We arrived at Hemsby on Friday afternoon, looking forward to a great weekend and we weren’t disappointed. The first evening’s entertainment was the ever popular Gemma Fairweather who did her usual mix of old favourites and brand new songs with DJ Mark Caley keeping us dancing to a good selection of music between sets.

After a late night there was a surprisingly high turnout back in the hall after breakfast on Saturday to see what dances were to be taught. After a couple of warm up dances, our own Michelle was up first, starting us off in lively form with a bouncy dance “Part Time Lover”. This was easily mastered and with Michelle’s cries of “Bouncy shoulders, let’s have some attitude” off we went toe strutting & rocking to this singalong track. This was followed by the arrival on stage of our special guest choreographer for the weekend, the lovely Kate Sala. She decided to start us off with her biggest dance Sky High first so that we would have plenty of time over the weekend to practise it. This seemed to be a very sound tactic as we were all still fresh and could take it in more easily. With her assistant Donna taking the back to help us along and Kate’s thorough teaching, this proved a very popular dance and will surely be Kate’s next big hit! Our hostess Val Self was next, to teach us Kim Ray’s new offering “Almaz”. Once we had mastered the slightly tricky timing of this elegant dance it was a real pleasure to do. Kate popped up once more before lunch with a happy little dance called Butterbean. Just a 32 count easy dance this was a nice floorfiller with a track we all went off to lunch humming.

After lunch we got cracking again with Lollipop from Kate. This was a real favourite with everyone, a spot on dance to a cute little song by Mika. Val was next with Peter & Alison’s “Seven Wonders” and then Michelle with “Let Me Take You Away” to a beaty pop track with a couple of tricky “and” counts that took us a while to remember. A quick review of all the dances taught concluded the teaching for Saturday and we all went off to rest our feet ready for a great evening with Billy Bubba King entertaining us in fine style helped by Mark’s disco.

Sunday morning saw the more dedicated dancers back in the hall for another teaching session. Val did “Girl Crazy” by Andy & Barbie while Michelle reviewed “Let Me Take You Away” as several people had missed the teaching & had asked her to do it again. Kate gave us 90 Degrees, with a nice reggae beat to make us think of sunshine & holidays!

Sunday afternoon, after a full roast lunch, we were back for more, so, along with a full review, Kate hit us with the really funky “Step Up” and Michelle finished us off (almost literally) with “Body to Body” with lots of hip bumps (good for the waistline after all that food!). Off we went back to the chalets for a quick nap before the evening entertainment by the fantastic Calico who were on fine form and packed the floor all evening despite our protesting feet! Mark then kept us going till about 3am, ending a great weekend in style!

Our thanks go to Kate Val & Michelle for their expert tuition, Calico, Billy & Gemma for their fantastic entertainment and Mark who was always there to keep the music coming day or night.


Check the Gallery for pictures!