How Does The Perfect Balboa Weekend Look Like? - An Event Review

Two weeks ago (17-19 September 2010), the Sweden Balboa Weekend was happening in Uppsala.

We all had a really great time there. I especially liked the atmosphere of the weekend, so the idea occured to me to write a review about the event.

Some key figures (I consider this a small workshop weekend):

Time table of the weekend:

Friday
19.30-21.30 Registration
20.00-00.00 Welcome dance with live band

Saturday and Sunday workshop
09.00-10.00 Registration (only on Saturday)

10.30-11.40 Lesson 1
11.50-13.00 Lesson 2
13.00-14.20 Lunch
14.20-15.30 Lesson 3
15.40-16.50 Lesson 4

20.00-01.00 Evening dance with live band on Saturday
17.15-20.30 DJ dance & sandwich buffet on Sunday

What I liked:

The class rooms and the evening party location were close together in walking distance
The first lesson started at 10.30h – very good!
The student groups stayed in the same room: just comfortable
Every teacher couple were teaching two lessons in a row. I like this concept, it gives the teachers more possibilities to structure their lessons. Even the breaks could be done differently than on the time table.
“Fika” = (sweet) snack and fruit juice between lesson 1&2 and 3&4 – that was really awesome.
Live bands – what is better than dancing to live music!
Sandwich bar on Sunday. Another great idea. Usually there is not that much time during these weekends to socialise. This simple idea brought everybody together for a chat and some dances at the end of the weekend.

What I would do differently:

I would plan a longer lunch break: the classes rarely end on time, then you need time to walk to a restaurant and you need time to order and wait for the food
Schedule the Saturday evening party until 2h (and start it half an hour or an hour later), most of us were a little bit disappointed that it already ended at 1h – okay, eventually it was 1.30h 🙂

There was no:

… audition for higher levels, which was a courageous decision in a way but it suprisingly worked out pretty good. Well, there is still the possibility for a teacher couple to politely move a dancer in a different group if necessary.
… Jack ‘n' Jill competition. I don't want to judge that. It's always a difficult decision whether you would like to give the opportunity to compete and therewith inspire the other dancers. On the other hand it divides the flow of an evening. I can live with both situations.

These are just my personal thoughts.

Thanks again to the organizers for this wonderful weekend!