Sunday in Valencia! No classes! There were other things happening, but we felt like a lie in and a walk, so we took a lie in and a walk.
We stayed in the same airbnb as last year, because as we said: Their tagline should be "come for the room, return for the breakfast".
We strolled through Valencia
looked at the cathedral
and took photos.
In the evening we had dinner with these gorgeous people.
During the social dancing, Julie Brown, Ruth Evelyn and Sarah Elise performed this beautiful piece of art called Pink Champagne:
I've watched it many times on youtube and it was a joy to see it live! You should all go and see it here.
And then it was time for the prize ceremony and bloody Liam bloody WON the thing. I'm not surprised, I thought he was fantastic in the finals, but then I'm severely biased so I didn't think I could trust my opinion about him ... But he won! Turns out you don't need years and years of blues dance experience to do well - but quality of movement, musicality, a very adaptive style of leading, and a fuckton of comp experience from other dances seems to do the trick. Honestly, there is a small part of me that's really relieved that we compete in different categories (I compete as a follow and he as a lead) because I think I'd struggle with him beating me in everything all the time (the way I know other leads feel about him). Instead, I get to go home with that gorgeous man after comps, every time. So I kinda won* too. :)
*I know some people might find the ownership sounding vibe - like he is a prize for me to win and own - of this statement scary and unhealthy, but I don't care. Being with Liam makes me feel like I'm winning at life. I like that feeling. I'm gonna keep it.
After the prize ceremony, the finalists danced some more:
I have no idea what's going on in this photo. Why are all three of them crouching? Does Bibi have three people in line to propose? Who will she pick? But the most pressing question: Which of the dancers farted so horribly that two audience members have to pinch their noses?
Unfortunately, not a lot happened after this. I did some dancing, which was lovely, but I wasn't enjoying the music except for one or two of the DJ:s. It turned to fusion after that, which I didn't want to dance to. I would have happily stayed and chatted with friends anyway, last night and all, but ... the music at that point was so loud it was 1. dangerous and 2. practically an insult. I just looked at Liam and shook my head and then we went home. And I felt really disappointed, I had SO MUCH blues dancing left in me still.
I found myself wondering what it is that draws me to this event. After this year, the list is pretty short.
1. Classes are GREAT. Like, truly truly great.
2. Everyone else is there. The social side of it is important.
Other than that, it was pretty badly organised, and too much of the music was either not great, or plain bad. And I felt my patience running out quite early on. (Again, to me it is a question of how expensive the event is. For a smaller, local, cheaper event, I'm super happy for things to be less smooth - for example, for the MC:s to not really have a clue what they're doing and to speak so fast I can't make out what they're saying, like this weekend. I get it - I've been there myself. But for an event like this, and for the price I've paid ... Nope, just nope.)
Thankfully, there are plenty of other events to go to. Too many, really. :)
Joe Liggins & the Honeydrippers | Pink Champagne
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