European Dance Masters 2011

Well, what can we say except WOW?! The event, the photos, the videos, the competition, the dancing, the Flashmob, the feedback; European Dance Masters 2011 was a resounding success all round.

Before we go any further, we'd like to thank each and every person who supported our event - it really does mean the world to the WDM Team.

Now to the nitty gritty - the event itself!

General Setup

We began to set-up the hotel on Thursday morning, double checking rooming lists, bringing all equipment into the venue and generally just getting in the correct frame of mind for the weekend ahead. Alongside us was the ProDanceFloors Team preparing to lay the fantastic dance floors. Due to the design of the Britannia Adelphi Hotel, each panel of flooring has to be brought up a flight of stairs, through a corridor, down a ramp and down more stairs to be laid - PHEW. The PDF boys did a fantastic job ensuring that the floors were down in time for the start of the event - thanks boys :)

After an evening of Sam double and triple checking everything, Friday arrived. Airport runs, lost luggage, eating arrangements and more! No sooner had Friday started was it 18:00 and time for wristband collection and competition registration to open. People began arriving in a steady stream to get their band in time for the big kick of at 20:00.

Friday Evening

Friday at European Dance Masters is a relaxed but exciting warm-up and welcome to the event. 2 rooms open - WCS with Euro Swing Masters in the Lobby and Beatlefest 2 social dancing in the Ballroom. At 22:00 Lee Easton and Fabienne Henshall taught the Flashmob routine to 'DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love' by Usher and Pitbull. This has been taught at several of our events and follows on from our performance in Blackpool at last years UK Masters and Xmas Party. The plan was to perform it in Liverpool City Centre the following day. The workshop was very well attended with everyone, even if they weren't familiar with WCS, having a go. It was great to see the interaction and crossover between our competition, social and WCS dancers :) Following the workshop we continued into a relaxed night of social dancing and requests with the Beatlefest room open until 02:00 and the Euro Swing Masters room staying open until 03:30!

Saturday Daytime

Saturday morning was the first time all 3 rooms of the event were open, and everyone came together for a little warm-up. MORNING ZUMBA! Our Competition Director Nicola Lafferty led everyone in a warm-up to get the blood circulating and everyone pumped for the rest of the day.

In attendance for the weekend was photographer Jay Brooks taking some promotional shots for WDM. Jay has photographed, amongst others, Kayne West, JLS, Ellie Goulding, Little Boots, Simon Pegg, Daft Punk, The Bafta Awards, Danny Dyer and Kings of Leon! Our event photographers were Jacqui Fowler and Jamie Whalley.

European Dance Masters Championships

Our European Dance Masters Championships were represented by 9 countries this year and the dancing was a magnificent sight to behold. Our dancers excelled themselves as usual showing that the standard of our competitions really is the highest in the industry.

Competition DJ for the weekend was Jamie Whalley with Sam Robins as scorer. Our judges for the weekend were World Champions and Internationally recognized judges: Jodie Seedel, Rachael McEnaney, Sydney Smyth, Emily Drinkall, IDTA Professional Zoe Powell, Competition Director Nicola Lafferty and our special guest judge - Strictly Come Dancing Showdancer, UK Latin/Ballroom/Ten Dance Champion Crystal Main!

Saturday began our Pro-Am competition with our Professional dancers Sam Robins, Lee Easton, James McLauchlan and Fred Whitehouse - they showed off their students who, in turn, demonstrated their incredible abilities. Following the Pro-Am competition were the solo heats, followed by Duos and Quads. Again, and we never tire of saying this ever, the standard is simply incredible, especially from our younger dancers who show a maturity and talent far beyond their years. We had a break for 30 minutes to go out of the venue into Liverpool City Centre to perform the Flashmob - See Below.

We held our Pro-Am, Duos and Quads awards on Saturday evening so everyone didn't have to wait until Sunday for their results (Sam's super efficient at scoring now!). 

