For the fourth time in a row I attended the Frenchie Balboa Festival in Toulouse France and I had one more time a blast!
Here are some notes and thoughts about the event, more random ones than a proper event review.
Family Time
FBF was also the very first international event Nadja and I attended with our 11-month-old son Sid. He is such a happy and charming little boy who makes it really easy having him around.
Everybody seemed to like him so I never had the feeling that he was disturbing when he was in a class room. Special thanks to Sophie Sun, a local Lindy Hop dancer, who was babysitting and giving us the opportunity to attend classes and parties.
Social Dancing
The Frenchie Balboa Festival is beside Balboa On The Promenade the most important Balboa event in Europe. Thus many great dancers from all over Europe are coming to Toulouse in December.
Such a weekend is so inspiring, the social dancing alone is worth the trip. It's hard to stop dancing before a party ends! And finally, it's always nice to meet old friends again and make new ones.
DJ'ing
Last year, I didn't DJ at all at FBF to have more time for social dancing. This time I agreed on one set, I was spinning the last one on Friday night from 1 to 2.30h.
It was the first time I was using the software djay on my MacBook Pro at an international event. I purchased it just recently and I don't have that much experience with it so far. But it's easy to handle and (almost) everything went well. I will write a separate software review and experience report in the near future.
Live Music
After my DJ set, several people told me, that the music was better than the live music…
No doubt, Doc Scanlon's Pan Atlantic Swingsters are all great musicians and the band had a good energy. BUT they played too many slow or lindyish/bluesy songs what hardcore Balboa dancers don't appreciate that much.
Jack & Jill competition: 3rd place
That is probably the most important award I have won until today!
The reason is because the finalists have judged themselves (see post about Jack & Jill competitions), so the placements were done by the followers. Thank you girls, I'm very proud of it!
Big success for the Swiss Balboa Crew
The Swiss Balboa Scene is thriving and it's a pleasure to see how the Swiss dancers regularly make it to the finals and get ranked. FBF was no exception!
- 1st place: Valérie Bissig & Stefan Deuber – Euro Bal Cup Amateur
- 2nd place: Ulla Wingenfelder – Jack & Jill
- 4th place: Ulla Wingenfelder & Tim Kask – Euro Bal Cup Open
Congratulations to all of you!
What I Would Change
There are always things to improve. I allow myself to write down two things I would change:
- Change the location of the Friday and Saturday night parties. Although the place is very central, Opéra bouffe is not a very good place for dance parties. The room itself has a strange architecture, the floor is sticky and bumpy with many holes (my heels didn't like that) and the acoustics could be better. At least there is a bar, which is really great.
- The band should be better instructed what kind of music is expected.
Thank You
Thank you Anne-Hélène, Bernard and Eric and your staff for organizing another wonderful weekend and for your help to find a babysitter! I'll be back next year.
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