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Balboa On The Promenade 2011 – Event Review

13.05.2011 by Chris

French dominance: BOTP and FBF

The Festival Balboa On The Promenade (BOTP) and the Frenchie Balboa Festival (FBF) are the most important and most popular Balboa workshop weekends in Europe.

Interestingly both festivals are happening in France: BOTP in Mandelieu/Cannes (in May) and FBF in Toulouse (in December).

Balboa On The Promenade 2011
Last weekend (5-8 May), the 2011 edition of the Festival Balboa On The Promenade was happening and it was my second participation after 2009. I had a blast and I would like to share my impressions of the weekend with you.

Workshop & Parties

Four parties and three days of workshops:

Thursday

Welcome, check in and opening party from 21-2h at Pierre & Vacances Residence. I enjoyed this evening because I met many dancing friends I haven't seen for a long time again.

Sometimes I need a certain time to get into the Balboa mood but this time it was pretty easy with so many great dancers!

Friday

Balboa On The Promenade - CECThe workshop didn't begin before afternoon, that was a comfortable start into the weekend. There were three lessons, a regular one for the appropriate level and two styling lessons.

The first styling lesson was only for the leads resp. for the follows where we learned step variations. In the second styling lesson, the leads and follows came together to implement the variations into the dancing. The leads didn't know what the follows are doing and vice versa.

Apparently, the teaching concept to separate leads and follows was already used last year and I really liked it. It was great fun and I've got five new variations for my Balboa vocabulary. Awesome!

The party started at 20.30h at the Congress Exhibition Center CEC. On the program were the contest prelims in four different categories: Jack & Jill Amateur and Open as well as Classic (= Strictly) Amateur and Open.

I was competing in the Jack & Jill Open category. Of course I was remembering all the moves I could dance after the prelims, I'm sure you know this phenomenon.

Right after the contests, a gypsy swing band was playing followed by different DJs till 3h.

Saturday

Two classes in the morning, starting at 10h and two in the afternoon starting at 13.30h. Of course, I would rather start later in the morning, I love to social dance and I'm usually staying until the very end of each party, how long it ever lasts… but I know, there are many things to think of as an event organizer.

Parallel to the normal classes for the different levels, there was an offer of classes for teachers. I attended two of them in the afternoon: “how to teach creativity” and “old time vs. new time balboa”. I enjoyed them and I've got some inspiration for my own teaching activities. I hope the organizers will keep these extra classes in the program.

The next party with the contest finals in all categories, a dance show, which was really entertaining. However, it took a lot of time until the big band and therewith the social dancing could start eventually. It was somewhen before midnight, but the party lasted again until 3h.

Sunday

Like on Saturday, two classes in the morning, starting at 10h and one last class in the afternoon at 14h after a photo session, followed by the traditional open air dancing until 17h.

The final party was happening again at Pierre & Vacances Residence. I love the final parties, everybody is tired and relaxed, no classes anymore to attend or to teach, no competitions, just social dancing. It was a great evening and I was dancing almost all night until the end at 2h. It was so hot in this room and the floor was much stickier than on Thursday, but I didn't care, it was an amazing night.

Music

Nine Pennies Big Band - Balboa On The PromenadeI'm a music geek, that's why I've decided to write an own chapter about the music at Balboa On The Promenade. You might know that I have strong opinions about music at swing events. So I wanna be completely honest: in my eyes, the music was average, I give three out of five stars for the music at BOTP.

Thursday

The music was in general too slow. I understand that there are a lot of beginners and they also want to be able to dance. Therefore slower music from time to time is okay, but not all night.

Friday

On Friday night the gypsy swing quartet Histoire De Swing was playing. Unfortunately, the music was not very well mixed and the sound was dull. Technically they played very well but anyway, the music became boring, because almost every tune sounded like the other. This is actually not only my opinion, many dancers said the same thing. After the band, Dmitry from Moscow was spinning and he was my favorite DJ at this event. He had a good feeling for the dance floor and the music what was needed. Great job!

