed and we were ready to kick-off with the Pro-Am competition. Our first congratulation goes to our Pros; James McLauchlan, Lee Easton, Fred Whitehouse, Sam Robins and Shane McKeever danced tirelessly for almost 1hr 30mins to get all of our Pro-Am heats done on schedule. What a job they did.

After a very quick two song break our floor co-ordinators Elaine Fox , Jason Hill, Rosita Shekelton and Sharon Kennedy, along with MC Damien Brady, had got all the dancers competing in the heats ready to go. Our judges for the day (Nicola Lafferty, Lee Easton, James McLauchlan, Ann Cunningham and apprentice judges Fred Whithouse, Paul Culshaw and Bernie Lenaghan) were ready to rock and so on came our first heat of Newcomer Juniors. What a performance they all gave. This followed with our other heats in the relative divisions. Placed in between these preliminaries was our newest division - Starter. Over 30 dancers competed in this new One Dance division and oh my, did they get some support from the 300 strong audience. The Starter scoring was produced quickly by our scorer Sam Robins and the Starter awards were done by the end of the heats. Congratulations to all the Starter dancers - you were magnificent and we hope you all come back and compete again. Everyone else, watch out for the new Starter Division next year and get some people rallied up to compete. One dance, three divisions, offered at every competition concluding at Worlds 2011!

At 3:30 we were finally ready to start our Finals. A little late in the day but the time flew by. Thank you to all our amazing staff for their organisation and the wonderful competitors for being ready to go whenever we called them. This was by far the most tense schedule we have ever run and by 19:00 we were ready for all the trophies to be awarded. Now that is called super efficiency!

Finally at 20:00 we started our evening social (Sam disappeared to go and catch up on the England football match for a brief 30 minutes). DJ'd by Tommy Weafer and our very own Nicola Lafferty, everybody enjoyed a wonderful evening of dancing and relaxing until.....well, 03:00!!

And that concluded the Irish Masters 2010. Once again, thank you to EVERYONE for the unbelievable support. Thank you to the Park Hotel for helping make everything run smoothly and a special thank you to Elaine Fox, Sharon Kennedy, Jason Hill, Rosita Shekelton, Damien Brady, Tommy Weafer, David Fiddis, David Marsh, Paul Culshaw, Lee Easton, Ann Cunningham, Fred Whitehouse, Bernie Lenaghan and Gail Cowie (temporary photographer while Sam was too busy!) for all their help and support throughout the day.

For all those coming to Worlds, see you there. For all those not, we hope to see you at the Irish Challenge, 4th September 2010 in Ty Holland!

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!