It is a sheer delight at Blackpool By The Sea to be able to see the young and not quite so young dance, as they all steal your heart, squeeze it, and your blood is instantly rejuvenated as soon as you see the very first waltz.
So many great couples on show throughout the entire festival and
they have all applied their intelligence to enable them to produce musicality many of them at such a high standard, which draws my ears into them because of their musical foot placements.
I look at my thick notebook with trepidation, as I realise it will be a major task to attempt to illuminate the pages as I type from the voluminous notes taken.
Imperative first of all to thank Mr. Michael Williams, Natalie Hayes, Chrissi and Tom, the
Team which ensures the festival lives up to its worldwide reputation and of course in addition there are many who deserve an accolade of excellence including the scrutineers, the Great Orchestra which transmits music, which makes your feet come alive,, The Judges of course, the music played by Greg De Wet during practise sessions, The Stewards who wear out the soles of their shoes but whose souls are steeped in dance and they adore the work they do as we adore what they do.
"Sir" Robert Bellinger, whose experience over the last years has allowed him to polish his expertise and remain calm and concise, as he handles the so many announcements over the microphone and his voice reverberates throughout the entire dance Festival. Ashley of course "frolics" and leads the orchestra, who play their hearts out with the music we all love to dance to. Nick Kelly shared with Greg the day time musical times which were resplendent indeed.
SENIOR BALLROOM CHAMPIONSHIP
No.2- Serhii Shulha and Olha Shulha- are tall and also elegant and they produce, and retain, a lovely silhouette which is one of the first requirements of a competition dance exponent.
48-KAI LI and XIANGLIAN YANG- are flowing round as they should and they dance a lovely back feather in foxtrot, which is not an easy figure to master.
79- Chester Crucy and Shannon Crucy- show a good posture but could investigate the production of fluidity of a higher level in foxtrot. TANGO 5- Fabian Wendt and Anne Steinmann- induces fast foot placements and I can see the difference between their slows and their quicks, which is nice and this pair share the asset of determination.
38- Cheng Xu and Chen Suiping- very nice silhouette all the way down the long side of the floor and they kept it very nicely too. 72- Slawek Lukawczyk and Janine-Nicole Desai- have evidently decided on all out action in tango with no capitulation but never ending performance. QUICKSTEP No.1-Jonathon Fox and Chante Mueller- tall and good looking couple..Man’s ankles need attention in this dance, as at the moment, they are not quite responding with effectiveness. No.2- Serhii Shulha and Olha Shulha- this man of dance was turning his head very busily over the last few bars in this dance, and it detracted somewhat. A general comment on this event so far, is that over the four dances, the use of ankles and feet are diminishing the effectiveness. In the next round, no 4- Frank Ewen and Liubov Ewen- are very determined in tango and this shows on the facial expressions, which somewhat dilute the presentational aspects. It is necessary in competitive events that the entire body manages to elicit marks from the judges and of course if they can also please spectators, then that is wondrous as it so assists when a couple can emanate a personality projection, coupled to the usual technique.
Some couples transmit a natural disposition which is there for all to see, in quite a few of couples in this event, but within their opposition there are also those who perhaps did not have the natural abilities to the same level, but nevertheless, application to dynamic principles, could so easily make them dangerous opponents. Dance TV's live streaming during Blackpool, with the full cooperation of the organisers is simply staggeringly good and rejuvenates those who cannot attend but who can now see and hear the events, as they are, in the Empress Ballroom.
If you are able to acquire an excellence of foot articulation, judges of eminence will feel an emotional transmission, which they will adore. A famous teacher was asked by a pupil
"Lessons are very expensive, don’t you do reduced price ones?” "Well I actually do cheaper lessons" replied the famed one... "But I don’t recommend them."
Image credit: Tomasz Reindl
