Thing is - the finals are always held in the Royal Albert Hall and no one wants that to change - it's far from the easiest place to dance, but there is something magical about it, so having the earlier rounds in Birmingham would hardly be practical.

Hi VL: Don't know why, but I've always found dancing at Brentwood to be more stressful than exciting. Last time I was there most of us (dancers) spent half the time going outside and sitting in our cars until it was time to dance, then wandering back in again!

No, unfortunately I'm not dancing at all the the moment - health problems. I'm hoping I can get back to it in the New Year, but maybe just teaching, not sure if I'll be able to get back into competing.

Blackpool Winter Gardens is (I think) the best! Much much nice than the Tower. There are 2 large changing rooms upstairs labelled Men & Ladies, respectively. I believe for the medallist comps they are pretty strict about keeping to those rules - with the British Nationals in November no one takes any notice. Last time I went there were more men in the 'ladies' and vice versa! There is also a large area at the back of the stage which is for competitors only, either to chill out or get changed, or just sit and chat, but I don't know if this is used for the medallist events. What grade are you dancing? I wish you well.

I've taken photo's every year (not very clear ones!) and never had anything said to me. Just don't use a flash, I guess. But you HAVE to take a camera ... you never know who you're going to see coming down the curving corridor!

x x x x x

I'm sure you'll love the RAH northensoul. It's a nice glitzy competition, as tvaddict says.

I hope you can get back to dancing, teaching at least. It must be very frustrating for you.
Thanks for the info on Winter Gardens. I'll be dancing silver/gold non qualifiers. It would have been better to start off at pre-bronze, but this is the first competition the school has taken people to, and in retrospect we've gone too fast through the exams. So we will be doing bronze steps, concentrating on basics such as range of movement/frame (waltz) and a good chasse action (jive). That's enough of a challenge for me.

Medallist comps are judged largely on quality (of steps) as opposed to quantity of steps - our favourite saying (pinched from a previous teacher!) was always been "a little danced well will always look better than a lot danced badly".

It's a shame you haven't been able to get to some of the qualifying comps in order to gain some experience, but don't worry about it. Just go there and concentrate on having a great time. And please let us know how you get on.

Vivacious would you be partnering teacher or a tall dark stranger?

Perhaps let the forum know your number closer to the time, maybe by PM? so that any who attend can cheer.

Thanks kaycee.

It will be my teacher, soulmate.

i have that problem too, most years i manage to steal someone for 1-2 dances

Camera is a must for me this year - on 2nd row, yes, turn flash off, set at 400 iso and photoshop ie lighten afterwards - its amazing!

What do you do tva? Do you just approach someone randomly? Just intrigued, since I never have the nerve.

oh god no!
I meant i take pics of the dancers dancing!!!
call me old fashioned - i'm a dancer more than a celeb hunter !!!!!!

Hope everyone enjoyed. I did. Went with EJ but also took along a friend who hadn't been before and she loved it (admittedly having to put up with my running commentary! )

Report for Soulmate, who I noticed mentioned Gregor Rebula and Rachel Heron on another thread. They did not do so well this year and did not get to the final 6. But Joanna and Michael are now dancing for England (whoo hooo!) and won! Although it is a shame that we don't have many home grown dancers doing well. Others in the top 3 were predictable (Yulia and Riccardo, Sergey and Melia) However in the amateur Latin Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova won (and they really did stand out), although we thought Neil was having a problem with his foot at one moment, but maybe we imagined that. Professional Ballroom was as predicted (Arunas and Katusha 1st and Mirko and Edita 2nd) but with Andrea Ghigiarelli and and Sara Andracchio making the final 6 for England.

Best dressed ballroom dancer was Kristi Boyce, in my view, although sadly she and Warren did not make it into the final 6.

Oh, re: strictly pros. We only spotted Anton and Erin dancing in the interval. Ex pros Matt Cutler and John Byrnes judging (latter always does anyway). But I wasn't really looking. Dancing too good to miss. Oh and Karen of course, as joint master of ceremonies.

Great to hear Vivacious and Elizabeth enjoyed the evening. Anyone else went? Trust the journey home after 1am was pleasant.

Blackpool Festival transplants all away from home to a fiesta of dance and music. After a few days by the sea I became convinced that eating, sleeping, lights and colours, music, self-expression, smiling faces and pretty women were the norm. My office grind was evidently the deviant parallel universe .

