Southern UK Jive

[Steve]

It was a bit like a trip back in time for me not having danced at the Moclub for maybe three/four years . The doors opened at about 7:40, everyone personally welcomed by the organisers as they walked in. Free glass of champagne, choc cakes on tables etc. Very nice .

Steve Hunt has done a lot of WCS teaching before, the class seemed to go well and virtually everyone seemed to 'get it'. If I'm looking for criticism, possibly slightly to much covered, I remember from my beginner days, very easy to go into overload with WCS at the start, but the important thing was everyone seemed to be having fun. Lots of laughing amongst the concentration .
The second class was really a second beginner class with just a few walking pattern options for the ladies to spice it up, fair enough as it's a new night. The fact that the second class was also a beginners class mean't there was no review class. Everyone joined in. I understand this will be the format for the first 5 or 6 weeks at least.

Then onto the freestyle part, most stayed to the end and I, after a summer of irregular dancing, was glad to get back into the swing of it, albeit I feel run over by a truck today . Standard was of course very mixed with a lot of beginners as it's the first class, but also a surprizing number of more experienced dancers from Andover/Newbury, even one or two from the London crowd. During the freestyle, good to see the organisers dancing with as many as possible as well.

If this was one of those good, the bad and the ugly reviews, for the ugly I would say the floor at the bar end was fine, but at the far end was a bit sticky.

All in all an excellent first night, well attended and gender balanced with everyone I spoke to saying they would be back. I really enjoyed it, my only gripe being lack of fitness stopped me dancing with everybody I wanted to. Promising and can't wait for next week .
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My local WCS dance guide: http://www.southernjive.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726

[Steve]

Week three of this new night, quick update as it's my local .

Format has changed slightly. Steve Hunt (the teacher) having made a point of asking around was told there was a lot to take in for first-timers, so has decided to make the first beginner class less information filled and to concentrate on on the very basics for a while.
What for the first two weeks was a second beginner class has become what you'd probably call an improvers class. Still pretty basic, but some nice variations on those basics.
They have also added a review class, whilst the second class is running, beginners can review the first class upstairs (and if there's time, get a little bit extra apparently! ).

This, like every dance class, has a very mixed standard of dancer, but they must be doing something right because I can already tell that a lot of the newcomers to WCS are picking it up nicely even after just three weeks. I had lots of enjoyable dances with both newcomers and the more experienced dancers, and even with Breeze and the WCS Midland Open on this weekend numbers were surprizingly high.

Can't wait for next week, there is a special guest teacher down from London, Rachel Martino who took my first ever WCS workshop. Great dancer and great teacher, should be fun .
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My local WCS dance guide: http://www.southernjive.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726

[Steve]

Well, it's week six, some new faces and visiting dancers including some very experienced WCS dancers from Poole, Brighton, London and all parts made this a great night.

Here's a piccie of the beginners class on Monday 24th Oct (Src: http://www.facebook.com/groups/229520187085561/). Wish there was one of the freestyle part as well as it got busier and IMO this evening had the best 'buzz' so far. I had a really enjoyable time.


Says the video notebook will be uploaded to the web site 'tomorrow' as well.
http://www.wcssouthampton.co.uk/

If your thinking of attending next Monday 31st Oct, watch out for an announcement, I'm pretty sure a night change (Monday to Wednesday) was announced during the class for that week only, but there is no official news of this on the web site yet, so I can't confirm.
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My local WCS dance guide: http://www.southernjive.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726