Monday, November 20, 2006
12th November Come Dancing Australia style
12th November (Sunday)
Jon and I met up with his sister Nicola again and this time her husband Robert came too. We all met at a lovely little street café in St Kilda and had a fine brunch. The Melburnians have a hardy street café mentality and weekends is the time to indulge this favourite pastime. Families, friends and acquaintances meet to catch up over long macchiattas, short blacks and breakfast eggs Benedict and the like.
After brunch Jon and I take the road out past Luna Park fair and head out on to the Great Western Freeway which rises over the harbour and docks and gives great views back towards the city. W are aiming for Williamstown and a dance competition which Jon had been hoping to compete in. It’s a long story but sadly he and his dance partner couldn’t go. I am going to beg your indulgence and describe the day, the competition the levels and dances and hopefully make some sense. I rely on Jon for the accuracy of the detail and myself for the hyperbole. But your going to have to wait ‘coz he’s gone to bed and I’m too tired to write any more. Hope we don’t lose too much of the colour of the day by sleeping on it.
So Williamstown Dance competition is a non qualifying event which means nobody is dancing to gain points for their medal levels so should be a more relaxed time for the competitors. The entrants range from about 7 years old to mid to late fifties and they dance in a wide range of categories such as Latin, modern, progressive etc. They also compete at different levels from beginners level 1 to to level 5 but today the highest level is 4. The couples get approx. a minute and a half to show the judges their dance skills and then they qualify or not for the semis and finals in their particular category and level. To my eye some of the dancing is excellent and the costumes and dresses of the ladies are incredible, bright, flamboyant and beautiful. The men wear elegant suits and tails and they all look magnificent swirling and twirling around the Old Town Hall dance floor. We watch the youngsters first as they always go first and see some good and not so good latin and progressive. The programme intersperses a few adult and Masters (over 55) qualifiers and the youngsters near the finals. I’m not really sure who wins and why but they seem to get a great deal of enjoyment out of it and I think that’s the main thing. Jon and I wandered off after the awards and went down to Williamstown harbour and checked out he yachts and ships. It also is one of the dockyards for the Australian Navy and there were a couple moored but we couldn’t get a clear view of them.
Back to the competition and the adults groups were in full swing. The Latin categories are extremely energetic and I hate to think how many muscles I could pull all at once if I attempted any of those moves! Again the Masters was the one to watch if you wanted to watch elegant, graceful dancing by beautifully dressed men and women. This probably sounds a bit daft but I could watch this for hours without getting bored. Anyway we left around 8pm and they were all still going strong. Jon says some competitions run until 10 or 11pm. Poor ol’ Jon has to go to work tomorrow as his company wouldn’t let him have 2 weeks holiday for my visit. Also looks like he may not be able to have next Monday off for our visit to Sydney. Poor show by OAMPS the financial company he works for. There, they are named and shamed.
Jon and I met up with his sister Nicola again and this time her husband Robert came too. We all met at a lovely little street café in St Kilda and had a fine brunch. The Melburnians have a hardy street café mentality and weekends is the time to indulge this favourite pastime. Families, friends and acquaintances meet to catch up over long macchiattas, short blacks and breakfast eggs Benedict and the like.
After brunch Jon and I take the road out past Luna Park fair and head out on to the Great Western Freeway which rises over the harbour and docks and gives great views back towards the city. W are aiming for Williamstown and a dance competition which Jon had been hoping to compete in. It’s a long story but sadly he and his dance partner couldn’t go. I am going to beg your indulgence and describe the day, the competition the levels and dances and hopefully make some sense. I rely on Jon for the accuracy of the detail and myself for the hyperbole. But your going to have to wait ‘coz he’s gone to bed and I’m too tired to write any more. Hope we don’t lose too much of the colour of the day by sleeping on it.
So Williamstown Dance competition is a non qualifying event which means nobody is dancing to gain points for their medal levels so should be a more relaxed time for the competitors. The entrants range from about 7 years old to mid to late fifties and they dance in a wide range of categories such as Latin, modern, progressive etc. They also compete at different levels from beginners level 1 to to level 5 but today the highest level is 4. The couples get approx. a minute and a half to show the judges their dance skills and then they qualify or not for the semis and finals in their particular category and level. To my eye some of the dancing is excellent and the costumes and dresses of the ladies are incredible, bright, flamboyant and beautiful. The men wear elegant suits and tails and they all look magnificent swirling and twirling around the Old Town Hall dance floor. We watch the youngsters first as they always go first and see some good and not so good latin and progressive. The programme intersperses a few adult and Masters (over 55) qualifiers and the youngsters near the finals. I’m not really sure who wins and why but they seem to get a great deal of enjoyment out of it and I think that’s the main thing. Jon and I wandered off after the awards and went down to Williamstown harbour and checked out he yachts and ships. It also is one of the dockyards for the Australian Navy and there were a couple moored but we couldn’t get a clear view of them.
Back to the competition and the adults groups were in full swing. The Latin categories are extremely energetic and I hate to think how many muscles I could pull all at once if I attempted any of those moves! Again the Masters was the one to watch if you wanted to watch elegant, graceful dancing by beautifully dressed men and women. This probably sounds a bit daft but I could watch this for hours without getting bored. Anyway we left around 8pm and they were all still going strong. Jon says some competitions run until 10 or 11pm. Poor ol’ Jon has to go to work tomorrow as his company wouldn’t let him have 2 weeks holiday for my visit. Also looks like he may not be able to have next Monday off for our visit to Sydney. Poor show by OAMPS the financial company he works for. There, they are named and shamed.
# posted by desmond22 @ 11:09 pm 
