Contemporary tracks dominate Chill-out playlists Carefully listening to Chill-out DJs playlist something has become obvious.  The bulk of the tracks have a contemporary feel and when I’ve looked into the release dates of some of the most popular, they are mainly from the past few years.  Indeed, when I put my initial two volumes of chill-out tracks together (see links below) one of the criteria I used was that the tracks had to be no more than five years old. The DJs who compile the chill-out playlists are a competitive bunch and they seem to be constantly scouring the latest release ..read more

Featured Image:  Photo courtesy of Mike Smith.  Artwork by Tel Jenkins Another first and what a fabulous one I’ve been lucky to have been involved in many Ceroc firsts.  These include the first Fresh Weekender in Perth, the first Cutty Sark freestyle, the first O2 Mega freestyle and the first i360 event in Brighton.  Each was a great success and I enjoyed writing reviews of them all.  Back in July, I was lucky to get a cabin on board the first-ever Ceroc River Cruise that set sail from Bordeaux in South West France for a leisurely trip up the River Gironde and its trib ..read more

Contemporary tracks dominate Chill-out playlists As I’ve spent time carefully listening to Chill-out DJs playlist something has become obvious.  The bulk of the tracks have a contemporary feel and when I’ve looked into the release dates of some of the most popular, they are mainly from the past few years.  Indeed, when I put my initial two volumes of chill-out tracks together (see links below) one of the criteria I used was that the tracks had to be no more than five years old. The DJs who compile the chill-out playlists are a competitive bunch and they seem to be constantly scouring ..read more

Another iconic venue As I’ve travelled around the country, I’ve been lucky to have danced at some iconic venues – Cheltenham Town Hall, Stirling’s Albert Halls and Newark’s Kelham Hall.  Because of their opulence, these dance halls offer something special that attracts dancers from afar.  Sadly, Kelham Hall is no longer available to dance in, but I have another stunning location to add to my list – Stockport Town Hall where Revolution Dance hold their weekly classes and monthly freestyles.    The Interior is just as opulent As soon as you spot the Town Hall you get a sense ..read more

The Spirit of Southport lies in the music If you had to describe Ceroc’s Southport Weekender to someone who had no idea what even Ceroc was, where would you start?  You’d probably begin by telling them that it involved round-the-clock dancing – it starts at three on Friday afternoon and doesn’t stop until six o’clock Monday morning. Southport is without doubt one hell of a dance fest, but it’s the music that gives the energy and emotion to the dancing, so for me, the true Spirit of Southport lies in the great variety of music – and there is a lot of it. So much music, so little ..read more

My first review of the music in the Blues Room For all my many visits to the Ceroc Southport Weekenders, I’ve never reviewed the late-night music in the Cyclone Room, AKA The Blues Room.  The thing is I’m not much of a Blues dancer as I feel a little out of my comfort zone with the style of dancing.  However, I know lots of people love it and if proof was needed the packed floor at two in the morning in the Cyclone Room is proof enough. Strange really because I love dancing to the slow vibes in the SILC Zone.  Perhaps I’ve got Blues dancing wrong as I have this image of it as be ..read more

Wow, that was a fabulous holiday (Sun 29 May) It’s time for a lie in after a late-night arrival at East Midlands Airport.  My dance holiday in Majorca is sadly over.  What a wonderful time we all had and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.  I’ve still got to finish off my review of Beach Roc, the MJRoc weekender in The Isle of Wight but as soon as it’s finished I’ll be getting started.  It’s going to be a long one so give me a couple of weeks. One great memory I have is dancing outside in front of the main stage.  You can’t beat dancing outside in the late afternoon ..read more

An interesting Tango & Blues workshop (Sat 30 April) Modern Jive is a fusion of many different styles of dancing.  Its roots are in Swing music but it has taken moves and styles from Rock ‘n’ Roll, Tango, Salsa and even Street Dancing.  It’s the same with my chill-out room dancing.  My slower dance style has fused together Smooth Jive, SILC and Blues.  More recently I’ve introduced some elements I’ve learned in my recent Tango classes into my slow dancing. This understanding that dancing is a fusion of many different styles made me take note of a Tango and Blues worksho ..read more

I wait two years for this fab dance holiday Back in November 2019, I received a message on Facebook asking me if I would like to go on a dance holiday the following May to Majorca.  It seems that several ladies were eager to go but needed someone to gender balance with.  As a single guy, it’s something I’ve gotten used to but I was pleased to have been asked otherwise I would have missed out on what was a fabulous week of sun, sangria and dancing with Revolution Dance and Euphoria Holidays. As I had slowly extended the range of my dance travels to review different venues and events f ..read more

A dance fix on the beach Everyone has their favourite Weekender.  For me, it’s a split between Ceroc’s mega dance fest at Southport and MJRoc’s Warmwell.  For some people, it’s Beach Roc the small-scale meet-up at Sandown on the Isle of Wight run by MJRoc’s Colin Shaul and Gazza Forge.  So much had I heard about Beach Roc, that I knew I had to get myself there so I duly booked for April 2020.  Sadly dancing closed down long before the event could take place and I along with two hundred and forty other people had to wait two years for our dance fix on the beach. The weekende ..read more