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Nationwide Ballroom and Latin Finals 2007/08

Weekend 5th - 6th April 2008 : Winter Gardens, Blackpool

 Update... Many thanks to Anthony and Glenn for some excellent additional photos (especially the one's of me!). They are the first photos in the thumbnail list below.

Match Report

The hours of practice, the weeks and months of preparation, the choosing and fitting of dresses, the sleepless nights, the long journey up north, the nervous anticipation of the night before, the focus of the big day, the explosion of energy on the dance floor, the tension of the wait for recalls, the ecstasy, the agony and the final celebrations - it could only be another year at the IDTA Nationwide Ballroom and Latin Finals in Blackpool.

With 47 competitors competing in 80 events between them and a support team of Mums, Dads, friends and family numbering over 100 this was by far the largest contingent Wright Rhythm had ever sent to Blackpool and, coming off the back of a highly successful Camber competition hopes were high. A strength in depth was also apparent within the team with some dancers competing at their first Blackpool and others returning with the aim of defending or attempting to take titles.  As always, a strong team spirit and mutual support ran right through the team which is so important in a sport where confidence is everything and the boost given by encouragement from your friends can make the difference of a call-back.

And there were plenty of call-backs. This was by far Wright Rhythm's most successful Blackpool ever, over the 81 entries we achieved 23 quarter-finalists, 24 semi-finalists and 21 finalists an incredible strike rate in anyone's book.  Everyone can be rightly proud of their achievements. The happy smiles and exhausted bodies on Sunday night told the whole story of the weekend, everyone had given their best and, in the end, you can't ask for more than that.

With the growth of the school and our prodigious success over the last 2-3 years it would be easy to become complacent, to start to take our victories for granted and to forget how hard we all work to bring home the trophies that we do. But there are many schools out there who would give anything for our kind of success in qualifying let alone making so many finals and victories. We should never forget the ingredients that have got us where we are - Talent (of course), lessons and practice (many hours), mutual support for and by every member of the team (as well as some friendly rivalries), supportive and understanding friends and family (some long-suffering), dedicated partners (who are prepared to give everything for their competitors) and finally three people who are not just teachers but coaches, friends, mentors, shoulders to cry on, sounding boards, bullies (in a cruel-to-be-kind way), motivators and inspirations (that's Gilli, Paula and Mark by the way). We have managed to keep a 'small school' atmosphere while growing strong enough to take on the giants of the dance world, long may it continue for many more Blackpools to come.

Finalists

With so many qualifiers from Wright Rhythm we might have expected to get a few good results but, with no less than 21 finalists, over a quarter of all our qualifiers made finals, an incredible achievement.  All our finalists are listed below with their partners, for full results see www.scrutelle.info.  Congratulations to all, I think some new trophy cabinets may be in order:

Photos

All the photos that were taken with my camera over the last season (since last year's Ballroom and Latin finals) will be available on a CD from the studio.  As usual, if you want to order prints please quote the number on the bottom right of the photo.