Southern UK Jive

[Southern Jiver]

Another cracking night at Minstead. The place was filled with people who were all passionate about their dancing and were all great to dance with (speaking from the man's point of view although some of my lady friends seemed pleased by the number of good male dancers there also). It was another hot and sweaty night but such was the great atmosphere, partly inspired by a generally excellent set of requests, that it didn't matter. Sweat was very evident but everyone was having fun. Not the best night to forget my towel but luckily a very kind lady lent me one of hers! The ice pops were a very welcome addition and of course there were sweets everywhere. I even stayed through the Chill-out half-hour and I'm glad I did because I had a couple of very special dances. The last Friday of the month Minstead is still top of my list of favourite freestyles.
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"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."
~Japanese Proverb

[Welshy]

Totally agree. I had a great night and lots of good dances. It was very hot but as always the ice pops were much appreciated.

My only complaint was that it seemed to finish far too quickly, I would have loved another hour of dancing

[Mops]

Wicked evening, amazing people, lovely dances, another great set from Richard, a few comedy moments - perfect end to a busy work week

...best freestyle in the South...Fact!!
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Dance with you heart, and your feet will follow.

[DJ Andy]

[Diane]

After a fab (not one to be missed) Minstead night, was it last month or the month before............ this one matched if not superseded it!!

A truly fab night, ..... with lots of serious dancers there and new faces. I didn't get to dance with everyone I wanted to, just not enough time!

I now love the slow down at the end of the evening and even had a wcs dance which reminded me once again I must, must start going again, thank you for my partners patience

Roll on next month! For me, at the mo, one freestyle I hate to miss!

[Jiveonaut]

Well, I thought the entire event was pants. To start off, to get the reduced price entry I had to book online in advance, which I did but with only three days to spare before the price went up. Then, as the event was in Hampshire, and being in the middle of no-where, I had to drive all the way there, in my car, as there was no transport laid on. Once there, I had to park in a space of my own choosing, as there were no marshals allocating spaces on arrival. Also, the car park I parked in was not tarmac’d, and on a slope. It was a good thing therefore that the organisers had not the front to charge for parking. Once parked, I had to walk nearly 50 yards to the venue itself, which was not signposted, uphill and through a gate I had to operate, without any training or instructions, myself.

Once in the venue, I had to queue for nearly 30 seconds before I was welcomed by both of only two members of staff on the door. One of them only kissed me on the cheeks twice, whereas, as we’re all Europeans now, it should have been three times. Once in, no one offered to carry my bag, and even at half eight all the tables were taken and I had to ask if I could sit at a chair.
The room was already hot, in part because the organisers had deliberately chosen to hold the event on a warm summer’s night, and the large multitude of fans were already all on. Indeed, a bit later on more of the windows and the main doors were opened. Most of the dancers were very sweaty, and while a lot of them used towels and deodorants, and even changed shirts several times, one or two did not. The heat also affected the floor, as I was unable to get any of my partners to spin more than three times on the trot.
The floorcraft was generally very good. However, this meant that the one or two occasions where it was not (the spiky haired pink t-shirt guy who shouldered his way past /through my partner without apologising, and the guy who kept doing a feet over head lift on the crowded floor) really stood out.
There were an awful lot of free sweeties on offer at all the tables: no doubt this will contribute to future tooth decay of dancers in the south of England, another thing that the organisers have not considered. The ice pops that were provided were free, but also freezing cold, which may have upset those with sensitive teeth. There were also only two pairs of scissors with which to open them, which slowed down their distribution and so reduced the time available to dance.

The music was rather wide and varied, despite it being a request night. I don’t know why, but only one of my requests was played, a glaring omission on the part of the DJ in my humble opinion. Also, there was a slower 30 minutes at the end. Considering the amount of opposition to slower music in the local area that has been voiced on this and other forums, I thought it showed a disregard to their customers to play any tracks that were less than 160 bpm: to purposefully do so just seemed rude.

An awful lot of people rather selfishly seemed to stay until the end, which meant that there was little opportunity to dance from one end of the room to the other. I also noticed that, although advertised as the Jive Jukebox, that there wasn’t a jukebox to be seen, and that the DJ was using a laptop instead, which may bring the organisers into conflict with the Trades Description Act 1968.

All in all, therefore, it was a pretty shoddy affair, and I would strongly recommend that the readers of this post take note and act accordingly. I will be attending the next one, if only to see if any improvements are made and to allow those who would wish to dance elsewhere to continue doing so, which will ensure that this event does not become more popular that it already is.


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Words are good, but hens lay eggs.

[Southern Jiver]

Very funny, Jiveonaut, I like it... However, you missed out the fact that there were far too many very good looking ladies there who were way too good at dancing! Sorry to hear that you had such a poor night...
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"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."
~Japanese Proverb