4 wall - 32 counts - intermediate

A BLOOMINGGreat WeekendFortunately, by the time I began myjourney with UCWDC IntermediateFemale Silver Line Dance WorldChampion Cathy Martinez, the roadswere clear. Our destination was to thepicturesque small town of Zuiddijk afew kilometers North of Amsterdam.What a surprise on arriving at the hotelRijpereilanden where the event wastaking place. The hotel buildings aresurrounded by canals, beside which, isa huge collection of vintage vehicles –cars, buses, rail wagons etc.The director of the event Michel Platjewelcomed us warmly, Michel, a giant ofa man at 6’ 7”, has directed The TulipChallenge for fi ve years together with hispartner Anita. One by one familiar facesstarted to arrive, comprising of judges,Brigitte Zerah, Ann Cummingham, LouisVan Hatten, Roy Hoeben, Audrey Gendreand Jeremie Tridon, competitors frommany European Countries, Mr. scorerBruno Vastel and everyone’s’ favouriteDJ, Tommy Weafer.This original hotel held more surprisesin that the ballroom is in renaissancestyle, complete with a minstrels’ gallery,a huge wall painting in the style ofRembrandt, dainty chairs and a lovelysprung fl oor. That was the setting forthe competitions and open dancing.The competitions began with originalchoreography, teams, and Rising Starand Superstar imposed dances.Original Choreography is a divisionwhere anyone may enter dances theyhave created. Two dances stood outfor me, a Rock ‘n’ Roll ‘Jailhouse Rock,presented in exuberant fashion by aLithuanian troupe Linedance LT. ThreeFrench ladies presented their 50’s stylenumber ‘Ladies Boogie’ dressed inauthentic costumes. Cathy presentedher phrased two-step dance Madyn’Bang which featured music sung inFrench by a French Canadian singer!The youngsters let loose in Renegade.Here, dancers have an hour to producea dance to previously unknown music.It calls for endurance, originality andtechnical transitions through the variousstyles of modern Line dance, as well asshowmanship.After the awards for the aforementionedcompetitions, open dancing with Tommyfi nished the evening while the judgingand competition staff relaxed in the bararea, shooting the breeze. It was herethat I learnt more about the excitingdevelopment that has the Countrycompetitive world buzzing, the inclusion,for the fi rst time, of our dance form intothe prestigious World Dance Games inTaiwan in September. These Games arethe dance equivalent of the Olympicsand are organised by the World DanceSport Federation. The representatingbody for the UK is the UKcldsf under thedirection of Steve and Yvonne Dunn.While competition continued onSaturday with Line dance and pro-am,workshops by leading choreographerssuch as Darren Bailey, Matt Oakley whoalso EmCd, and Roy Habisubroto werebeing held in a separate room.Watching the competition I cannothelp but be struck by how much thedance technique and performance hasadvanced over the years. The beautyof these competitions is that they are24 • May 2013 www.linedancermagazine.com