[Chef]

THE GOOD.

Jordan and Tatianas teaching was as ever superb. Full of detail and delivered in a well paced manner and with humour to illustrate points. I initially thought (silly me) that with only four lessons during the weekend that the teaching content looked a little light. Each of the lessons was 90 minutes (at least) long and so full that by the end of each day I felt completely unable to think about anything more.

Blisworth and the surrounding area is just beautiful as is the venue in its delivery of stone building and thatched roof charm. It defiantely made me feel that I would like to explore the area more just for its beauty.


THE NOT SO GOOD.

There were only two things that didn't rock my world (my own dancing isn't under the control of the organisers) this weekend.

The Marquee was just too small for the number of people in the class. With spare followers standing between the couples people were in collision most of the time. The unpartnered followers quickly got the idea that they should move during the walkthoughs just so that they stay out of the way of the moving dancers. It did make you stay very accurately on the slot. The cramped conditions meant that it was very difficult for people to see the teachers footwork. Jordan and Tatiana tried to mitigate this by getting the class to sit on the floor during the footwork demonstrations.

The floor of the marquee was so badly fixed to the ground that the individaul boards would flex and not meet at the edges so followers and leaders were catching their feet on the edges as they moved. You had to accurately control your follower so that and you delivered your follower to do any turning triple steps away from any joining points of the boards.

The lunches were pre ordered so that the catering staff could have everything ready for when the morning class ended. However you had to queue up to collect and pay for you meal which slowed everything down to a crawl (30 minutes in our case for a simple pre- prepared sandwich). The roast dinner on Sunday was delicious but still involved a long wait in a queue in a now crowded pub(50 people all waiting for food). I feel certain that this will be sorted out for the next event.

The Freestyles

I didn't stay for the Sunday evening freestyle so I can't comment.

Dancing in the barn was on the best floor in the venue and was quite comfortable once the radiant wall heaters were all switched off. Dancing in the Marquee was cooler but made more difficult by the quality of the floor as as already been mentioned.

Freestyles are, at my current ability level, quite a trial for me and I feel I I am not able to deliver a well lead, smooth and musically interpretive dance for followers. The accomplished followers on the scene are putting in their syncopations as I lead my basic moves and the whole thing leaves me confused and unsure as to wether they are finished and I should lead or just wait until they give me a quizzical look of "are you going to lead something". At one point I walked into the marquee and saw a whole line of women along a complete side of the tent, thought it might be Jordans queue until I saw he wasn't in the room. I considered if I should ask one of the multitude of women to dance and felt I would rather not go through (or put the followers through) the whole experience again by asking anyone to dance.

I have spent two years, a lot of miles and money trying to get to grips with this dance and it just isn't fun for me yet. Every time I meet a new set of teachers there is a new way of dancing the basics. I try to learn what one set of teachers tell me and get it into my bones and then a new set of pros come over from america and I am supposed to unlearn everything and learn it over again in the new way. Having to learn and unlearn stuff 9 times over is getting me fed up. I really think it is time for me to accept defeat.