Soulmate I really have enjoyed reading your Blackpool thread again this year. I would love to be able to be there one year.

Now I am glad that one is over and I have my dance teacher back, I was getting withdrawal symptoms from lack of dancing and panic a bit due to medal exam looming on the 16th. I dont have a dance partner or a place to dance the routines properly if I dont go to the studio to dance with John. I had that pleasure today it has seemed like a lifetime of waiting.

Elizabeth, thank you for your interest.

I understand even when not judging, John goes to Blackpool. There are various places, like Tower Ballroom which are available in the morning for practice. John might be able to give you a lesson there in any run-up to medal exams. You will enjoy watching the dancing, and see how you are better than some of them. Dance is a social activity, so what a shame to miss the greatest dance party in the world . People fly for 20 hours to get to Blackpool, and jump through many hoops to get a UK entry visa. Blackpool is a legend to all except Brits. "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country."

As for diving in alone at the deep end, there are many DS lurkers in Blackpool, and you have already been acquainted with many angles and laughs. When you arrive it will be like watching a film of a novel you know well.

Nobody who loves dance and/or music will be lonely or bored in Blackpool. As soon as dancing starts (which is ALL the time) everyone in the audience is involved, because everyone on the floor is involved -- with a smile.

Soulmate I would love to go to Blackpool and one year I might manage it.

John is lucky he ahd Jane had front row seats for most evenings and second row for the other few. They had their children with them so John had to give his front row seat up to his 8yr old son on one night when the little lad decided he wanted to watch the dancing.
They always go to Blackpool, usually one or the other of them is judging, they make a good double act.

Nina in chiffon top designed by Gaynor Fairweather and engineered by Rolls-Royce (see photo Ref 719114, current photo 4):
http://www.dancesportinfo.net/Couple...94/Photos.aspx

Anton and Patrizia just missing Pro Latin semi-final by 2 places -- a couple to watch:
http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?...uple_id=100067

16-20 ballroom: Malgorzata of Poland in mauve. Despite cramp she bravely rose for 2 upbeat bows to place 5th out of 120 (see pic in row 2, column 3): http://www.dancesportinfo.net/Couple...80/Photos.aspx

Former latin world number 3 Oxana Lebedew, having split with Franco Formica, returned with her new husband Ilia Russo to place 23rd in Pro Latin (Franco and partner withdrew this year before the start):
http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?...uple_id=101263

5-times Champion Joanna at first in black, then in the Final Round switching to sparkly gold with platinum hairdo:
http://www.dancesportinfo.net/Couple...13/Photos.aspx

Yulia in surprising grey and coral zebra-crossing, then in the Final white and silver, brilliant beyond words under lights:
http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?...ouple_id=97623

These are great pix - particularly Yulia; her dresses and styling is always absolutely 100% right - a real class act.

Yulia had another dress for Blackpool which she didn't actually end up wearing - I think her original plan was to change for the first time before the 24 and then to change again for the final, but for some reason she didn't end up doing that - the other dress would have been the same as the first, but replacing the hematite and pink for black and orange.

The first dress had very interesting colours, but for the life of me I could not work out why. Becca supplied the answer -- haematite. These are not colours for a party frock or flag or bouquet, they are colours found in nature, in rocks and minerals. Intuitively I drifted away from a description of decorative man-made "pink" towards natural organic "coral".

Simplistic black and orange could never follow this. Yulia could be a painter.

Interesting thread soulmate - it sounds like you had a great time - thanks for the reports. Just thought I'd tell you there are quite a few videos from Blackpool 2012 festival put up on youtube in case anyone who didn't go there wants to have a look or perhaps you might like to add some to your thread

Thanks for your interest. I am afraid all clips currently on YT are pirate clips with terrible sound quality. Another 2 months and some de luxe official clips may go up.

They aren't great quality but they are watchable and interesting........ I thought I'd leave the final decision up to you because it's your thread and as you say some better quality ones maybe put up in the future

The official video this year for professional Latin starts at the 48 - but heavily compromises on the actual video quality. I also can't stand the needless commentary. Would personally rather have Himawari starting at the 24, but with perfectly clear quality and with nobody interrupting my viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ0T5jkCTxA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOZGvyUnK80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geh0xwo320M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdW53K9LDfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTq6MwxtvsE

Well, used to look like, until this year!

Gosh,

CHANGE ¬= PROGRESS

Definitely not progress. I hope Himawari will be able to return next year. But I'm just glad there's still some sort of footage available from the festival, poor quality or not. Definitely much better than nothing at all.

Nothing annoys a DVD viewer than a commentary droning on in a foreign language. Putting English commentary on a DVD with worldwide sales will upset the English in clubs but the world in spades.

If it was even constructive commentary, it probably wouldn't be all that bad, but it's just annoying and pointless. There should at least be an option to turn it off.

Oh wouldn't that be great?

The same problem applies to the Eurosport offerings in December. The dancing is first rate; the filming is pretty good too, but oh dear the dreadful commentary!!!

What paddle do you give the commentary?

Tell me about it. Tim Caple (is that his name?) cannot get his facts right, they differ throughout the show and then he'll try and outdo the other commentator but with his facts completely incorrect/invalid!

I presume the commentary is added on after the event which is why it always seems a bit stuttery and just..damn right annoying!

If the commentary was dubbed after the event, there would likely be a possibility of re-releasing the pre-dubbing DVD.

I would not dream of buying it as it stands, and many customers ditto. The vendors will be sensitive to feedback as it is their P&L. Whoever suggests such a U-turn ought to be given a free replacement.

That commentator on English Eurosport obviously just sits there with a print out of results from Dancesportinfo laid out in front of him, even though he evidently has no idea what any of it means. The commentary is definitely added after recording as he often talks about events that had not even happened yet when the event he's commentating on was taking place. I usually try to watch the German version, that way I have no idea what they're talking about and I don't get annoyed!

I bought the Blackpool DVD simply because I just had to see the dancing again, in whatever way possible - so it serves its purpose. I'm pretty sure that the Blackpool commentary was recorded live.

Becca, did you find that the Blackpool DVD mentioned things that never got on the DVD? Like one minute they're talking about Shirley's opinion and how she was in the studio yet that never seemed to materialise. I guess they edited bits out but you think they'd have done it in a way that still made sense!

That was because they kept the camera rolling during the breaks for the sake of the people watching live on the website - that would have been when they had Shirley in the studio. Obviously, staring at an empty floor listening to people speaking doesn't make for very entertaining DVD viewing, so I guess they pretty much had to cut those parts.

Ah, they never really made it that clear that that is what they were doing. You think they could have edited the comments out so it flowed a bit easier!

I liked how quickly we got the DVD but I did miss the quality of the Himawari DVDs.