Saturday

Live: Nine Pennies Big Band from Italy, a great band, BUT a Lindy Hop band. Sorry guys, I really liked the music but I always wanted to dance Lindy instead of Balboa. The best DJ part was from 2-3h, what a shame that we didn't here more traditional balboa tunes.

Sunday

The best evening DJ-wise. A lot of Charleston and New Orleans music, though, which was totally okay!

At the end

This post became much longer than I expected but there were so many things to write about. If you've never been to Balboa On The Promenade, then you should come next year. I'll be there for sure!

Related posts:

  • Swiss Balboa Weekend, 2-4 September 2011 in Zürich
  • How Does The Perfect Balboa Weekend Look Like? – An Event Review
  • A Day At The Balboa Experiment

Filed Under: Event Tagged With: Balboa, Balboa On The Promenade, BOTP, Event review

Swiss Balboa Weekend, 2-4 September 2011 in Zürich

03.05.2011 by Chris

Last year's edition of the Swiss Balboa Weekend in Zürich was a great success and there were a lot of international dancers at the workshop and the parties. Thus it seems logical that Natascha Podraza and Ulla Wingenfelder will be organizing another Swiss Balboa Weekend this year. It will happen from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th September 2011.

Swiss Balboa Weekend 2011Workshop

Two days of Balboa lessons for three levels with three international and one local teacher couple: Natasha Devyatkina & Olivier Harouard (Fra), Nelle Cherry & Adam Speen (USA), Gloria Garcia Pinares & Albert Ferran (Esp) and Ulla Wingenfelder & Tim Kask (CH).

Parties

  • on Friday: Zürich Balboa Night, organized by Shuffle Projects, as the official warm-up party of the weekend
  • on Saturday night with live music: The Andreas Hofschneider Quartett with Andreas Hofschneider (clarinet), Andrej Hermlin (piano), Michael Waterstadt (bass) and Michael Wirth (drums)

Details & Registration

The registration is now open! Don't miss the early bird prices until 14th June 2011. Check out the website Swiss Balboa Weekend for further informations, available in German and English.

Filed Under: Education, Event Tagged With: Balboa, Live Music, Swiss Balboa Weekend, Workshop, Zürich Balboa Night

Zürich Balboa Night am 6. Mai 2011

02.05.2011 by Chris

ENGLISH version: find this event on Facebook

1. Freitag im Mai naht: Zürich Balboa Night – der einzige monatliche Balboa Event in der Schweiz!

Bitte beachten: Ab diesem Monat finden vorerst keine regelmässigen Balboa Mini-Workshops mehr vor der Zürich Balboa Night statt. Stattdessen läuft der Balboa-Intermediatekurs normal weiter und wird nicht mehr unterbrochen.

Zürich Balboa Night

Host
Benno Rickenbacher

Zeit
21.00 – 1.00h

DJs
DJ Bändlimeier & DJ Benno spielen die heissesten Balboa-Tunes für euch!

Ort
Downtownswing, Friedaustrasse 17, 8003 Zürich

Kosten
CHF 15/10 für die Party

NEU: Stir It!-Mitglieder erhalten CHF 5 Rabatt!

Nächste Balboa Night: 3. Juni 2011
Vorankündigung: 1. Juli 2011 Zürich Balboa Night goes Winterthur!
Die Zürich Balboa Night findet in der Regel jeden 1. Freitag im Monat statt; ausser im August (Sommerpause)

If you like this event please click LIKE below
– or share or retweet this post. Thank you!

Filed Under: Event Tagged With: Balboa, Swing Party, Zürich Balboa Night

Zürich Balboa Night am 1. April 2011

26.03.2011 by Chris

ENGLISH version: find this event on Facebook

Kein April-Scherz, hier ist sie wieder, die Zürich Balboa Night – der einzige monatliche Balboa Event in der Schweiz!

