I remember last year thinking "I must take my sun glasses"

I wonder who will be there? I saw Ian and Matthew last year, Camilla the year before, and a few years ago saw Darren and Lilia competing. Karen will be hosting part no doubt.

Its always lovely seeing a handfull of people I only see there - and lets hope I get to dance on that lovely floor again!

Anyone else going? What will our secret DS signal be?!

I'm there, also at Brentwood for the Latin qualifiers on Tuesday.

I'm going - looking forward to it. Should be very interesting comps in most of the divisions.

I'm also there on Thursday. Bailing before the end though as the trains don't run late enough!

I have a feeling we are in the same box, Faye!

Yes, I'm going, I'll be there. I might just see you there, Becca.

x x x x x

Yes I am going

how will we know each other?????

I got Tix for next year this morning - what a nightmare that was getting thru - row 4 at 9.30am!

yes I'll be there. I'll be way up though (first row of circle) and so am not expecting to see much.

I'm the tall, tanned girl with long black hair wearing an all over silver sequin dress, hanging out of a second tier box shouting, 'Sergey davai! Vai Melia! Ross-i-ya! Ross-i-ya!'

To all who are going, have the best fun and good luck to your favourites.

I shall be in Blackpool for November 21, 22. They offered me a choice of second row or fourth row with the advantage of tier. I accepted the fourth row.

Will be there. With both Faye and Becca.

Unlike Becca, I shall be shouting for Poland and that couple of Michael and Joanna!

Let Blackpool mark 2 commence!

http://www.royalalberthall.com/ticke...n.aspx?id=2024

Gosh Laura are you going to make front row again? I would be jealous.

Surprised that both Joanna and Melia will be there. For those unfamiliar with dance compos, it appears that in dance the FA Cup Final is always fought out by the equivalent of Manchester United and Liverpool. Not that anybody is complaining.

No front row this time, damn!

M&J have done the comp I think every year since they started together.

Great competition last night, although was disappointed with a couple of results and the lack of Slavik Kryklyvyy.

Strictly people were out in force as well and were being so nice and patient with people asking for autographs and photos. Matthew Cutler looked particularly smart in his grey suit and Joe and Kristina seem a very genuine couple. (unless they were being affectionate for my benefit in some PR-related audience scam, as I briefly walked behind them along an empty corridor)

I'll have to give Jade and Ian a vote this week as they got up and had a dance in the interval - she looked very natural as Ian guided her through basic social steps.

This is the first dance competition I've been to. Suffering this morning from a late night and noise/glitter overload, but I loved it so much that I've immediately booked for next year (in the stalls this time). However the view from the front row of the circle was surprisingly good value. As some of the audience went home early, I did tend to find myself surrounded by lots of people who looked like dancers (or maybe they were just people who were very heavy on the make up, glitter and hair gel ) towards the end of the evening.

I didn't really see the Strictly people. I'm sorry I missed Jade and Ian dancing (should have made more use of those opera glasses to pick them out from the crowd).

PS after all these discussions I spent a good part of the evening looking for Slavik before it dawned on me that he wasn't there.

So glad you enjoyed the competition VL - despite missing out on Slavik! There's so much to take in when you first go to a comp, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more next year.

There's a great competition in Bournemouth in January if you have the option to get down there. Personally, I prefer it to the International, as you have more freedom to wander around and you can sit as close as you like during the day sessions. It's spread over two days and you can sit in different seats to take in different views and there's a more relaxed atmosphere, but it's still a high quality comp and you get to dress up a bit in the evening sessions. Perhaps look it up on the Bournemouth Internation Centre website if you're interested.

Slavik should be there....but he's a bit unpredictabe, so you can't count on it!

Apparently it was Visa problems why Slavik wasn't here . . .

Posting to bring up Becca's invisible post...

Not surprised at all! I honestly never considered that he had chucked another partnership!

Apparently it was Visa problems why Slavik wasn't here . . .

Not the first time that Slavik has made a mess of a visa application...

Yes, working out who was who was the most difficult part. Generally speaking, I'm not discriminating enough to pick out the best from the rest when watching and so I have to do a lot of cross referencing to the programme, although I did notice Michael and Joanna early on in the professional latin since they stood out so much.

I agree that the main downside on the RAH is that it is difficult to move around a lot, although I was still surprised at how social an event it was, with lots of people getting on the dance floor in the intervals. RAH was easy to get to as I'm in London. Bournemouth wouldn't be too bad to travel to though, and so I will check it out. Blackpool would be a real trek.

The changing of the dresses throws another spanner in the works!! If you want to know anything about Bournemouth/UK Open feel free to PM me.

Thanks. Will have a look first, and then maybe will do that.