Beatlefest 2

As with a lot of the events he does, DJ Big Dave stayed at the decks the entire weekend, making sure everyone was catered for. In our social and workshop part of the event, held in the Lobby, Choreographers Rob Fowler, Guyton Mundy, Craig Bennett and Rachael McEnaney taught some great dances:

"Love Your Flavour" to Baby Get Down by Tomi [Link to Follow]

"Mmm Dada" to Turn Around 5 4 3 2 1 by Flo Rida

Perfect to Perfect by Pink

"Born This Way" to Born This Way by Lady GaGa

"Raise Your Glass" to Raise Your Glass by Pink

As part of the social weekend we had a Magical Mystery Game. At the end of each workshop a question was read out and once all had been answered a room would be revealed. The first person to get to the room would win a bottle of champagne and a Beatles box set worth £250!!!! Read on to find out who won. Social Dancing was only interrupted for everyone to take part in the Flashmob (See Below)

Euro Swing Masters

Euro Swing Masters 2011 welcomed Pete Green (of Where's Westie fame), Elizabeth LaGue, Sean McKeever and Courtney Adair from the USA [Minus their luggage for the 1st day] as well as UK favourites Lee Easton, Fabienne Henshall and James McLauchlan, teaching not only WCS but a little Country 2-Step and Nightclub 2-Step as well.

Saturday Workshops included 'Playing Footsie with your Partner', 'Shaping Your Swing' and 'Connection with Direction'. J&J and Strictly Swing prelims were held on Saturday evening following the Flashmob - See Below.

Flashmob

If you weren't in attendance or haven't seen it - check out the video on YouTube here! We attracted a great crowd who were all intrigued and excited to see what was going on. If you have any videos of the Flashmob, you can send them us so we can make a compilation. Go to www.wetransfer.com and upload your video(s) sending to samuel@worlddancemasters.com.

Saturday Evening

Saturday night was social dancing in 2 ballrooms, again with our Swing dancers taking over the lobby and social dancers and competition dancers taking over the Ballroom. 

The climax of Saturday evening was the show - An incredible display of talent, dedication and performance. First up was our Competition Quads who danced their own choreography to United State of Pop by DJ Earworm.  This was followed by Pete Green and Liz LaGue who performed a WCS Lead and Follow. Next to take to the floor was Division 1 dancer George Hodson who performed a Street Dance routine, closely followed by Lee Easton & Fabienne Henshall dancing a beautiful Nightclub routine. Superstar World Champion and Masters Judge, Emily Drinkall, took to the floor to perform a Samba line dance.  Next to take to the floor were Sean McKeever and Courtney Adair who danced a classic WCS routine. Finally the WDM Elite Show Team featuring Crystal Main. WOWZERS! You can check our videos of all the performances on our YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/worlddancemasters.

 

Following the show, social dancing and freestyle continued until 3am in the Ballroom and 430 in the Lobby. 

Sunday Daytime

Following a late night it was time for an early start for our dancers! Again it was time for MORNING ZUMBA this time with Sydney Smyth who not only led the routines but got involved on the floor and had everyone running around the room.

European Dance Masters Championship

Sunday brought with it what we'd all been waiting for - the finals of the solo divisions. These divisions were unbelievably hard for our judges as the standard and talent on show was beyond belief. For finals day we were treated to 4 different Emcees - Rob Fowler for dance 1, Craig Bennett for dance 2, and both Lee Easton and Guyton Mundy for dance 3! Interspersed between the 3 dances both Nicola and Rachael taught 2 new competition dances in anticipation of the new dance releases coming up (see website for more details). And if that wasn't enough our dancers were treated to a Cha Cha technique workshop from Crystal Main - a highlight of the weekend for many. Following a short break it was time for awards, announced by a lady who worked tirelessly all weekend and took numerous different roles, Rachael McEnaney! There were smiles and happiness all around as we crowned our new European Champions!

Beatlefest 2

Dances taught on Sunday, which were all well received were:

'Messy Little Rain Drops' to Messy Little Rain Drops by Cheryl Cole

'Can't Handle Me!' to Club Can't Handle This by Flo Rida

"Renegades" [Link To Follow]

"Whole New Thing" [Link To Follow]

The Magical Mystery Competition Winners were Carol Baker and Chris Atkinson winning a bottle of champagne and the Beatles box set worth £250!!!!

