International Congress
	Saturday Morning by GRAHAM OSWICK . 1. The first lecture of the 2010 BDF International Congress was by Roberto Villa and Morena Colagreco, entitled Tango - Impact. Following their introduction from the stage we listened to a piece of Tango Music before Roberto and Morena appeared at the edge of the floor only to sit on two waiting chairs while another piece of music played. Impact indeed. Roberto then ran through the points he considered to be vital in achieving Impact in this dance. Unfortunately Morena was still recovering from a neck injury, which was to prevent them from competing in the most coveted event of the dance calendar at the end of the week. He went on to explain that this was the ONLY reason they would not be present in the Professional Ballroom Championship. Due to this Roberto introduced one of his Chinese Students, (NAME) to assist him with demonstrating his points. A very daunting task to partner one of the great dancers in a most public arena. They gave us a beautiful show, which set the pattern, which was to follow for two days. 2. Next on the floor was the great lady of Latin, Nicola Nordin. Unbelievably, this was her first appearance lecturing at Blackpool. Nicola lead us effortlessly and precisely through her thoughts on ‘A Dynamic Point of View’. Using three young couples, David and Karla from Australia, Markku and Disa from Finland and Alejandro and Kerri-Anne from England, Nicola showed how to take the simplest configurations and transform them into extremely interesting choreography, adding rotation, speed changes, light and shade etc without losing the characteristics of the dance. Brilliantly explained and demonstrated. Love the idea of keeping it simple and attractive to the eye. Easy to see why this lady is in such demand around the World. CARMEN continues with the Saturday morning's lectures: As usual the build up and the pre-excitement before Blackpool was no different this year then any other year! I was looking forward to a week of fantastic dancing, great performances and catching up with friends and generally just enjoying a great week of dancing! The Saturday morning marks the beginning of a 2 day extravaganza on lectures hosted by the BDF and carried out by a mix of all different kind of lectures: Competitors, retired, long retired and other experts of dance adding to this elaborate panel of lecturers. Here are some extracts of the lectures I was attending: Holding the first "competitive lecture" of this years congress: Fellow Germans Franco Formica and Oxana Lebedew Their topic Samba: As everyone can imagine : they must have been very nervous holding their first lecture at the Blackpool Congress standing here in front of this knowledgeable audience . They came out and delivered a Samba: wow! We were then taken into their world as he proceeded to explain how they achieve this unbelievable fluidity and fundamental understanding of this dance. The sheer quality of their basic principles mixed with the understanding of the Samba rhythm was a true pleasure to witness. Knowing from many past experiences this must have not been easy to do their first lecture but they mastered it with bravery and excited the people by finishing their debut with a Samba that brought the people to their feet. Well then came Andrew Sinkinson: Well it's Andrew! As always a true professional, always the purist , always looking for perfection. I am still to this date mesmerized by his beautiful feet and his musicality and even after so many years of retirement to come out, assisted by Natasha Karaby and dancing 4 dances full on with music. His approach to ballroom dancing pure and unswayed by trends or fashion and always true to his believes is so refreshing as in these days affect seems to have taken center stage. He elaborates with no hesitation on his believes and his clear understanding of what he considers is wright. We are then presented by Andrews top five foot work mistakes of the week, followed by the top 5 steps we will not see in Blackpool and his top 5 steps that should be danced. And well we were all watching out for them! Then we were witnessing the great Donnie Burns MBE and Gaynor Fairweather MBE : Their title being "the perfect match" And so they are!!!! They were giving us an inside of how they matched up and how their lives are unmistakably interlinked like a chain. The truth is I was not really listening (sorry!!) as I was taken back how truly perfectly matched they are and observing every moment of them constantly being aware of each other and watching their every move and being able to see : "what they preach they do"!! They were dancing throughout the entire lecture and at end the audience was treated with their Rumba! Magnificent and true to themselves ,we were all privileged to see the great Donnie and Gaynor!! Well and the last lecture of this first day at the congress was reserved for The one and only Lorraine: As I know first hand ( and she would tell you herself) lectures are not Lorraine's favorite pass time! Lorraine being the Lady whom Walter Laird had written the technique on ( which we all still obey by) looked fabulous. There she entered the floor with her Erte-esque masculine dressed ladylike ensemble with Brazil playing in the background and her doing her Lorraine thing! With permission of Lorraine : I can't believe she is 72!!!! Oh my god!! If we can all keep the spirit , the soul and the youth of this legend at her age we are truly blessed. Then again it is Lorraine. She delivered and implacable lecture talking about the soul of dancing , pointing out what she thought was lacking nowadays : SOUL She was assisted by Jussi Vaanen and proceeded to give an insight of what is Lorraine. In true fashion , always very feminine and yet bossy , she showed us examples of how a Latin Lady should enhance , make her stamp and never lower her own worth within the partnership, making her own