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Our Strictly fab weekend!
Posted by Nick on 02-03-2010
This weekend saw Cricket St. Thomas host the first Strictly Come Dancing break run by our client Warner Leisure Hotels, and some of us were lucky enough to be invited to check out the glitz and glam.
In the end it was myself, my partner Em, Theme's creative director Lou and her husband Neil - a quartet whose dance prowess ranged from the fairly experienced (Lou and Em) to utter novice (Nick and 'Running Man' Neil).
The Strictly glamour was apparent from the start, with the reception area decked out with lifesize pictures of previous winning couples interspersed with some of the most popular costumes from the series. The costumes were a particular eye-opener - unless they are made of VERY stretchy material, all but the trimmest of people would struggle to fit more than a leg in.
The Friday involved registering for your dance lessons (we opted for advanced cha cha on Saturday and advanced jive on Sunday), before enjoying an evening of social dancing and a brief introduction to the two young couples who would be hosting the classes.
Saturday morning put us through our dance paces with the cha cha, with all four of us getting to grips with the short sequence we were taught by Danny and Katie (albeit with varying degrees of competence!). The heats for the grand final were at 4pm - just enough time, then, to grab some lunch and start perfecting our snazzy new cha cha routine.
Slight problem, then, that the heats weren't quite the standard we envisaged. Foolishly, we thought everyone who opted for the cha cha would be going through the routine we learnt that morning, having also had the same six hours experience that we had.
So imagine our surprise when, having run through our 30 second routine, the backing music (and our fellow contestants) showed no sign of stopping - leaving us no choice but to repeat our sequence again. And again. And again. Needless to say, we didn't make the final 10!
The evening saw some pretty impressive dance performances from the four ballroom teachers and a guest pair of showdancers, before Darren and Lilia took to the stage to wow the crowds with their Strictly skills.
Not making it through the heats didn't dampen our spirits, and we returned Sunday morning for our advanced jive session. Having befriended our instructors the night before, me and Neil thought we would go all out to impress this time round. Not only did we go for the authentic dance look with slick back hair, but we also opted for the tight trousers and unbuttoned shirt in an effort to enhance our dancing skills.
It seemed to work - we both managed pretty well in the jive, and even got some praise from Danny and Katie after the lessons (although that was just for the dress, rather than our dancing!).
The final itself was a grand affair; all 10 couples were paraded in front of the crowd before the Strictly stars took their seats on the judging panel. The couples on show had danced together from anywhere between a few years and a few decades, and the eventual winners had only started dancing together on a Warner break a relatively short time before. In fact, they had previously tried to compete in a Warner dance final judged by Strictly's Anton and Erin, but nerves got the better of them, making their victory this time round all the sweeter.
All in all good fun, then (aside from my disappointment in the heats, of course!).
Posted by Nick on 02-03-2010 | 0 Comments | Leave a Comment…
