Viktor & Lydia

[flashy]

hello folks..... new member here.... great site, & nice to chat about dancey stuff. Will pop back again later when I can think of something clever to say.....
Really enjoyed V&L today, and found out about this site via those groovy T-shirts! Found the class had FAR TO MANY LONG MOVES though, despite being advertised as a style w'shop.

[filthycute]

great to see a new member glad our t-shirts did the trick
BIG thanks to Sheena for them didn't she do a brilliant job


filthycute x x

[DaveD]

I too thought V&L were brilliant - just so fluid in the movements. I didn't have a problem with the length of the moves, just thought some were difficult to lead if the lady didn't know what to expect. Tried them with my other half (who didn't do the workshop) with about a 50% success rate. The successful (leadable) moves got a "wow that's nice" response The others tended to end in a tangle of arms for example the "basket salsa back pretzel" - more practice required obviously!

I particularly liked the first move mambo, but I will probably bore everyone to death with this on the regular Dundee Wednesdays!

Dave

PS liked the T shirts too

[Janet]

Glad someone has started a new thread about the workshop. I hope Lydia manages to find it!?

I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU to both Lydia and Viktor for their workshop. I thought it was fantastic.
It is amazing what you can do with even the simplest moves.

I hope you both enjoyed your flying visit to Scotland, despite the total lack of sunshine! Maybe see you at the Scottish Championships and/or the 10th Anniversary Party???

Janet

[flashy]

when are the scottish ceroc championships????

[filthycute]

when is the 10th anniversary?

filthycute x x

[Janet]

Scottish Championships - 20th October in Musselburgh.
(Scot, what happened to your big announcement at the weekend?)

10th Anniversary Party - 23rd November in Glasgow.

Put the dates in your diary!!!

It's all on the website/chat forum, if you can find it.
I'm sure that Franck and Scot will be giving us more information on both events soon?


Janet

[flashy]

thanks for dates - they're in the diary!

[John McAulay]

Hi girls it was a pleasure meeting you all at the workshop
Even Heather, the T shirts were the biz
Had a fab time, first time IÕve been to Marcos
Will not be the last.
IÕve noted the dates for the Scottish Champs and the 10th Anniversary
Hope to see you all there.
regards


ps Victor & Lydia Wow!!!

[Heather]

What DO you mean John " even Heather".
I'm deeply hurt!!!!!!!
I thought Sheena told you to be nice to me!!!!
Glad you enjoyed the workshop, it was "SUPERB" (as Scot would say!!) However I was at learning saturation point by about 3pm.
Too much to take in at one go.
See you soon John

[Tiggerbabe]

I really, really enjoyed the workshop ( and the party - had a blast - plus got a dance from Viktor - WOW!) although I do think it would perhaps have been better if it had been advertised as an advanced class.
I had thoroughly recommended it to a few of the newer members of our class (they are not beginners but early intermediate!) and felt a bit guilty as I think a couple of them struggled with the moves. I thought they would get lots of style pointers - but it wasn't that type of class.
I'm sure a few of the guys that were there, might not have come if they had realised what they would be doing - would this have meant sitting out more often than 1 in 3? Or would the gentlemen who obviously think they have enough style already have booked in to learn new moves?
Answers on a postcard please............................

p.s. thought you looked great in your t-shirt Franck

Nice to meet you too John and Janet ( that should be the other way round! ) Still working on a babysitter so I can get to the Vegas Night!

[Janet]

Originally posted by Sheena
I really, really enjoyed the workshop...

Me too! Did I say that already???

...and the party - had a blast - plus got a dance from Viktor - WOW!

Lucky you!!! I came back to Glasgow and didn't even get a dance with Franck . Claimed he'd injured his knee or something at the workshop. Can't take the pace Franck? Still a great party though.

... although I do think it would perhaps have been better if it had been advertised as an advanced class.