Auch dieses Mal organisieren wir einen Balboa Mini-Workshop. Die Registration ist ab sofort offen. Bitte meldet euch an, wenn ihr teilnehmen möchtet! Am liebsten gleich mit Partner/in, dies ist aber keine Pflicht, wir werden darum besorgt sein, die Klasse ausgeglichen zu gestalten.

Wir werden immer wieder gefragt, ob es denn noch Platz im Mini-Workshop hat. Die Antwort ist simpel: Solange die Registration offen ist, hat es Platz!

Host
Christian Bossert

MINI-WORKSHOP

Der Mini-Workshop findet NICHT statt!

Zeit: 19.45 – 20.45h
Level: Intermediate & höher
Registration: Bitte wenn möglich mit Partner/in (ist aber keine Pflicht) anmelden, damit wir die Klasse ausgeglichen planen können.

DANCE NIGHT

Zeit: 21.00 – 1.00h

DJane Balbulla & DJ Chrisbe spielen die heissesten Balboa-Tunes für euch!

Ort
Downtownswing, Friedaustrasse 17, 8003 Zürich

Kosten
CHF 25/20 für den Workshop inkl. Dance Night
CHF 15/10 für die Party

NEU: Stir It!-Mitglieder erhalten CHF 5 Rabatt!

Nächste Balboa Night: 6. Mai 2011
Die Zürich Balboa Night findet in der Regel jeden 1. Freitag im Monat statt; ausser im August (Sommerpause)

If you like this event please click LIKE below
– or share or retweet this post. Thank you!

Filed Under: Education, Event Tagged With: Balboa, Swing Party, Zürich Balboa Night

Zürich Balboa Night am 4. März 2011

25.02.2011 by Chris

ENGLISH version: find this event on Facebook

März! Bald beginnt der Frühling, doch vorher tanzen wir den Winter weg:
Zürich Balboa Night – der einzige monatliche Balboa Event in der Schweiz!

Diesen Monat organisieren wir wie gewohnt einen Balboa Mini-Workshop. Die Registration ist ab sofort offen. Bitte meldet euch an, wenn ihr teilnehmen möchtet! Am liebsten gleich mit Partner/in, dies ist aber keine Pflicht, wir werden darum besorgt sein, die Klasse ausgeglichen zu gestalten.

Wir werden immer wieder gefragt, ob es denn noch Platz im Mini-Workshop hat. Die Antwort ist simpel: Solange die Registration offen ist, hat es Platz!

Host
Christian Bossert

MINI-WORKSHOP – Thema: Bal-Swing

von und mit Valérie Bissig & Christian Bossert

Zeit: 19.45 – 20.45h
Level: Balboa Basics sind Voraussetzung (Intermediate & höher)
Registration: Bitte wenn möglich mit Partner/in (ist aber keine Pflicht) anmelden, damit wir die Klasse ausgeglichen planen können.

DANCE NIGHT

Zeit: 21.00 – 1.00h

DJ Chrisbe & Special Guests spielen die heissesten Balboa-Tunes für euch!

Ort
Downtownswing, Friedaustrasse 17, 8003 Zürich

Kosten
CHF 25/20 für den Workshop inkl. Dance Night
CHF 15/10 für die Party

Nächste Balboa Night: 1. April 2011 (kein Scherz)
Die Zürich Balboa Night findet in der Regel jeden 1. Freitag im Monat statt; ausser im August (Sommerpause)

If you like this event please click LIKE below
– or share or retweet this post. Thank you!

Filed Under: Education, Event Tagged With: Balboa, Swing Party, Zürich Balboa Night

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Welcome, I'm Christian Bossert. Since 1999, I‘ve been passionate about Swing dances as well as their culture and history. I‘m a Swing dance instructor and international Swing DJ Chrisbe, based in Zurich Switzerland. Read More…

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