For those who had never come across this styling, it was a morning full of discoveries. Straight away, the dancers were charmed by Darren’s sense of style, the seriousness of his contents and yet the humour that he kept on dispensing throughout. We will all remember his deep voice saying “GOOOOOOOOOOOODDD” many times. He made us all feel like pros in no time.
With simple explanations, he managed to convey great tips and advice for our enjoyment and also our improvement. We all got a little certifi cate from Darren and he really played the autographs/photos game for two days!
After a bit of a rest and a nice meal, we went back to Darren who gave us a workshop of his dances. They were: Hey Man Johnny Got A Boom Boom Foxtrot Somewhere Else Get Down Fujiyama Mama
I found those dances all as exciting as one another with clever steps and terrifi c music, an essential mix for dance fl oor success.
The Line dance Show took place that same evening. Conceived as a gala and a dinner, I have to say that because we live in the South West of France, we have some of the countrys’ best foods and specialties so it was a great menu!
With 900 guests sitting down and waiting for the show, it was a terrifi c evening that followed. The acts are all amateurs and there were over 30 groups who took part.
Dancers of all ages and all levels gave us great performances and Darren joined in for the delight of everyone there.
I had met Marlene Depreez, a Belgian instructor and choreographer and we had hit it off to the extent that we had co written a dance together ‘Bruxelles-Toulouse’ celebrating our home towns. So we decided to introduce ourselves as M&M’s and introduce the dance with, we hoped, a little bit of a laugh as neither of us take ourselves too seriously. Two more friends joined in and we did have fun.
After the show, the big Line Dance Party followed till 3.30 am! Seen as most had started from 10 am, on the Saturday, it was a long day. Daniel Steenackers then introduced some alternative songs to popular dances like Chill Factor or Toes.
Sunday morning gave Darren the opportunity of a couple more teaches with: Every Now And Then and Bible And The Belt , two more beautiful dances.
I asked him his thoughts and he kindly gave me this little statement: “I really enjoyed the weekend. I think that the festival was great, really well organised it was such a pleasure to see so many people all having such a great time and showing such great respect and love for Line dancing.”
It was fi nally time to go home….though many dancers stayed until the last note of music had been played. We left eager for the huge Mirande festival this July, knowing fully well that we would have, once again, the very best time over fi ve days of incredible music and dancing.
For more details on mirande country festival go to:
www.country-musique.com
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