Life in the Fast Lane!!!

Morning all, Maria's week is nearly over and we have had a brilliant time, the highlight being swimming with the dolphins yesterday which everyone really enjoyed. Maria has taken 1 week to get the same colour as me and I have been here 4 months - she looks like a right local!!!!! Tonight we are heading down to Xlendi for their farewell meal and a bottle (or 2) of wine and as long as the kids are happy playing in the sea, we will settle down to an evening of Uka, great card game, anyone know it - we have just learnt it and are totally hooked.

Maria is missing her dancing (as I am!!!) and hopes to be there Thursday night (especially as her husband has just announced he is playing golf Friday morning!!!) - so she will see you all there for a dance or two.

Bye for now, lots of love Shelagh and Maria xxxx

Deal Carnival this Thursday (27th July)

Dance Riviera will be taking part in the Deal Carnival on Thursday in the parade. John & Linda Ford (http://www.jivehive.co.uk/) will be decorating their van with posters, flags and of course loud music for us to dance to along the parade. We'll be handing out flyers and dancing along the way, so if you fancy coming along and supporting us, then look at this flyer to get the details.

6.30pm along The Beach, Walmer - wear black and white if you can!

FREE ticket to those who help out and of course the essential bottles of water :-)

Nicky & Tracy


UPDATE.......'Just to say a big 'thank-you' to everyone who came along and danced with us in the Deal carnival last Thursday evening.
The carnival was a huge success and attended by around 15,000 people.
We decorated John and Linda's ( huge thanks to them) with Dance Riviera posters, photos, flags etc and even won a 'highly commended' certificate from the judges for our decorations...
I must say, it was lovely being part of the procession and great to have the gentle sea breeze to cool us down! Thanks again everyone'. Tracy x

Boogie by the Bay....what a night!

On the evening of 22nd July we had our Saturday Night Special Boogie by the Bay down in Herne Bay, Kent. What a fantastic night. DJ Colin Shaul (Dorking LeRoc) played a fantastic set, Jim & Nicky's fun class had everyone laughing and being a bit silly :-), the buffet (especially the donuts) was incredibly yummy and plentiful and finally the Dance with a Stranger competition was great, thanks to everyone that took part. The Winners are pictured above.

Our next Saturday Night Special is 23rd September at our Dartford venue. Theme will be "School"! so start preparing your short shirts, ripped shirts, pigtails and wonky ties :-)

Dance Riviera is part of a World Record!!

Dance Riviera World Record Breakers!

We took part in the (Dartford Festival) Big Dance Class World Record attempt and we (and thousands of people across the country) broke the world record!

We had great fun on Saturday, although the routines were harder and more complicated than we first thought. Well done to everyone that turned up and took part, especially as we were dancing in the blazing sunshine. Very proud of us all.

We also did a 30 minute busk at the festival and got people up dancing and hopefully created a lot of awareness for Dance Riviera's classes.

The icing on the cake was Nicky & Tracy's BBC TV appearance on the news!! We gave a short interview about the world record dance and we made it on TV, we're famous :-)

p.s. if anyone taped the programme or news, please let us know as we'd love to see it!

"Girls in Gozo"

Hiya all, look who's turned up on my door step this week - Maria and her family are over here for a week's holiday under the Gozo sun!!!

We didnt waste any time catching up when they arrived, straight out to a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour where we sat til 1am chatting and drinking - we even did the "chair" trick on them (ask Pete/Jill about this) - much to the enjoyment of the restaurant staff and other diners!!!!

We have been very lazy during the days, with pool volleyball being about as much exercise as we can handle. Me and Maria escaped into town one morning for some girlie time and found a lovely wine bar with air con (a must out here!), where we wasted a couple of hours just gossiping - dont think the men missed us, the golf was on TV!!!!!!

On Tuesday we are going "swimming with the dolphins", the kids are very excited and me and Maria even more so! Look out for the photos on the blog next week.

Off now to read the Sunday papers and work on the tan!!!!! Lots of love Shelagh and Maria xxxxx

It's Time to go Break a record

Good luck everyone!

Cya there in a few minutes to start practacing.