decisions , being yourself, having SOUL. She danced a solo Rumba: wow She danced Rumba , Paso Doble and Samba assisted by Jussi and finished off her lecture with a full Samba dancing with Jussi and Brazil!! humbling and incredible respect is all I can say! I absolutely loved this day in the Spanish hall. We were all here to witness the great legends, new legends and legends in the making and I absolutely believe true dancing, real dancing, love and passion for dancing is alive and I love it!! Saturday Afternoon by MARION WELSH 1.GREG SMITH - The Forgotten Dance V W Unfortunately Viennese Waltz is often considered the least favorite of the Ballroom Dances. With great flair and expert knowledge Greg divided his lecture into 3 detailed sections: Music, Movement and Technique, discussing accents and impulses, quoting Len Scrivener from the book,- ‘ Just One Idea with strong references to phrasing’. While suggesting that more figures be added to increase the interest value as well as possible better phrasing, Greg then demonstrated with Katusha a medley of delightful combinations of off beat spins, throwaway over sways, lunges, hesitations while still maintaining the fluidity and character of the dance. Greg fulfilled his time with many interesting, factual, technical and debatable points of view very clearly being demonstrated by Arunas and Katusha not only throughout but also as a superb finale of Greg’s ideas put into motion. 2.GARY MAC DONALD - I'm Lovin’ It The title says it all, based around his character not a Dance. The opening scene is set when 2 lovely girls present the head table of BDF committee members with bags of ‘McDonald Fries.’ I'm Lovin’ It. Gary has such a natural relaxed, extremely entertaining yet exciting flair for lecturing. He details his history as being a passionate10 Dancer, but always felt under pressure to have to make a choice. While keeping you at all times entertained with many funny one-liners, Gary set about comparing Ballroom with Latin and how the two styles constantly compliment, intertwine, beg, borrow and steal from each other. Using the two talented couples on the floor at the same time, Igor Litvinov and Yulia Ivleva dancing the Tango and Tomasz and Izabela Lewandowski the Cha Cha, Gary proceeded to break down with a series of counts and timings, rondes, pivots, lunges, swivels, kicks, syncopations and chasses working from one couple to another, then together, a complex, but at the same time incredibly simple concept. The finale was being Tango and Cha Cha and was danced at the same time on the floor to one piece of music, not Latin nor Ballroom, but by Lady Ga Ga Poker Face. What an Impact. I'm Lovin’ It! Saturday afternoon lectures, - personal impression by OLIVER WESSEL-THERHORN 1. Massimo Giorgianni / Alessia Manfredini I was factually looking forward to see them after quite a period of time and they didn’t let me down. Actually some of the shtick they let out reminded me of the way Bill and Bobbie were delivered. (Massimo: So these things I’ve received. Alessia answers after a short break: WE have received!) How Man and Woman create a mood and togetherness between them. This lecture was full of information and entertainment! Nevertheless I would like to give a little hopeful advice. As a lecturer you are given a certain amount of time to lecture. Try to stay within that limit or it can stop you out of you your well-prepared lecture. It interrupts the flow of your talk. A lecture of that high calibre it’s a shame that you have to hurry up in your speeding talk and you have to rush the end. For me it was one of the highlights of this Blackpool’s lectures! 2. THE LORRAINE Already to know she would be lecturing made me reserving that afternoon in my agenda. Lorraine was my main Latin teacher and the person which I couldn’t resist to have Ballroom lessons wish: I had always the best Lady Dancer as a teacher, Mrs. Bobbie Irvine, so I grabbed the chance to do the same in Latin: Lorraine! She always put herself down, thinking she couldn’t lecture, but she proved herself to be very wrong: She passed the entry with her opening and then didn’t allow us to clap! There was so much wisdom coming through her words; when she danced by herself you could feel being brought into the position of the man in front of her right now. 1 +1 to create into minimum 2.5 or 3. You got more out of 1 + 1. What you got out of this, is not describable, unless you have heard more from her thoughts, the GREAT lecture or in her private lessons. Finishing off with L-O-V-E- by either Mathis or Monroe and after her seemingly stopping, her real finish was to piece from Liza Minnelli. Gorgeous, Glamorous, just like the Great Liza: The REAL, THE GREAT! THE ONE AND ONLY LORRAINE!!! Sunday morning lectures, - personal view by LYNN HARMAN 3. The morning Session on Sunday, gave the audience a perfect balance of information, ranging from the clear instruction given by Victor and Anastasia showing the beautiful use of feet required to produce musicality and quality of action, to the unbelievable display of perfection by Ricardo and Yulia, showing in their own words "Lyrical, Sensitive and Dramatic" Dancing. Completing the Sunday morning session were an informative lecture on the difference between "American" and "International" style of Latin American, followed by an analysis of the Ballroom hold and how to use it to best effect by Joanne Bolton ably "assisted" by Chris Hawkins. The morning was rounded off by an innovative insight from four Professional couples; two Ballroom couples and two Latin couples with their interpretation of "Impact" the title of the B.D.F. Lecture Congress for 2010. Giampiero and Anna, Domen and Monica, Evgeny and Polina, and Joshua and Sara, all gave superb demonstrations and when asked of their interpretation of "Impact”, interestingly all had very different ideas. Food for thought for this highly captive audience!
Posted On: 25-06-2010