No excuse, I know – but I have been SO busy lately I just haven’t had chance to update! Would you like to hear about our “Liverpool” experience? Yes, of course you would!! haha!
We live on a small island, so any dance competition we attend in the UK is quite a big deal, and as this particular one was the first comp for my daughter and her new partner, it was an even bigger deal for us. Anyone who wants to feel pressure should attend a couple of dance lessons about a week before a big comp… there is nothing like it! The screaming, shouting, tears, hissy fits and tantrums have to be seen to be believed, and that was just from the dance teachers and the mums……… the kids themselves seemed to be quite blase about the whole thing?! I suppose the fact that it wasnt them spending £500+ and (losing two days holiday entitlement for travelling) for a day’s dancing made the difference?
The competition we attended was the Ellesmere Port and Neston Dance Festival, which was held on 3 February 2008 (last month, I know – but i’ve been busy!) My kids took part in the Junior Beginners and Junior Novice, in both the latin and ballroom sections. The hall itself, whilst being bigger than lots I have seen, was not a patch on what we have here for our dancing, there was a few complaints about the changing room etc – but it was what it was! What I did like was that you could get a nice cup of coffee and a baguette and sit and watch the dancers at the same time. There was stalls with lovely jewellery and even some dance dresses for sale.
As for the dancing, the standard was varied to say the least. There was children that looked like something off “baby ballroom”, all matching tracksuits etc. My kids were a bit intimidated by them – until I said I would buy them tracksuits if it meant that much to them – and they quickly realised that they did NOT want to wear matching clothes!!
The dancers – The Sunday Times used to run an article called “1664″, by which the writer meant aged 16 from the back and 64 from the front! There is a lot of this in dancing…. I was admiring a gorgeous dress being worn by a fabulous figure – imagine my shock when she turned around and her face bore a strong resemblance to a chewed up toffee (fake tan/wrinkle combination, yuk!) The same worked in reverse – lots of 12 year olds in padded bras and inch thick make up that could pass for women in their twenties!
Dance Results – Laura and Todd came first in two comps, third in another, DISQUALIFIED in one, and nowhere at all in the last two.
However, the one thing they did come away with from this comp was an understanding of how to work in a partnership, one does not blame the other, and if he does blame you and then swiftly apologises, you should accept the apology with good grace and then forget about it. Don’t drag it out and cry longer than necessary!
Our flights were with Euromanx and were safe, uneventful and at the bargain cost of £80 return, I would of course use them again – not that we have real choices in our travel arrangements.
We stayed in the Cheshire Oaks Holiday Inn, which as the name suggests is an excellent location to go shopping at this good value outlet village. I think it was about £150 for two nights. I really liked this hotel, it was nice and quiet, and was a typical “chain” hotel, which I like because you know roughly what you are going to get. Breakfast was lovely, it is on a canal and you can go outside and feed the swans bread, they took it right out of our hands.
If you dont know, when you are in Liverpool, you can get a bus ticket for about £4, and using this you can travel on the buses, trains and the famous Ferry. (restrictions apply, eg after 9am and before 4pm) I thought these were excellent value, we were like locals jumping on and off buses, trains and Ferries all over the place!
Liverpool is undergoing a renaissance at the moment, capital of culture and all that. We had a brilliant time hope to go again soon.
