We’ve returned from another fabulous Dawlish weekend. Here is the weekend recap!
On Thursday Ms FineSteps and Robert headed down to Dawlish, closely followed by Garry with all the equipment, to prepare the hotel for the swarm of FineSteppers soon to be arriving. Meanwhile, Molly was left in charge of the classes and she took no prisoners! We managed to pack 16 dances into the hour SoloSteps class and went over some difficult technique in FirstSteps.
Friday
On Friday morning it was raining cats and dogs at home in Gloucestershire but luckily the weather report from Dawlish was bright and sunny! Over the course of the day, FineSteppers packed into the Langstone Cliff ready for the weekend of dancing. At 6.15 pm we all gathered in the Washington Bar for welcome drinks. We greeted those joining us for the first time and caught up with those who we hadn’t seen for a while. The Langstone staff served us up a wonderful buffet and it’s safe to say we all stuffed our faces! After some delicious puddings, it was time to work off all those calories. This time Molly took on the role of teaching the ice-breaker dance, the Cupid Shuffle, which went down a treat. Check out a clip of us dancing it here. We spent the next few hours dancing, singing and drinking (of course) before it was time to head to bed. There were a few stragglers in the bar as always, but with a busy Saturday ahead most opted for an early night.
Saturday
Saturday morning started with a trip to the restaurant for breakfast, arguably one the best parts about the weekend! Once everyone was fuelled up we headed for the Ballroom ready to do some learning. We started out with a brand new section of Quickstep including a fun hop variation, which we thought everyone would struggle with, but much to our surprise was picked up really quickly. After a quick cuppa, we moved on to the Samba. The Windmill section proved to be particularly difficult, not so much the steps but definitely the arms. It was very entertaining to watch! In the final workshop of the day, we learnt The King Charles Waltz ahead of The Coronation. The hotel then became quiet as our FineSteppers headed out for the afternoon, well that was until an almighty alarm started ringing. 6 of our dancers had only gone and got stuck in the lift! Luckily we got them out pretty quickly but let the lesson be learnt that there’s only supposed to be 4 people in the lift.
Team FineSteps, a.k.a Nikki, Garry and Molly, spent the afternoon setting up the Ballroom for the Rainbow Theme Gala Ball that evening. Thankfully most of the preparation was done on Friday afternoon so we just needed to put the decorations up, which sounds a lot easier than it is. Each table was topped with a mirror plate, some rainbow confetti, rainbow sweets and a giant helium balloon. We then decorated the room with giant pompoms, bunting and multi-coloured lights. Finally, it was time to get ready for the evening ahead.
Once again we met in the bar for pre-dinner drinks and the room was an explosion of colour. Liz had definitely captured what Gen-Z would refer to as ‘the vibe’ for the evening! Before we took our seats for dinner we took a group photo and presented Ms FineSteps with her thank you flowers. The food was absolutely fantastic, possibly the best we’ve had. The staff were also amazing, serving us up our plates like clockwork so that we could get out on the dance floor. Once again we filled the floor for the next few hours, breaking out our favourite dances, like the Cheeseburger and the Barn Dance Jive. At midnight we danced the last waltz before saying goodnight. The hardcore stayed for the disco. Sally even came back downstairs from her room just to join in with Mr Brightside! Finally, we headed to the bar for a nightcap. As teachers, we always enjoy having a few drinks with our students as we get to know everyone that little bit better. However, we maybe learnt a little too much about some people on Saturday night! Anyway swiftly moving on!
Sunday
By Sunday morning the tiredness has usually kicked in but everyone seemed to be in a vibrant mood, maybe that was the effect of dressing up like rainbows the night before. After a hearty breakfast, we were all back in the Ballroom ready to do some more work. Thankfully everyone seemed to remember the Quickstep routine from the day before so we could focus a bit more on technique and making the routine functional. We didn’t quite finish the Samba routine on Saturday so we put the final touches on that before diving into Cruzados Walk technique with Molly. As the workshops came to an end many of our FineSteppers headed home. This time we also had a big group staying the Sunday night too. They all enjoyed a beautiful dinner in the dining room, apparently, the roast beef was a particular highlight. After dinner, they took over the lounge for the evening and stayed chatting till the early hours of the morning.
Another fantastic weekend with a wonderful group of people. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Thank you to the staff at the Langstone Cliff Hotel for making our stay so fantastic! As always we took lots and lots of photos, you can check them out in our Photo Highlights.
See you again in November!