back to news Bournemouth July 07 What a fantastic weekend. Nigel Horrocks and the DPA certainly had their work cut out to organise this wonderful event, and what a brilliant job they did. The weather was cooler than previous years and there were no sun burnt dancers to contend with but the dancing and competition was as hot as ever. The weekend kicked off with the Bournemouth Masters Junior and Juvenile events and followed with the EADA Amateur 10 dance and UK closed under 21 Standard competitions. It was great to see so many couples taking part and in the Amateur 10 dance especially it was noted that the numbers were up vastly from the year before. Packed to the brim, the ballroom was alight with every colour imaginable and the children were as joyous as ever. No where in the world of sport will you ever see young contenders standing with such deportment but managing to remain as children when off the competition floor. They are a credit to the dance world and also to their parents. Our winners for the first day were: John Giannini and Stevie Jones for the Junior ballroom and Latin events, taking the Juvenile Ballroom were Miles Chapman and Lorna Arnold with Luke Miller and Charlotte Plant winning the Juvenile Latin. Richard Still and Morgan Hemphill were winners of the Amateur 10 dance and sprinting home with first place in the under 21 ballroom were Kyle Taylor and Jourdan Stone. All these couples were very worthy winners and a pleasure to watch. The Saturday was taken up with some very high standard supporting events and also the Amateur latin and under 21 latin. These were extremely fast and colourful couples who danced before us which made for an exciting competition. Having completed the latin up to the semi finals it was home for a rest before the dinner dance in the evening. What a treat all the dinner guests were to have. Not one but two very closely fought latin events. The eventual winners were Andrew Escolme and Amy Baker in the under 21 latin and Gregor Rebula with Lisa Darby in the Amateur latin. The weekend was coming to a close but not before the UK closed Junior and Juvenile championships. These were held in the morning of the Sunday so I was unfortunate not to have been present but mirroring their success from the Friday evening were John Giannini and Stevie Jones in the junior section, Miles and Lorna/Luke and Charlotte in the juvenile ballroom and latin respectively. The main event of the afternoon session was the Amateur Ballroom competition and entering this event were some of Englands finest and fittest. Even with the speed and distance that these couples travelled there was only one incident whereby a competitor was elbowed in the head, this shows the expertise that these young couples have when executing floor craft on a busy ballroom floor. Winning this event for the 6th year were reigning UK Closed Amateur Standard Champions – Warren and Kristi Boyce.