Having said that, after dancing finished at 1am I used to emerge into Blackpool town centre. So as not to break the golden spell I quickly ran past a gauntlet of Blackpool drunks looking for fights, then sticking to the seafront promenade quickstepped back to the elegant Imperial.

To attend RAH for just one evening could be like a brief encounter. First into the enchanted ballroom, then hours later exiting to grey London . I must try it one year.

Great to hear Michael and Joanna are now adopting England, having always shown a soft spot for Britannia. Joanna is inspirational, and this could be a boost for English dance. I would have to win the lottery now, to buy a lesson from Joanna. I would not dream of emulating her physical movements possible only to a person of miraculous gifts and fitness. Rather I would seek insight at close quarters into her artistic integrity and all that she knows but others do not .

I did not mean stage earlier rounds elsewhere
I was responding to the comment that there restricted space at the AH for dancers to change and pointed out that there are worse places to change than the AH but in the end performance is everything

Really enjoyed it in spite of karen Hardy going over the top with the compereing job, she certainly likes the sound of her own voice. Apparently the judges were wearying of it towards the end,
Only just got home, we stayed overnight and I had my dance lesson today.

I understand Darren and Lilia were there as well as Anton and Erin, Darrens dad, Tony, was adjudicating he was sitting next to John Byrnes. Darrens twin judged as well although he was at the junior comp at Brentwood as was Ian Waite.

Matthew Cutler was adjudicating as well.

I think Karen does a fantastic job at the Internationals. She's been busy all week with it and been up around 5ish each day, she gets the crowd going and the dancers definitely perform better with that. She was definitely doing a better job pronouncing some of the dancers names than Colin!

Very happy about the result of Pro and Am Latin. Some of the couples in Pro Ballroom final surprised me.

Give it a rest. What an absolutely pathetic comment. She really lifted the atmosphere not only last night but every year she does it.

You are entitled to your opinion so I am also entitled to mine. It seems that mine was the same as many of the judges. Same as l;ast year.
It isnt pathetic to have a point of view though it is pathetic to throw insults at me for having a different one to you.

I agree with you EJ about KH. And also that many people in the dance world often feel the same! I know that for a fact.

She does many good things, but she DOES have a high opinion of herself, and talks to people as though they were 5 years old.

Personally I find her often inappropriately exuberant at events like these (have seen her do them many times) and also rather patronising. I and many others find her tiresome and rather wearing.

My view is the same as yours. Agree with your last bit in bold - we all have different opinions and are entitled to them, and to voice them.

I respect everyone's opinion - may not be the same as mine and I might not like it - but it IS my opinion and no-one should be slated or called pathetic for that.

Thank you for that TQ. I repect the fact that my opinion may be different from others and that karen may have a lot of fans, as it happens I am not one of them.

I really enjoyed the International as I did last year. The dancers made the show not the compere, it was stunning.

Didnt see you there but it was so full of people it would have been hard to spot anyone. I did see Anton and Erin and who could miss Matthew down there adjudicating.

TQ has said pretty much what I would have said (agree on all points) and so I will not extend the discussion.

Soulmate, the journey home was ok, and London hasn't been so grey recently (quite sunny in fact). The bright ballgowns, in the earlier rounds, toned down to more tasteful, elegant but subdued colours in the final, allowing us to atune our senses to more everyday colours.

Interesting that the highest positioned couples representing England in both the professional ballroom and professional latin finals were imported. Now noone could be a greater Michael and Joanna fan than me, and I am pleased to see them settling here, and, like soulmate, hope it will be good for England. However, I hope the British dance establishment will also keep to their promise of encouraging homegrown talent; otherwise it will be very discouraging for young people wanting to compete or already competing.

I went again this year, as usual. It was decent, definitely not the best competition I've ever been to, but it wasn't a bad night, either. I didn't feel a lot of excitement this year, not the usual atmosphere. I have a front row seat booked for next year.

I might just have to disagree on that

Becca, I felt the same, it seemed to go way too quickly and I thought the audience seemed more subdued this year, but overall, it was still fantastic and I do enjoy going to this competition a lot.

Yes it was definitely lower key than last year, although the Danish contingent in front of us got quite animated towards the end of the show (in a very polite way though!)

I don't think there was enough suspense or anticipation this year, it was all pretty predictable. I left feeling pretty unfulfilled, although overall I enjoyed the competiton.

You were probably sat opposite me then. The Danish are always the noisiest there, it's hilarious!