Jim x

So you think you can dance - New York

New York is internationally renowned as the city that never sleeps, but visitors are surprised to learn that the Big Apple is not so hot on dancing.
Of the thousands of city bars, clubs and restaurants, only 275 hold cabaret licenses. Begin moving your hips in any of the others and chances are the staff will ask you to stop, for fear of a fine.

Read more here

Nicky & I couldn't believe this law when we were there a few weeks ago. What's worse is that a Caberet license costs a lot of money, so dance clubs are far and few between...sad.

Go for it Guys, we support you!

Jim x

3 men places on tonight's Advanced Smooth Jive class

We have 3 men places on tonight's Advanced Smooth Jive class with Jim & Nicky at Dartford. All lady places have been filled, so unless you have booked with Nicky for tonight, you may have to wait until next week. If you'd like to book in for a specific week, please ring Nicky on 020 8692 3821 or email info@danceriviera.com to guarantee your place.

The Advanced classes are going extremely well with very positive feedback. Jim & Nicky enhance your technique with smoothness, style and gives you confidence to change and adapt moves to suit the music or partner you're dancing with. Click here for flyer.

Dance Riviera Radio Interview!

Nicky & Tracy will be interviewed tonight by Neil who DJs for Valley Park Radio at 7pm tonight!

This serves the patients of Darent Hospital. check out their website www.valleyparkradio.org.uk

Dance Riviera will be famous for 20 minutes :-)

UPDATE.....Well done to Tracy who did the interview last night (Nicky was stuck in horrible traffic) apparently it went extremely well. It lasted for 20 minutes and hopefully a lot of people are now aware of Dance Riviera and what we do.

Boogie by the Bay, Saturday Night Special this coming Saturday!!

Don't forget we have one our famous Saturday Night Specials this coming Saturday (22nd July).

Boogie by the Bay at The Kings Hall, Beacon Drive, Herne Bay

Tickets are only 10 pounds and there's a finger buffet, TOP Guest DJ Colin Shaul, Dance with a Stranger competition and a fun class with Jim & Nicky

Wear your summer gear and cool off outside by the sea

Tickets are on sale at our venues or on the door - get there early to guarantee your entry

Happy Birthday Keith!

Happy Birthday Keith who celebrates his birthday on Wednesday 19th July. A birthday to remember especially as it was the hottest day of the century so far!

Swayze calls Dirty Dancing sequel ``piece of c**p``

Washington, Actor Patrick Swayze claims money can never lure him to accept a role he is not convinced about, insisting that he turned down the multi-million offer to reprise his character in Dirty Dancing sequel, as he found it a "piece of c**p".

Read more here

J x

Sweet Dreams...

No more Bill Gates.....Honest Kate

J x

Pirates of the Carribean 2

Nicky & I thoroughly recommend going to see this film. It's got all the emotions running through it and Depp is just awsome!

Funny thing happened in Greenwich cinema. The first 5 minutes of the film were silent as the Cameraman had forgotten to turn the sound back on for the film.

We received a full refund after the film had finished... Cool.

If anyone can remember all the words spoken in the first 5 minutes and post them here it would be much appreciated.... hehehehe

Jim x

Weird Dream

I had a very weird dream last night. It was about meeting Bill Gates "Mr Microsoft" and chatting to him about being an icon of the age, a pioneer and a great guy.

No offence Bill, but your not exactly top of my dream list, so how the hell did you get in my head!

It's given me the ebejeebies....

All comments welcome,

Jim x

Do you want to be a Record Breaker?

At 12.30 PM on Saturday Dance Riviera along with others will be participating in the largest Dance Class ever. It's going to be a world record breaking attempt across the whole of the UK.

I've always wanted to part of a world record, so you can bet I'm very excited about attemting this feat.

The Dance Riviera crew will be there at about 11.00am to practice the special dance that you have to learn. There will be teachers there to teach you the steps. Click here to learn the steps before Saturday!

We will be wearing black and white clothes for the attempt to make us stand out in the crowd.

You never know we could make it on television..... Cool!

Cya There... Jim x

WOW! I saw this event advertised on tele last night. Should be fun.