Euro Swing Masters

Sunday’s Swingtastic workshops kicked off with Pete and Liz 'Use after Function', followed by 'Seamless Transitions' and 'Let the music be your guide'. The Jack & Jill and Strictly Swing finals took place on Sunday evening.

Sunday Evening

Closing Party

Following the close down of the Competition and Swing ballrooms, it was time for our favorite part of the event - the closing party. Now it's not our favorite because it's the end of the event, that couldn't be further from the truth. It's our favorite because everyone is simply so relaxed, at ease, and enjoying themselves. 

All attendees mixed on the same dance floor, maximising floor splits and really having a great laugh. Dave and Lee kept everyone dancing for hours and hours and hours, including line dances, WCS, party tracks and novelty songs and even more of the same again. Finally it was time for bed at 04:30am!

What a weekend. Again, we’d like to thank all the staff mentioned above in this blog as well as our Event Sponsor ProDanceFloors (www.prodancefloors.com), Door Staff and Security John, Elizabeth, Laraine and Andy, vendors ProDanceFootwear and Tynedancer, the Britannia Adelphi Hotel and finally you!

Southern Masters 2011

This year we had a change in venue for our annual Southern Masters competition. The newly renovated Old Regent Ballroom in Stanford-le-Hope, run by the incomparable Frankie Cull & Shawnee Young, was our destination.  With the World Dance Masters (WDM) Team based in different locations, we travelled from all around the country from Blackpool, Manchester, London and Glasgow to reach our destination.

On arriving at the venue (once we’d found it due to Sam’s rubbish SatNav), a lovely entrance invited us upstairs to a very impressive space, just perfect for our competition. Frankie & Shawnee were very accommodating to the team, helping in every way they could.

We opened the doors at 10:00am to a stream of waiting guests outside who soon made themselves very comfortable – the venue is great with a large dance floor, superb lighting and a friendly and fun atmosphere. If you haven’t had chance to visit, we strongly recommend you do.

The day started with a Zumba warm up from our Competition Director Nicola Lafferty who had our dancers (and even a few mums, dads and grans) up getting a little out of breath with a fantastic 3 track warm up routine. Everybody was now fully ready to take to the floor. Our team for the day were judges Nicola Lafferty, Jodie Seedel, Fabienne Henshall & apprentice judging Leigh Welch, with MC Lee Easton, Scorer Sam Robins & Jamie Whalley doubling up as DJ and photographer.

The competition started with our Pro-Am dancers taking over the floor and showing what they had to offer. Some amazing dancing skills from Newcomer to Advanced were displayed. Next up was dance 1 of our solo competition, and if you’ve never been to a WDM event before, the competition really does have to be seen to be believed. Our Rugrats & Primary divisions are often more closely fought than our top Allstars division, and Southern Masters was no exception, with our youngest dancers excelling themselves.

Following dances 1 & 2 we had a West Coast Swing workshop with Lee & Fabienne. This was to teach the Flashmob WCS routine to ‘DJ Got Us Falling in Love’ by Usher and Pitbull. If you haven’t seen the Flashmob, or indeed West Coast Swing then take a look at www.worlddancemasters.com, our Facebook page (Search for World Dance Masters) or YouTube to see what it’s all about.

After a short break we went into dance 3 of the competition, Funky and Showdance. This is always a joy to see as everyone, dancer or spectator is really pumped up. The atmosphere was electric. With all the solo competition over it was time for our Duos. ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ by Bette Midler, and ‘Canned Heat’ by Jamiroquai were the songs used for our competitors to showcase their own choreography – a real treat.  Our awards ceremony wrapped the competition up nicely with everyone winning a trophy & certificate and qualifying for the Euro Dance Masters 2011 Championships in March, and completing one of the required two qualifiers for World Dance Masters in August.

A short break in the early evening for the team to enjoy a nice curry (yum yum) and onto the  evening social hosted by Frankie himself. The night started off with some great golden oldies including the likes of ‘Swing It’ (Nicola’s very favourite dance ever), ‘Smooth Criminal’ and ‘MJ Moves’ with Jamie in his element remembering practically all of them! The social had a fantastic mix of beginner to advanced dances, partner & circle dances, a little west coast swing and even more of the latest top 10. 

