Dance the Night Away

Well we are back safe and sound from foreign climes (yes it was lovely, thanks all for asking - though I don’t think I would like to live somewhere where it is illegal to dance in public!).  I hope you all have had enjoyable Augusts, no matter what you did.
The courses are selling up now, with a third gone on both of the 10 week courses, the September Tango improver class 1/2 full and the private lessons booking up.  If you are thinking about it then you need to get a wriggle on, it’s only 2 weeks before our doors open again!

Done some thinking and reworking over the summer, which means I hope to have some *new* plans to unveil very soon, but right now I am working against the clock to get our new website open for business.  We’ve had a couple of entries to our Summer Competition and I am looking forward to a few more as some of you have emailed me to tell me you are just about to go away!

There’s been some great summer ‘bounce’ tracks (my personal favourite is ‘This is for the Radio’ by McFly), lots of dance going on in the adverts on the telly and the offical list of Celebs to join Strictly Come Dancing due to be announced on Thursday, (the current rumoured list includes Sharon Osbourne, Paris Hilton, Richard Madeley and Zara Phillips).
However, the first date in the diary is coming up quick - Friday 12th September will be the first Social Night after the break, so get it in your diaries now.  More to follow!

Filed under: Uncategorized
No Comments

Well there has been various bits in the news recently (and not so recently, but only just found by me!) to do with dance, so here are bits I thought you would be interested in.

The Rivoli ballroom in Brockley has been given a Grade II listed status.  While this prevents the building from being torn down for flats or turned into a tesco’s, it doesn’t mean that the venue is safe.  Owner Bill Mannix still wants to sell up after 30 years and it will up to the new owners what they do with it!  For now though the venue is still up and running as a dance hall.

I’ve always said that Dancing is good for you - and two seperate news reports can back me up.  A 102 year old woman claims that Dancing keeps her young.  Evangeline still spins the floor at 102 and feels that dancing keeps her alert and active.  On a slightly different note, science is finding once again that dancing (and in particular tango) is good for you in a study into Argentine Tango and Parkinsons.  The study found improvements in patients with Parkinsons who did Tango over exercise and a recommendation has been put forward for further detailed studies.

A London StreetSweeper proves that you can dance anywhere, while doing anything and has become an internet hit on Youtube after dancing while working.  And while we can’t all dance while we work, we can now feel a bit less guilty about going out for an evening, as London’s first Eco Club opens up.  Serving organic beer and having a special floor which uses the energy of the dancers to power fittings.  Everything is recycled or eco-friendly and the buzz about the place was huge.

Finally several of you have been asking me about Strictly Come Dancing 2008 and who’s going to be in it.  I generally avoid this section as the forums and gossip mags are rife with rumours and hearsay, but if you want a bit of speculation the following names have all been mentioned in connection with the next series (I will let you know as soon as anybody is actually confirmed though!):  Katie Price, Peter Andre, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Brooke, Lily Allen, Shane Lynch (boyzone), Gemma Merna (Hollyoaks), Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford (Sir Alan’s sidekicks in The Apprentice I believe) and Tim Henman.  However there is also a rumour that the cast members of Eastenders have been forbidden from taking part in this years show due to filming constraints.  The show starts again in late September so we should have announcements of who’s in very soon.

Filed under: News
No Comments

Well we are (finally!) officially closed for summer and soon we will be jetting off to Singapore.  What a packed year it has been though!
Our very successful 4th Birthday Bash in December was a great night, and we are already planning this years Birthday Bash.   The new courses in Ballroom and Latin American proved to very popular, and many of you have come back to us with suggestions and helpful advice.  Honey ran a  Line Dancing course out in St Mary’s Cray, which was very popular and we are trying to organise future courses.  We held a couple of Sunday Improver Workshops in Ballroom and Argentine Tango and of course we had our usual set of Bromley Adult Education College Saturday beginner courses which were again very popular and in almost all cases completely booked out.

We taught a record number of Wedding couples for their first dance this year - congratulations to you all - with couples getting married everywhere from Scotland to Vancouver and Spain!  We also joined in a few weddings, getting guests to dance and seeing the grooms and brides happy and beautiful (probably in that order!). Corporate Bookings were also popular this year with several bookings in government and large corporations on team building days and events.  A special mention to the fabulous 1930’s - 1950’s costume party that we did in May for a 30th Birthday party, everyone really got involved and looked amazing!  Our Social Nights continued to be popular with many of you being regular faces, and the changes we made through the year were all postively received - thanks for your feedback.
Our Improver Tango group continued to build and develop and we managed to round off the year fabulously with guest teachers from Buenos Aires - Bruno and Mariangeles.  We were very proud of you all as you displayed your skills and enthusiasum for tango.  The workshop wasn’t easy!

There shall be a seperate post in a couple of weeks about the plans for 2008-2009, but in the meantime we wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone who made this year so special.  Old friends and new friends, people we’ve seen a lot and those we met just once.

We are already getting in entries for the Summer Competition, so get snapping to be in with a chance to win.  I look forward to seeing many of you again in September.

Filed under: News
No Comments

Exciting News!

We will be having two guest teachers to the class on Tuesday 15^th July. Bruno Tombari + Mariangeles Caamaño are stars of several Tango shows and have toured all over the world teaching Tango. We were privileged to meet and be taught by them in Buenos Aires and a friendship developed. On Sunday I got an email letting me know that Bruno and Mariangeles are passing though London and they have agreed to come along and teach a 90 minute class with you.

I am so excited about you getting such great teachers of such high standing that I wanted to make sure you all got the opportunity to come along if you wanted to.

I have booked the large hall in Anerley, so instead of the usual 14 places I will be capping the class at 30 students. You need to have either completed our 10 week beginners course, or to be completely comfortable with Basic 8, Ocho’s and Giro’s; you do not need to have learnt with us.

The class will be from 8pm till 9:30pm (please note the later finish!), and you can book a place by emailing me, phoning or texting. There are only a few places left, and the cost of this one off special will be £10 per person – but if you bring your membership card you will still collect your points!

Also I have just been told about an event happening in London on Monday 7th July - Tango Commute! The full details are here: http://www.tangocommute.com/ but the basic idea is to dance tango for an hour in 1 of 14 places in London (7 train stations and 7 bridges). If you are free, and in London between 7pm and 8pm on Monday the please do go along and let me know about it - unfortuantely I’m teaching.

Filed under: Uncategorized, News, What's On
No Comments

This has now gone ‘live’ on the site - http://www.dancethenightaway.org.uk/social/playlistmenu.shtm

A little tiny change this month means the addition of two tracks that we can RUEDA to.  Don’t panic if you don’t know how - they are just normal Salsa’s so you can do that at the same time, however if you DO know how please feel free to join in!

Looking forward to seeing you all there before we close for summer.  There has been lots of talk about the summer competition already with people ‘planning’ their shots  - so make sure you get your entries in!

If we don’t see you tomorrow night, we hope to see you in September.

Filed under: Events
No Comments