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Maggie G - Event Report Archive |
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 Southport 2015
A very big thank you to everyone who supported my weekend in Southport and to my guest choreographers, Craig Bennett and Darren Bailey. We had a BRILLIANT time and it really was great to see everyone. This was Craig's last Maggie G event after many years of guest appearances with me at home and abroad. Thank you Craig for such happy memories and a legacy of great dances! I wish you every success in your future career. I taught two brand new dances - Simply the One and Tribal Heartbeat - and my latest High Improver dance Here's to Us. On Saturday evening my dancers, Celtica Academy, gave a fantastic performance and I was also immensely proud of my two sons - Sean aged 8 and Gerard aged 6 - who also performed. This was Gerard's first Showtime performance and I know I'm their Mummy but they were both brilliant!! Well done to our Sports theme fancy dress winners and all those who took part! Finally, a massive thanks to Big Dave, Pauline and Gwen. Coventry 2014
Our first Maggie G Experience Weekend in Coventry was a resounding success. The hotel was centrally situated for easy access from many parts of the UK. We have confirmed this venue for next year and tickets are selling very fast! During the weekend I taught Dance It Up, Take These Days and my new waltz, Say It To Me. My special guest choreographer Dee Musk taught Moving As One, Quickly and Yours. A great set of dances - thanks Dee. In his Early Bird sessions, our lovely DJ Big Dave taught Run Away With You, Rhythm Of Love and Samira. Very many thanks to Dave and Pauline for another great Experience Weekend! We saw a wide variety of dances requested by the various dance groups. Our fancy Dress theme on the Saturday Party Night was "Nostalgia" and there were some marvellous costumes on display. Thanks to all who participated. Senior and Junior dancers from my Celtica Academy provided the Saturday showtime spot. They performed several routines from our 2014 Celtica Charity Show. Thanks to Sean for stepping in while our lead male dancer is recuperating. (Best wishes Harry for a speedy recovery.) Lastly, thank you again to everyone for your massive support and especially to those for travelling from mainland Europe. A special thanks to Gwen who was a great help to me and the dancers during this event. Malta 2014
This was our first Maggie G Experience holiday in Malta, where we enjoyed exceptionally hot weather. In fact it was so sunny, hot and humid that we had to break with our tradition of taking all our workshops by the pool and retreat to the air-conditioned dance hall for most of these dance sessions. Our dancers this year came not only from the UK but also from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Jersey and Guernsey. The hotel was well placed for visiting the tourist hotspots and various dancers enjoyed their trips out, including boat trips around the coast and to the islands where they swam among exotic and very colourful fish. During the week I taught all my recent dances, including Superheroes (Advanced) and B*Witched Tonight (Intermediate), plus two new dances to be released later - Dance it Up and Crazy Stupid Normal. Other dances I taught included Marry that Girl, Just Add Moonlight and All About A Woman. I was also very pleased to teach Love Runs Out, which had been taught the previous weekend by Ruben Luna at my Bournemouth Weekend event. This was very popular during the week. Once again, our DJ was the lovely Dave Blake, who kept the floor buzzing with a great variety of dances - a difficult task for a whole week. He taught a few extra dances including Twist Twist Twist, Drop The Beat, Piano Man and Blue Birds. Thanks Dave! Our fancy Dress theme for Party Night was "Red and White", the colours of the Malta flag. It was great to see how our dancers all entered into the spirit of the theme and the dance floor was a sea of colour. I was recently nominated for an Ice Bucket Challenge to help raise money for Breast Cancer. Several others of our group were also nominated during the week and either accepted the challenge or donated. Thanks for all your help Dave - I think!! Lastly, thanks again to everyone for your continued support, especially to Gwen who was a great help to me and the dancers during this event. Bournemouth 2014
We returned to the The Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth, for this year's Maggie G South Experience. My special guest on this occasion was Ruben Luna from America and we were honoured to have him on his first visit to England. Our DJ was my special friend Big Dave, supported as always by Pauline who did a great job organising us all. I taught some of my latest dances, including Marry That Girl, All About A Woman and Superheroes, together with a recap of Just Add Moonlight. Ruben taught On Broadway, Treble and Love Runs Out, all of which were well liked by our dancers. Dave also taught Eternal Secret and Ain't Wot U Do for our early birds. Our entertainment on both evenings was provided by five of my Junior Troupe from the Celtica Academy Irish Dance School in Coventry. This was their first time at one of my Line Dance Experience Weekends and the excepts from their recent Show were well received. (Well done guys!) Karl-Harry Winson joined us on the first evening and surprised everyone during the show with his version of Irish dancing! Our fancy Dress theme this time was "The Sea" and our fancy dressers came up with some novel ideas! Thank you everyone for your continued support. Portugal 2014
This was our second visit to the Vila Galé Lagos Hotel. This year my special guest choreographer was Darren Bailey and providing the music was our regular holiday DJ Dave 'The Rave' Blake. The weather was hot each day, which was great for our outdoor workshops by the pool and for sunbathing afterwards. During the week, I taught Raggle Taggle Gypsy O, Eye To Eye, Got My Baby Back, Celtic Heartbeat, Just Add Moonlight, Crying For No Reason and I'm Only Human. Darren taught King of Jive, Cowboy Dreams and Young Volcanoes. Darren also gave us a Samba technique class, which demonstrated how we should Samba with style! My friend Dirk from Germany taught When The Boys Come Into Town. Our tour host was once again Anja, who was always available to look after our needs, to confirm travel details or to make arrangements on our behalf. This year, she arranged a special late night dance at the beach bar just across the road from our hotel, a very easy walk after the evening social. The bar was opened especially for our party and we were able to dance well into the small hours to music supplied by DJ Dave. We made many new friends during the week and I was pleased that all our party mixed very well. There were friends from many countries, including Austria, Belgium, Germany, Guernsey, Jersey, Norway, Switzerland and UK. It gave us all an opportunity to see a broad range of dance styles, which made for an entertaining holiday. This was also true on party night when Darren and Dave joined me for a short cabaret. Thanks again to all those who came and to my special helper Gwen. We look forward to our return visit next year. Southport 2014