The WDM team then took to the floor to perform a show – a west coast swing routine from Lee & Fabienne, a Duos routine from Hannah Day & Danielle Louise Rowe and finally the Masters Elite Show Team medley that they performed at the Crystal Boot Awards in January. The atmosphere was electric the whole day long, helped by the lighting, acoustics and feel of the venue – Frankie really has excelled himself. It was a great evening. To find out more of the venue visit their website www.theoldregentballroom.com.

The World Dance Masters Team would like to thank Frankie & Shawnee for making us so welcome, all our competitors, their friends, parents and families for attending and supporting the event, and every social dancer who attended the evening party.

Welsh Masters 2011

Welsh Masters 2011 was the first Welsh event Masters have held for several years so we were all very excited to be back. This year, the event was in Barry Island – made famous by BBC comedy serious ‘Gavin & Stacey’, so we were star spotting too!

Arriving at the venue, Barry Island Sports & Social Club, we set up for doors to open at 10.00am; most of Sam’s time was spent messing around with (sorry – technically adjusting!) the lights to set the stage and banners with just the right atmosphere. The trophies looked awesome.

 Event staff for the day were Judges Sydney Smyth, Paul Culshaw & Competition Director Nicola Lafferty with apprentice judge Abbie Ingram, scorer & photographer Sam Robins & DJ Jamie Whalley. A special thanks also goes to Charlotte O’Connor for manning the door all day. We kicked off with a Zumba workout from Sydney Smyth – competitors, parents and spectators alike joined in and soon everyone’s pulses were racing as they danced through 3 high energy routines.  Zumba is a great way to warm up our competitors ready for the day’s competition, and also a fun easy form of dance that non-dancers can join in and have fun with.

Following the Zumba and competition warm-up music it was time for our dancers to take to the floor. From Rugrats & Primary to Advanced & Allstars, we had dancers from every division – some competing with Masters for the very 1^st time. Dance 1 was followed by a WCS Flashmob workshop with Sam & Nicola.

If you haven’t seen the WCS Flashmob look out for the video coming soon to our Facebook page. We performed it at UK Masters in December in Blackpool and are planning to perform it in Liverpool City Centre at European Dance Masters in March – make sure you’re there.

Back to the competition, Dance B came and went without a hitch, and with lots of smiles. Following Dance B was a Latin/Street dance workshop with Paul Culshaw. This was a complex & fast routine but as always, our dancers never faulted and relished to opportunity to get their teeth into some great choreography from Paul.

Dance C was a hi-light of the competition, as our younger dancers got to show off their high energy funky routines and we got entertained by our older dancers performing their showdances.  Nicola then taught a Newcomer level Nightclub line dance to the beautiful Country version of ‘Home’ by Blake Shelton and we had a recap of all the workshops that had been taught during the day.

It was then time for awards, with competitors receiving trophies and certificates and in the case of our Primary dancers, teddy bears too!

We closed for a few hours to allow the team to eat – KFC (yum yum) and opened again at 7.30pm for our evening social. As ever we had a wide range of dancers at our social, competitors, intermediate dancers, advanced dancers, parents and friends so there was a very wide range of dances. From the latest top 10 to golden oldies from the early 90’s and everything in between. If you haven’t been to a Masters evening social event you should, we try as much as we can to play all requests and to cater for as many different people as we can.

The social finished up at 11.00pm with everyone tired but happy! It was then time for the team to pack up and head to bed.  We’d like to thank everyone who came to support the Welsh Masters, and hope to see you at one of our upcoming events: Southern Masters & French Masters in February and European Masters & Southern Swedish Cup in March.

Blackpool Tower Ballroom 2010

It would be incorrect to state the day of the UK Masters & Xmas Social in Blackpool Tower Ballroom started early on Saturday 11th December, as for the Masters Team the day started months before in preparation. The actual day brought about feelings of relief at being able to see the finishing line, yet at the same time those of regret that it’ll be over for another year (anyone who has run an event before should be able to relate to this strange sensation).

