Christmas this year has been somwhat of a let down. You see with Christmas Eve and New Years Eve falling on a Thursday, those running Wednesday dances saw little point in running them. Thursdays usual of course were cancelled. Twixmas is always a bit flat, but at least we still had the Salsa. Of course the first Sunday one will not be on as they struggle to find a new venue while The Groves is Closed. Saturday 2nd there is no dance anywhere and I am struggling to get people to pass me information about any venues.
There have been some high points of course. The twixmas Salsa was great fun and we would have stayed longer had our daughter not been home. It would have been unfair to expect her to sit home alone after travelling up to see us. We had a workshop with the Chester Tango, to work on how we would move on, now that we have a group of dancers with some experience. You see up until now they were all beginners and had no experienced dancers to look to. So now when we have a total new intake, we hope to not go down the route of other tango scenes where there is an elite clique. Any way I think it went well and look forward to a thriving community.
On the high points I leave until last Steve Sound who has as usual been my saviour over this Christmas period. The usual Christmas Eve dance at Ewloe was a bit down in number, I think that the bad weather put many off, but Steve worked hard to lift the night, and I am sure that those who missed it would have been sorry.
It has now become something of a tradition that on my birthday we travel with him to The Lion Hotel in Cricieth, where he entertains the Christmas crowd there. We enjoyed a meal and Steve’s unique style as he tries to revive an almost dead crowd, but you know, before long they were all singing along and dancing the conga. OK there was almost no strict tempo and definitely no tango, but it was lively and fun, and it knocked spots off the rubbish that was on the television.
Finally we move on to New Years Eve. We arrived at the venue at mid day to unload all the gear and set up the stage. Life was made a little difficult as The Blood Transfusion Service was in the hall, and we had to set the stage up blind,so to speak. Happily the finished earlier that expected so that at just before three we could open the curtains and see our handy work. Then when the caretakers had finished sweeping out, all the tables could be set and at four thirty, all that could be done was done, the caretakers went home and so did we.
We returned again at seven, Steve had already been here half an hour. Viv set up here shoes and I stood by the door trying to look like I could stop anyone intent on trouble. Happily non came, but the place soon filled with our capacity crowd and at eight Steve Sound was off into action again.
Where did the night go? I always think it is a sign of a good night when it passes too quickly. We had an even mix of ballroom and sequence dancing so every one was happy, we even had a ballroom Tango. I asked Steve to play this as I know that dancing schools teach it and that they never get a chance to practice. We weaved around them doing Argentine tango as best we could to strict tempo music, and I am sure it was appreciated, because surprisingly the floor was full.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few of the final night of the year, and may I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.
The life of a frustrated Milonguero 