Hyperreal

Awesome.

That alone would stand for all the rest of the rubbish I’m about to write.

Although I got a lift over to Musselburgh quite early on on Friday, for various reasons, (in particular me falling asleep!) I didn’t get to the pre-comp party night until about 10-ish.

I had been feeling quite nervous about the whole competition thing, and all unfamiliarity surrounding the event, so by the time I got there I felt quite ill. Meeting some friendly and familiar faces (and one wee drink), helped put me at ease, and by the end of my first dance I had forgotten all my worries!

There was a really great crowd there, lots of people I knew, lots of people I didn’t… There was some incredible dancing going on, but I didn’t let myself be wowed by it too much, and just got on and had a good time dancing.

I don’t think though that my dancing was on particularly good form. I guess there was still some nerves, plus some tiredness that kept me from finding my best form.

The music was really good, and had me up dancing lots. The night finished too early (considering I arrived so late), but it was a relief to get back to the hotel and get to my bed. It had been a long day – which, as you recall started in Inverness.

Saturday I woke quite early, giving me plenty of time to worry while getting ready for the day ahead, but for some reason I didn’t find myself as nervous as I thought I’d be…

I think there were two reasons for this… Having been to the venue the night before and seen the quality of the dancers, the fear of the unknown was gone – I knew I was totally outclassed, rather than just thinking I’d be… And also the nerves of some of the dancers who were so much better than me and going in for the real competitions, rather than just a fun one like the Lucky Dip, helped put my fears into perspective.

We got there quite early in contrast to the night before. In the meantime the hall had had a bit of a make-over, with lots of balloons and stuff. Really thought this helped add to the party atmosphere which kept the whole thing fun, rather than serious. The lucky dip heats were up first, but there was a chance to dance for a bit before the “dip” bit happened.

I was really worried about who I’d get as my partner. If you want to score the skill levels of dancers there out of 5, then there were maybe a few at 5, quite a few at 4, lots at 2 and 3, and a few at 1 – beginner level. I’d put myself maybe at 2.1 (just getting the hang of this intermediate thing.) So, I’d want to avoid those at level 1, and maybe even at level 2, if I wanted to do well. I figure I wanted a girl who’d be better than me, and maybe pull up our combined standard. At the same time, getting someone at the 4 or 5 level would just be too much pressure. They might have been hoping for someone a better match, who might guarantee them a place in the second round.

I hope I’m not insulting the girl I was matched with to say that I’m glad she was, in my mind, a “3″. She was good enough that I though we might just, maybe, get through to the second round, but not way better than me that it’d be an expectation.

I thought our performance wasn’t so bad, though I certainly felt a bit nervous when it came to dancing and being watched and judged. When I went to look at the results I was first disappointed that we didn’t get through to the second round, but then very, very relieved. I could start enjoying myself!

I liked the format of the event, with lots of dancing between blocks of heats. Though once or twice though I found I’d seized up a bit from sitting or standing watching for too long. Also found that as the event went on and the average quality of the dancing on show went up, my confidence went down. I thought all the dancers in the Intermediate section were superb. I was really impressed by the advanced, but the open and show-cases really blew my mind. What really gets me is that except for the lifts and drops and such, most of the moves I could probably do without too much difficulty. But they do them so well, and they make them work so well with the music, that it really made me wonder how I can continue to enjoy dancing at the level I am at, and just how much the women I dance with enjoy it.

Some highlights of the event…

• The girl who injured her knee, I think in a lucky dip heat (?), but managed to come back on for the second heat and then later won, i think it was, in the Advanced category.
• The double-trouble… the crowd-pleaser of the man in a skirt was fun to watch, but I’m glad the prize went to the under-stated bunch of girls at the back who I thought were doing some rather clever things.
• Some of the costumes were fantastic! Without naming names, a Glasgow couple and an Aberdeen couple in the Intermediates were well impressive… The frogs! The “pixie” outfit… Loads more.
• The Abba team cabaret.
• The dancer in the Open category who seemed to be able to defy gravity.

I was sometimes a wee bit surprised by the judges’ decisions, as on a few occasions the couple that gave the best visual performance and thus got the biggest appreciation from the crowd, didn’t always win. But then, the judges are looking for so much more than crowd-pleasing moves, and they should really know what to look for, so I’m not saying they were wrong.

I was really proud of some of our Scottish-grown talent who were competing for the first time and I thought were pretty damn good. I understand Blackpool isn’t so far away…

Congratulations to all the winners, in fact, to all the competitors. They were all magnificent. (Well, apart from one guy in the Lucky Dip. )

I liked the two “Scot Challenges”. These were fun wee competitions that people entered at the time to make up about 10 couples. They had no idea what the challenge would be beforehand. The first one was for the girl to lead the guy; the second was for the girl to dance blind-folded. I could have managed to do the guy’s bit on the second challenge, but I would have hate to have been one of the girls not able to see what was going on. I very nearly went for the first challenge, but I’m glad I didn’t – I have next to zero experience of following.

Some ideas for future challenges…

• Musical chairs
• iPod dancing – only the guy can hear the music
• Name that move – I’ll name that move in three counts!

With all the competitions over (congratulations to all the winners, hugs for all the losers,) it was time for a party!

Unfortunately this was also when I came down with indigestion. And dancing didn’t help it at all. Fortunately there was someone there with antacid. It took a while for this to take effect. And by the time I also had something to eat, it was fairly late-on, maybe about 10 pm. Also, by that time I was getting tired, so I really wasn’t dancing well. But I enjoyed the dances I had.

And that was that. Back to the hotel for not a bad night’s sleep considering… And the next morning, off home, in the company of one or two famous forumites for an hour or so, which was a good way to finish off this part of my tour.

It was really good to meet some of the other forumites at the event that I hadn’t met before… The badges that were made up were superb, but not everyone wore theirs, and after a costume change or two, a lot of people had lost them. Shame… Anyway, hope to see you again next year, if not sooner. (BFG???)

I have to give a big, no – a huge – thanks to all the ladies who looked after me. Driving me, nursing me, comforting me, accommodating me, and just generally looking out for me.

To everyone involved in the setting up and running of this event – you did a fantastic job.

Roll on next year!!!!