Bristol Council House '06

Bristol Council House... VERY WEIRD JUDGING. That's the first thing I've got to say. But look at all the bottles of wine we won by virtue of making it to 7 finals!

In the Ballroom events, the crazy organisers first ran the Basic Foxtrot. I HATE FOXTROT. Got knocked out in the first round. Didnt matter. Then we sat around and waited for AGES. Then all of a sudden, they ran the Student's only (Waltz, Quickstep), Intermediate (W,Fox,QS) and Pre Champ (W,Fox,Tango,QS) comps back to back. That's 9 straight dances without stop! IT WAS COMPLETE MADNESS!!! I was completely knackered after the Intermediate and I still had another 4 dances to dance. They were CCRRRAAZZZEEEE!!!! Leaving the floor I felt completely wiped out. For the rest of the day, me and Jo were just so tired and couldn't really give it our all. ANYWAY, we still came 4th in the Student's category, 4th in the Pre Champ and 3rd in the Intermediate. The weird judging is when the beginners couple beat us in the Student's only category. We're not that great, but I'm pretty sure we're better then them... still.. didnt think much of it after that.

In the Latin events, Jo forced me to compete in the Amatuer category (Cha cha cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso doble, Jive), Pre Champ (C,S,R,J), Student's only(C,J) and Basic Rumba. It was a straight final in the Ams which was great news for me. Now I can say I competed in an Amatuer final in the UK!! WOO HOO!! But due to our exhausting outing in the Ballroom section, I could literally feel Jo's energy being sapped away from dance to dance. By the time we had to dance the Jive I could feel her exhaustion. I too felt like giving up. Our legs were heavy, our movements weren't as sharp... What more we knew a few of the couples on the floor hadn't actually danced at all the whole day.

Anyway, somehow we managed to carve a respectable 4th place in the Amatuer category! It was fantastic. We beat couples we didn't think we'd beat cause we've been consistently losing to them throughout the year and also cause they hadn't danced ballroom and were fresh on the floor. We were thrilled. Anyway, It was a straight finals for Pre Champ as well, and I THINK we came in 3rd. I'm not sure.. I've got to check that... I really cant remember what else we got.. it was either 6th or 7th in the Students only (again losing to beginners.. WHAT IS GOING ON??? Confused tons of dancers) and I THINK a 4th or 5th in the basic Rumba.

By that time in the evening, I was way too tired.. beyond exhaustion to even care about how we placed. My head was throbbing and my brain was dead. The only thing that really mattered was we came 4th in the Ams and we beat a certain couple.. muahahhahaahaa...

ooohh... also, one of the girls asked me if I was interested in dancing Ex students with her next year.. unfortunately I had to tell her I would probably be unavailable :-(