The workshop was a good mix of style and advanced moves, but perhaps not what everyone expected from the blurb. Still, I'm not complaining - just glad I didn't have to lead! Had an interesting class on Monday getting passed between the Glasgow men who went to the workshop, in order to practise all those new moves!

Good to meet you too Sheena and everyone else that I don't get to see often enough .
Heather, the T-shirts were great. Please e-mail your image of Top Cat to Franck so that he can change is Forum avatar!

Janet

p.s. Mmmm, I learned to read on Janet and John. Please tell me they are still going strong so that I don't feel so old!

[Amanda]

Originally posted by Janet

p.s. Mmmm, I learned to read on Janet and John. Please tell me they are still going strong so that I don't feel so old!

Janet and John were the biz in the 60's.

And then of course, there were Peter and Susan....

Amanda

[John McAulay]

The 60's your never that old!!

Im a Bill and Ben, man myself

regards

[Bill]

Another fab workshop from V & Lydia and sorry I couldn't make the party in the evening but I'd pay money just to watch them dance

The complaint last time was there were too many moves and not enough style so I thought this time it was just right. They can make even simple moves look superb and demonstrate clearly it's not the number of moves, or how intricate they are, it's the style and confidence you do them with that really counts.

Mind you I did struggle with a couple of them and the Aberdeen girls (especially Lisa and Laura) were guinea pigs on Tuesday helping us men try out moves till we got them (nearly) right

Next time I see V & L I will definitely make every effort to ask L for a dance. And V did look pretty neat in his kilt on Friday night at the ceilidh Now he knows what Scotsmen wear under their kilt and why

[Janet]

Janet and John were the biz in the 60's.

Cheers Amanda. I think that had the opposite effect to the response I was looking for!

The 60's your never that old!!

Thanks John!!! Not sure if that was directed at Amanda or me but it makes me much feel better. Not quite ready to wear purple and run my stick along the railings yet!

Janet

[Cerocfan]

I went to the Viktor & Lydia w/shop and was disappointed to find it contained very little style help & was really just a moves w/shop.

There was too much talking & not enough opportunity to practise the moves - sometimes we were moved on after one chance to try it & sometimes, if I was sitting out, I didn't get to practise parts of the move at all. Which leads me to my main complaint - there were too many women.

The previous week, Scot had said there was 1 man place left. We assumed that meant the numbers would be equal, which they should have been because we paid the same money as the men who were on the floor all the time.

I know at least 1 woman paid to dance as a man , but after the morning break, danced as a woman. There were a lot of women who felt they had been short changed, & I know several men as well as women left before the end because the wirkshop was not a 'Style' one as they had expected.

It's great that teachers from all over te country come up to teach here but I feel we deserve what is advertised, and full value for our fee.

Having said that, I enjoyed the day & evening in spite of the above

[John McAulay]

I have to totally agree with cerocfan
Far too many extra ladies which just caused a distraction when moving in and out
Far too little time with the same partner again loosing continuity
Whist I understand the reasons for no Video a class of this standard should come
With hand out notes, its not possible for the hole class to got to the side and take notes
In a class of 4-5 hrs brain saturation hits about 3.5 to 4 hrs.
I had no problem with the content of the course and would happily pay money
to watch Lydia dance, with victor.

Regards

[Lydia]

Hello to EVERYONE!

After a busy week at the office I have just had the opportunity to read through this Thread of the forum..and found your comments very interesting..the good as well as the not so good ones!