We will be taking part in the Dartford Festival on Saturday 22nd July at 3pm in the Dance Zone in Central Park, Dartford for 30 minutes or more to show people what we do and hand out flyers etc. Hopefully we'll be on TV later that night on BBC!!
If you'd like to come along, please let Nicky (020 8692 3821) or Tracy (07939 699271) know.

How to make a GAP advert

BY 9:30 on a Friday morning in May at a studio in the meat-packing district in Manhattan, the choreographers Rich and Tone Talauega are two hours into a video shoot. To the sound of blasting rock music, and in front of a green seamless backdrop, a dancer in a denim pencil skirt, black sleeveless tank and newsboy cap reaches her arms out and rolls her hips. Tone crouches by her feet, pounding out the beat with his hand, while Rich watches through a monitor as the camera zooms in on her shifting torso. They get the shot, but the day’s work stretches out for 12 more intense hours — all for the Gap’s fall television campaign for its denim line, which begins nationally this week.

If you want to read more go here

Contact us

Flattery, criticism, disbelief... we value your comments and will endeavour to reply to them all.

We are often asked questions or are offered comments on a range of topics. We always respond and always listen. It may take us a while to change something, but hey were busy people here, but we are trying to make your dance experience the best.

Email: info@danceriviera.com

or

Tel: 020 8692 3821 Nicky

PS: Is it me or are we having a whole week of sunshine?

Summer in Gozo!!!!!

Hiya all, life over here is "hot, hot, hot" now summer has finally arrived, the temperature does not dip under 28 degrees even in the evenings now!!!! The long evenings spent outdoors chatting and drinking through to the early hours are simply the best.

We have a new lot of guests this week (see the picture), they arrived just 3 days after Pete and Jill departed - just enough time for me to wash bed linen and clean the apartment!!!! Not that Jill and Pete were at all messy mind you, they were the perfect guests and it was lovely to spend time with them - they would be welcome anytime, as of course would any of you, just dont all appear at once!!!!!

Today's picture was taken at the Kempinski Spa Resort about 5 mins drive from us, our friends decided to book themselves in for a 2 night pamper break and we got day passes to join them yesterday - well it was "very quiet and peaceful" until we all arrived - two 3 year olds plus Sam and Cally soon brought the peace to an end - still we had a lovely day out and saw how the other half lives!!!!

Have a good week everyone, enjoy the party tonight - I am on countdown til next Thursday when Maria arrives - cant wait to see her and catch up on the gossip - lots of love to everyone and see you all in August xxxxxx Shelagh xxxxxx

Advanced Smooth Jive

All of our teachers have now been through the Advanced Smooth Jive training program and will be incorporating many of the features as part of the normal Beginners and Intermediate teach.

This will take time to filter through as there are many aspects to ASJ, but every effort is being made to improve our teaching and style of dance.

For those that wish to learn more quickly we are hold a weekly workshop at Dartford on Thursday nights. However, booking is essential as I do not wish to teach to more than 30 people in a single session.

Apologies to anyone we may have to turn away on the door.

Cya there.... Jim x

A Good Nights Sleep

During our regular teachers meeting the other night Jill & Pete metioned that they now use Tempur Pillows to sleep on. They apparently are fantastic and support the neck, so Nicky & I are going to buy a couple.

There's quite a few different types available, so were not sure which to buy.

Here's a link to a web page with good info, but they seem a bit pricey.... here

Does anyone know a good place to buy these from?

Jim x

Dancers compete for starring role

DANCERS have shown off their best moves to wow one of the stars of a hit television show and compete for a starring role in a new programme.

A dance workshop was held at the Ipswich Corn Exchange for more than eight hours yesterday and those who impressed were invited to a masterclass with Anton Du Beke, professional dancer and star of the TV hit show Strictly Come Dancing.

Read more here

Well Done Swanley

I'd just like to congratulate those of you that were at Swanley this Monday for doing very well with a hard Intermediate routine.

The routine was this:

Move 1 - Riviera shoulder spin catapult into a Manhatten

Move 2 - Manhatten with step turn and turn into Manhattern repeater

If that makes no sense at all ask someone who was there to explain it. I'm sure they would like to show it off.

Well done all, Jim x

Happy Birthday to Us

It's Dance Riviera's Birthday today.