It all officially kicked-off at 05:30, when the dedicated Masters Team arose from their beds, prepared themselves and made their way to the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom for 07:00. The Ballroom itself is so spectacular that decorating too much would be an injustice. The Team basically had to set-up trophies, the DJ & Scoring desks, Registration and work with the Tower Representatives on the lighting. Everything was ready to go for doors opening at 09:30.



Dancers from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and even the Netherlands began fluttering in to witness the only Line Dance event each year to be held in this most beautiful setting. By 10:30 there were 268 people in the Ballroom ready for the 2nd UK Masters Competition to begin. Competition started with a very special Pro-Am session, danced entirely to Christmas Songs (a musical challenge only Nicola Lafferty could manage), by more than 30 competitors and an array of very capable Pro’s.  After the Christmas cheer was officially brought to the Ballroom through this wonderful selection of music, it was time to run our first Solo Heats of the day.



All dancers at the 2nd UK Masters were judged by a panel of international qualified dancers; Nicola Lafferty (Competition Director of World Dance Masters), Ronnie DeBenedetta (UCWDC Masters Champion), Jodie Seedel (Star of Strictly Dance Fever), Emily Drinkall (UCWDC Superstar), Fabienne Henshall (UCWDC Superstar) & Lee Easton (UCWDC Superstar). Our MC for the day was the wonderful Rachael McEnaney and the DJ was Big Dave Baycroft.
Once our judges had seen our Pro-Am and Heats danced, it was time for a very special surprise. A super-special guest had travelled from the North Pole just to see our extremely talented dancers and present them all with little gift. The atmosphere grew to a peak just in time for the 2nd UK Masters Finals, providing an electric environment for dancers young and old to experience.



The competition was, once again, an amazing standard. Sometimes we sit in our little chairs at home and think about the day that passed, comparing it to five years ago. The development in ability of all the dancers at Masters events has been incredibly tremendous! The scoring proved how close these divisions are, with quite a few ties throughout the competition. We even had a splendid new Cabaret Team who treated the audience to a performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Umpa Lumpa’s stole the show…

The competition finished by 19:15 and our new UK Champions had reaped their rewards (all results are now available in the Results section), but the day was far from over. In thirty minutes the event would transform from a Competition to a Christmas Party with Rachael McEnaney and Dave Baycroft. The array of dancing was something to behold, we had everyone from Beginners to Advanced in the Ballroom, all being catered for terrifically by DJ Dave. Rachael taught two dances over the evening, Since You Brought It Up and Dynamo, both of which went down exceptionally well with all levels of dancer.



The atmosphere on this festive evening summed up exactly what we wanted to achieve; all types and levels of dancer enjoying what they love the most in undoubtedly the most spectacular ballroom in the country. As 00:30 approached DJ Dave pressed on with the music, pushing our Get-Out limits to maximise as much time as possible in the Tower Ballroom. Eventually, as 00:45 hit, we closed down for the evening and said goodbye to Blackpool for one more year.

Fret not. We have already confirmed with the Tower Management Team for next years event. We’ll be back, bigger and better than ever, on the 10th December 2011. We are also issuing a Pre-Payment System, helping dancers and guests pay for their tickets before December (and Christmas!) approaches. With our Pre-Payment system you can select your tickets and pay them off over several months, paying it off in full by October and therefore meaning the only costs before the event are travel and accommodation (if needed). Click here for more details!

The next event for us is the Welsh Masters in January 2011. The first event of the New Year in Barry, with Competition during the day followed by an evening of social dancing and requests. We look forward to seeing some of you there!!

Merry Christmas to all our guests, competitors and parents. We wish you all the very best for 2011 and look forward to seeing you at any of our events.

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.

1st Masters Day of Dance incorporating Northern Masters 2010

This year’s Northern Masters was definitely something a little different. We wanted to try something new, so we introduced the 1^st Day of Dance to the Northern Masters 2010. Based upon the idea of offering even better value for money for our dancers AND spectators, we introduced a time-utilised day of competition and workshops, literally providing a full day of dance for all our attendees.