Now to answer some of the comments:
Regarding the style / advanced workshop..this is the second one that we do in Edinburgh. The first workshop we did last year, had the most of the morning session dedicated to style itself or better..on how to make the simple moves look superb and flowy going through male & female pointers and then Intermediate/Advanced moves in the remaining 1.5 hours in the afternoon. The workshop we did last weekend was the Style/ Advanced workshop number 2...we had only planned to go through selected points of style part for 1.5 hours in the morning, while the rest of the day would be used to practice those pointers on the more complicated moves...When we did the style workshop 1, a lot of people - though they enjoyed it - commented that there wasn't enough "hard" moves and too much style (!!), that's why this time round we didn't spend as much time on the simpler moves but tried to incorporate some of the style into the hard one..can't win! Sorry Sheena & Flashy , it's always difficult to please everyone because every single person has a different view of what they are going to do and also because they are at different dance levels..we just teach our workshops trying to satisfy as many people as possible..we aim to please, we just thought that this time we had to bring a new workshop to Scotland which was different from the first one by placing in some stylish advanced moves without concentrating too much on the basic moves... I hope you managed to enjoy your day nevertheless and got something out of it.

Regarding the fact that there was too many women waiting on the side is always a difficult one..I know Scot tried his best to get equal numbers but even on the day you never know who will turn up...numbers are unfortunately not guaranteed and I can understand why some of the women won't very pleased..that's why we tried to move the girls as often as we could so that they wouln't stay too long on the side..sorry about this ladies!

As far as DaveD' comment about the practising of the moves is concerned..yep yep yep ..practice makes perfect! If you are dancing with someone and they don't know what move you are trying to do it's or because they've never done it before (and even though it is leadable there's always the problem of the unknown..I do that all the time!) or the lead is not very clear..every single move we teach are in essence leadable in freestyle and providing that the person you are dancing with knows it and that your lead is clear, she'll do it without any probs! Now regarding the Basket Back Pretzel..I think the part you may have problems with is the start of the pretzel ...little tip from me...before you start turning your partner take your right elbow down first and then raiseand straighten your right arm (bit like you are doing a catapult) this makes your partner turn the right way..try this and if you still have problems..I'm here!

Hello CerocFan. ..whoever you are...when we plan our workshops we try to spend as much time as possible on each move for everyone to "get it", but we can take more time on each move if needs be..we really don't mind people asking us to go through it again and again we're here for that..we usually ask if there are anything people want us to repeat or clarify but never get much luck...

John McAulay...I know that most people (except from Scot!) don't have the time or frame of mind to write down notes during the workshop that's why we are half way through a whole description of each move we did during the workshop!!!
The reason why we don't hand them out at the workshop itself is because we have a whole list of about 20 new moves which we pick & mix on the day to adapt to the crowd....so I will email one list to Scot and one to Frank who will give one to each of you who were on the workshop..is this good news?

Bill..you could have asked me for a dance..when my shoulder wasn't hurting I was OK! I book you in for next time..just remind me on the day!!

David B..I thought your email was very interesting..something to think about! :p

Last but not least JANET.. See I did find the thread..I am quite clever (that's the French in me!)I thought I'd follow the Viktor & Lydia link!! Yeah we had a great time and Saturday was gorgeous and sunny which was a bonus! Although we were tired by the time we got home (had to be at the airport at 7:00am on the Sunday!!!) we had a fab time and thank you for taking us out Scottish Style!

I hope this answer everyones' questions/ comments and I hope that in the whole people were pleased with us!

As far as coming back soon..it'll probably be for freestyle or just say "hello" but we will not do another workshop for Ceroc anymore as you might have heard that Viktor and I resigned this week from the Ceroc Teachers Association...we'll still be dancing aroung the country (Ceroc & non Ceroc evenings) and giving classes and workshops to whoever wants us but not under the Ceroc Banner:sorry ... so if you see us somewhere please do come and say HI...

I will still check out this forum and answer everyone's questions about everything (well keep it to the dancing subject!).

Lots of love xxxx

Lydia

[Sandy]

Originally posted by John McAulay
The 60's your never that old!!

Im a Bill and Ben, man myself

regards

Actually the woodentops were my favourites, at least you could understand what they were saying! Mind you I have met a few folk who talk like Bill & Ben! And there's always little Weeeeed of course!

Cheers

Sandra - definitely giving my age away