3 Years on and were still loving it as much as the first night, although it's not as nerve racking now..hehehe

We couldn't have done it without the huge amount of support from all of you and as a thank you we will be donating all proceeds from our celebrations at Dartford tonight to Breast Cancer Research.

Nicky has bought lots of cakes and chocolate - yummy - for us all to eat.

Hope to see you there

Jim, Nicky & Tracy x x x

Gotta love Mat!

Matt is a guy who decided to quit his videogame programming job and travel the world. At each of his locations, he dances. A stupid, silly, and happy dance. I love it.Matt's recently put up another video of his travels and dancing and it's just as lovely. There are some amazingly beautiful locations here, and it makes me smile and chuckle to see him do his little jig. Sometimes people look at him strangely, and sometimes they join in.

Matt is a 29-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. He achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around the planet until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride long-lasting gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.

Matt, keep doing what you're doing, you make me happy.

Check him and his videos out here

Note: Each video has multiple locations

Young dancers clog up The Hague

Nearly 500 teenagers from 26 countries have staged a huge clog dance in The Netherlands in a bid to win a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Read more here

Couples twirl to tea dance record

Setting a world record can rarely have been so much fun.
Under blue skies and sunshine, hundreds of people of all ages, shapes and sizes grabbed the first partner to hand and jived across London's Trafalgar Square.

Read more here

Herne Bay Picnic

Just to say a 'BIG THANK YOU' to all the crew and dancers who supported our dance demonstrations at the Herne Bay picnic on the Downs event.
We had a great day despite the rain, wind, and the huge challenge of dancing on grass on hill with the strong winds from the sea attempting to blow us over!
The highlight of the day was being challenged by a Tribute to Status Quo band, who said ' see if you can dance to this!'. Of course we did...and proved that Dance Riviera Smooth Jive can be danced to any music!!
Thanks again.

Tracy

Advanced Smooth Jive

Were only 2 lessons in with our Advanced Smooth Jive lessons, but I can honestly say that the feedback has been way more positive than I expected.

We are teaching technique for about 1 hour and then a pattern of moves for another 1 hour.

What's great for me is that the dancers are really pushing themselves to improve and are visably changing the way they think and perform Smooth Jive. Let me tell you that this is no easy task! Changing ones technique is hard to do and normally results in the pulling out of hair and shouting at your partner...hehehehe

I am extremely confident that in 6 weeks time we will see some great results and great dancers capable of much much more. In fact the whole experience is improving Nicky & mines dancing ability and expanding the way we think about dance.

Something that's worth a mention: Recently we have heard quite a few comments about Dance Riviera dancers like:
"where do you dance?"
reply
"Dance Riviera"
response
"Hmmm, I thought so, your really good! You can tell."

Smooth Jive is NOT Modern Jive. I can easily see the difference from 20 feet away. So can you!

I'm proud of you all; and this warm feeling I get when I dance with or watch you just grows by the day. Well done!

Have a great weekend,

Jim x

Competition

The following phrase is made up from 2 quotes from famous films. Can you unravel it into the real quotes and name the films and characters that said them...

Hi, Professor I've never seen everybody, this is your dear Cousin Brucie. Whoa sit! Our summer romances are in full bloom, and everybody, but everybody's a cat. so in love My stiffly.

Jim x

Quote

The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word

Mata Hari

So You Think You Can Dance

I'm not sure if you have been able to see this show, but the dancing is phenominal. Unlike Strictly Dance Fever the contestants in this show are dance students and not true amateurs. As such the level of dance is much higher and professional.

The whole format is very different too (to get around the copyright I expect). The Judges pick the bottom 3 couples and they go up for the public vote. What's weird is that every week you pick your dance partner from a hat followed by the dance style. This possibly makes it a fairer contest, since the UK show assigns you a partner that you are then stuck with.

When Nicky & I have watched the show we have spent most of our time slagging off the judge Nigel Lythgoe (picture above) for knowing nothing about dancing. He seems to repeat what ever the dance teachers say in the training clip and little else.

Since he produces the show we thought that he had put himself in as a judge and is attempting to be another Simon Cowell wannabe. Then I read this.....

