Sequence Festival Success
By Steve Holes

When Tina and I travelled up to Blackpool for the weekend of October 20th 21st 22nd to represent EADA at the 57th Sequence festival and meet up with our new parent reps we were not sure what to expect as we have never really tried Sequence dancing apart the odd Xmas party at our local Dance School. We were keen to see how different or similar Sequence Competition was to Ballroom and Latin. So here is a Senior Latin dancers view on the world of Sequence.

The first thing I can confirm is that Blackpool upheld its reputation for welcoming the dance world with open arms a friendly smile, rain and strong winds. The second is that whether you are there to compete or watch when you walk down those steps into the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens the anticipation and the expectation is the same, you can’t help but feel the buzz inside.

When we arrived to watch the Juveniles and Juniors on Saturday the Ballroom was packed with parents and supporters cheering the kids on.

We watched the early rounds from the balcony and from there we were able to note the first real differences between, our two branches of dance. Firstly there was a symmetry to the dancing that Ballroom doesn’t have. The Dancers all do the same steps and rotate in an anti clockwise direction with no overtaking and with the Judges all in the middle of the floor from where they seemed to have much more time to look at the performance of the competitors than they do in Ballroom and Latin where the early rounds can look a lot like Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour. We certainly found that we could take a good look at all the competitors as we could start with the couple in front of us and watch each couple as they came past us and know we hadn’t missed anyone. We were impressed by the high level of presentation on show at all levels. When we went down stairs to watch the semis and finals we got another surprise. Close up we noticed immediately how strong the footwork was. The toes really are toes and the heels really were heels. Unlike Ballroom where might get through the first round or two on a crowded floor concentrating on keeping your top line intact it seems that in sequence you have no such luxury as you always have space to do your routine so it has to be right. As everyone is doing the same routine on the same phrasing even to our untrained eyes any foot errors stood out quite clearly. All the finals were very competitive and the high standard was kept up right to the end even though it was a long day. The kids clearly enjoyed their day and the enthusiasm was continuous all day as they continued to crowd onto the floor to practise to the organ every time there was a break.

We would like to thank all the competitors for an entertaining day and congratulate the couples who won their class and to those who made finals.