These were not standard workshops though, they were picked and decided upon by notion of offering dance styles that the competitors don’t usually, or might never have, enjoyed. We had Zumba (the latest latin fitness craze sweeping the WORLD!), West Coast Swing, Mambo, Jazz & Social Line Dance (something a lot of competitors don’t get to enjoy that regularly).

The day began at around 06:00 for the Masters Team, who all arose to make the journey to The Dance Studio, Preston, Lancs (ran by the delightful and always helpful Julie & Colin Carr). After setting up, doors were opened at around 10:00 and the guests settled into their favourite seats and prepared for the day. After some initial warm-up music the first workshop started – ZUMBA! The floor was full and it was very entertaining. Qualified Zumba Instructor Nicola Lafferty took to the stage for around 40 minutes while competitors, spectators and parents enjoyed a thorough workout. Some of the tracks used were C'Mon & Dance (a merengue/hip hop track), Los Campeones del a Salsa & Baila Pa Emonciona - Calypso, No Americano & finally a cool down to Breath by Faith Hill.

The Pro-Am practice music followed and then continued into our Pro-Am competition, straight into Dance A of the Line Dances. The dances used for this competition were the same as Worlds 2010 so everyone got to the bust out the moves they already knew. Remember that all the dances will change for UK Masters in December! After Dance A and Pro-Am had concluded we started with our second workshop, a very special West Coast Swing session taught by Nicola Lafferty & Sam Robins.

In this workshop Nicola & Sam taught a small, 32-count swing routine to Usher’s DJ Got Us Falling in Love which is going to be used to conduct a Flash Mob in Blackpool Town Centre on Sunday 12^th December 2010, the morning after our event in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. For more information on this Flash Mob, click here. Find out what a Flash Mob is, where and why we plan to do it and find a video of the routine to learn so you can join in! We’ll be teaching this at all of our next events so that everyone can participate!

After this we had another fabulous display of talent when we proceed with Dance B of our competition. This event had everything in the competition stakes, competitors new and old (some first time dancers with Masters and some of our new Division 1 graduates dancing for the first time); the standard of competition was proving to be as amazing as always. Next we had a Latin workshop from IDTA Instructor Zoe Powell. Zoe (and reluctant partner Sam, who knew nothing about the next dance form or the routine that was about to be taught) took to the floor to teach the dancers and parents about the Mambo! Sexy, sassy, and pretty fast, everyone enjoyed this 30 minute insight into one of the more technical Latin dances to 'Johnny's Theme' from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.

Back to the competition. The dancers finished of their work through Dance C, bringing our competition to and end but with still two workshops left! The next workshop was taught by Strictly Dance Fever finalist & Division 1 World Champion Paul Culshaw. Paul took to the stage to teach a Jazz number to a great DJ Earthworm track - the Sean Kingston Beautiful Mashup'! It was great to see not only experienced dancers on the floor learning this but also social dancers and parents. It definitely brought a sweat on to all those who participated. 

The final workshop of the day came from The Dance Studio's very own Julie Carr who taught a new 48 count 2 wall high intermediate dance by Dee Musk called Fall Apart to a great track by the same name from Sarah Connor which went down well - You can view the script here, and video here. The final part of the first aspect of the 1st Day of Dance was the awards. Some very close divisions in this competition proved that the standard of dance at Masters Competitions keeps getting better with the gap between levels ever narrowing!

After a small break we re-opened the doors for the evening social with DJ Jamie & DJ Sam, which went on until 23:30. The dance requests were very VERY eclectic, old and new ranging from No Salvation and Murder My Heart to T-Bone Shuffle & Lamtara Rumba, from I Run To You, Drip Droppin', Haunted & Hot Out Of The Box, to Deeply Completely, Do Your Thing, Now or Never, Brucie, Tik Tok Drop, Stupid In Love and much much MUCH more, finally being brought to an end by DJ Sam getting everyone in the Christmas spirit by doing the Tush Push to All I Want For Christmas (Is You) by Mariah Carey! Only 74 sleeps to go!!!

We'd like to thank everyone for their support on this experimental day. We have an amazing time and the feedback we have received has been great. We'll definitely be introducing more of these workshops at future events so keep your eyes peeled for more information. For more information on the UK Masters Flash Mob that we will be conducting please click here.

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