Nigel Lythgoe, currently the President of 19 Television, joined 19 as Chief Executive in 2001 from London World Television (LWT), where he was controller of entertainment and comedy. At LWT, Lythgoe attracted award-winning programming, including Ice Warriors, Live By Request with Phil Collins, Michael Barrymores My Kind of Music, Don’t Try This At Home, Friday Night’s All Wright, TV Nightmares, Kids Say the Funniest Things, Animals Do the Funniest Things, Guinness World Records and Hidden Talents of the Rich and Famous. One of the UK's most respected TV talents, Lythgoe began his career at the age of 10 as a dancer. Later, he switched to choreography for The Young Generation dance group and went on to choreograph over 500 television shows around the world, including shows for Engelbert Humperdinck, The Muppets and five Royal Variety Performances. Lythgoe became a household name as a tough judge on the UK series Popstars, leading him to be dubbed Nasty Nigel by viewers. He has produced multiple shows, including Gladiator, Pop Idol and the British version of Survivor, which he also directed. Lythgoe’s executive-producer credits include all four seasons of the No. 1 televison show AMERICAN IDOL, All American Girl and currently SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.


OK, so we were wrong. Doesn't make me like him though!

Jim x

WARNING SPEEDO ALERT - Avert Your Eyes!

David Hasselhoff would be proud!

Chicken Dance

(CBS) The chicken dance has become a staple at weddings receptions along with the electric slide and the macarena. The goofy set of poultry-inspired moves is usually danced at a point late in the evening when guests are at their most festive.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take the chicken dance out of its usual setting in an attempt to break the Guiness World Record for the number of people doing the dance at one time.
The World's Largest Chicken Dance organizer Konrad Bouffard visited The Early Show Monday to talk to co-anchors Rene Syler and Harry Smith about the event.
The current record for the world's largest chicken dance is 72,000 people, set on Sept. 1, 1996 at the Canfield Fair in Canfield, Ohio. But the Texas-based Bouffard figures his state will have no problem beating the record.
"Hey, we're from Texas. Everything is bigger and better in Texas," he said. "We had to beat it. Now we're at over 400,000."
Anyone can participate in the event, even if they're not anywhere near Texas. For more information, log on to chickendance.org.

Guinness World Records keeps track of mass participation events around the world. Here are a few:

Largest Country Line Dance A total of 12,168 people danced to "Baby Likes To Rock It" for 7 minutes 40 seconds at the Happy Valley Recreation Ground — in Hong Kong! The event took place on December 29, 2002.

Largest Group Hug On April 23, 2004 5,117 students, staff and friends from St. Matthew Catholic High School in Orleans, Ontario, Canada participated in the largest group hug on record.

Largest Human Chain Over 5 million people joined hands on December 11, 2004 to from a human chain 652.4 miles long. The chain stretched from Teknaf to Tentulia, Bangladesh.

This is Big Bro

Congratulations to Big Brother contestant Glyn for winning the "Last Man Dancing" competition.

He managed to dance on a little square of carpet for 10 hours straight beating Richard who came 2nd.

The prize was the surprise though. Instead of the much coverted immunity that they thought they might win it was actually a little silver cup. Bummer!

I can't see Glyn being up for nomination though.

Who do you think will win?

My moneys on Pete, but I think Nicky could come in a close 2nd.

Jim x

Mikey at Swanley tonight and Dartford on Thursday

Guest teacher Mikey will be at Swanley tonight taking both classes and also at Dartford on Thursday. Mikey's classes are always fun to attend and his humour will always crack a smile on your face :-)

www.danceriviera.com venues for maps and directions. Tell your friends!!!

Gozo Time!!

Hiya everyone, did you wonder where Pete and Jill have been hiding this week? Well look no further, they are shacked up with us here on Gozo - and we have had a brilliant time - lots of chatting and catching up, interrupted with long swims in the pool, sightseeing around the island and of course the obligatory card night (ending at 3am!!!!).

I have had 1 dance with Pete (1st night!!!) and need to still catch him for a few more to tide me over til I come home in August (the kids are tiring him out in the pool so much that I think dancing is the last thing on his mind at the moment)

We will post another photo and update in the week - until then, take care, have fun dancing and love to all - Shelagh, Pete, Jill and Pete xxxxx