We had a fabulous time once more at our favourite venue, the Prince of Wales Hotel, Southport. I was fortunate this year in bringing together two brilliant entertainers, Roy Verdonk and Karl-Harry Winson. In the workshops, Roy taught his CBA dance Where's the Party, together with Borriquito and She Don't Get High. Karl taught two dances - Black Magic and So Contagious. I hope both Roy and Karl's dances are successful as they were popular with the dancers. I taught four dances - Eye to Eye, Crying for No Reason, I'm Only Human, together with my brand new Intermediate dance Celtic Heartbeat. (The step sheet will be released later in April.) Big Dave, assisted by Dave Blake on Saturday, kept the dancers on the floor well into the early hours, on occasions really stretching our memories with old favourites. Big Dave also challenged our dancer's staying powers by teaching two additional dances: Hit the Floor and Man in the Mirror. Saturday evening was fun and we saw some very interesting fancy dress ideas to the theme "Stars in their Eyes". Well done to our winners. Our showtime was also a great success. Celtica Academy delighted the audience and one of our youngest Irish dancers gave her first public performance, for which everyone, especially her Mum, was very proud. As expected, we were privileged to have some brilliant Showtime entertainment from both Roy and Karl. Roy showed us his skills in a variety of showcase themes and Karl entertained us with his song "Mama Says" from the show Footloose. Thanks again to my entertainment team and to everyone who came, especially those who rebooked for a return visit next year, which is now sold out! And thanks to our key helpers behind the scenes, especially Pauline and Gwen. Spain 2013
I have just returned from our September dance holiday in Calpe, Spain, where I had a brilliant time meeting friends old and new. The weather was very hot this year and it was fortunate that we could hold our daily workshops by the pool either under cover or in the sun. During the week, I taught my latest dances, including I Can't Hide, Letting You Go, Stop Me Now, Silver Lining and You're The Reason. Our DJ Dave Blake taught several other dances, including About Time, Smashed, Ding Dong and Baby Loves Lovin'. Thank you Dave for your teaches and for keeping everyone busy on the floor. All of the taught dances seemed popular with the dancers. Even our friendly dance hall barman enjoyed dancing Ding Dong with Dave! While on holiday we helped to celebrate several birthdays and anniversaries, including Mike and Sally's 40th (Ruby) wedding anniversary. Our thanks to all those who provided the sweet nibbles during their special evening socials. It was lovely that a nine-strong team from my Celtica Irish Dance Academy entertained us during two of our evening socials, ably supported by 'Miss' Dave during one of the shows! A special thanks also goes to our tour host, Anja, who ensured that, as usual, our holiday, including transfers and all hotel aspects, ran smoothly. And last but not least, a big thank you to Gwen, who gave me such tremendous support behind the scenes. Bournemouth 2013
My special thanks to Ria Vos, Big Dave, Shaz Walton and Pauline for making the inaugural Maggie G South Experience at The Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth, such a great dance event. My thanks also go to Celtica for their Irish Showdances, which helped to make this event memorable. Well done to the fancy dressers who entered into the Comedy theme spirit! And thank you to all the dancers for your continued support. During the event, I taught my latest dances, including I Can't Hide, Letting You Go and Stop Me Now, together with Silver Lining and Got My Baby Back. I Can't Hide was very popular, but everyone seemed to go wild when I taught Letting You Go, which I didn't expect! Ria taught Jump on a Ride, Frozen Heart and Hey Samba and Shaz taught Clap Happy and Set Me Free, all of which were well received. Dave also taught Dance Apocalyptic for the early birds on Sunday morning, which was much appreciated. It was great that Karl-Harry Winson, from nearby Poole, could join us on both evenings for the social dancing. He helped the entertainments team to judge the fancy dress competition and to hand out the prizes. We danced a wide variety of popular dances during the event, so thank you to Dave and Pauline for organising such a brilliant Experience down south. Portugal 2013
We had a great time in Lagos, Portugal, a new venue for us in the Algarve. We stayed at the Vila Galé Lagos hotel, where the facilities, food and staff were excellent. The unspoilt beach with golden sands was only a few minutes walk from the hotel. Our special guest choreographer this year was Craig Bennett, our DJ was Dave Blake and our Club Dance Holidays tour host was, as usual, the lovely Anja. We were also joined by Amanda from Club Dance Holidays, who wished to experience their product and to gain guest feedback at first hand. Joining our UK contingent this year were friends from Austria, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. Our dance group enjoyed their daily morning line dance workshops by the outside pool, where we were blessed with hot weather all week long. I taught eight of my most recent dances, including Slip, 2 Galway Girls, Wild Love, Got My Baby Back and Backtrack. Craig taught five dances, including When I Was Your Man, Shake the Room and Runaway Train. Dirk from Germany, taught two dances including They Dance and Dave Blake taught Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue. In addition to our line dance workshops, our guests were treated to a few Zumba sessions by Janne from Norway. (At one of these sessions, I included an impromptu Irish Zumba workout!) During our evening socials, Dave played a great selection of dances, including many popular and classic dances. He did a great job, especially with such a wide international group. As the hotel had a fashion theme décor, our party night was "Dress to Impress" and the entertainers and I gave our interpretation of a fashion show. We danced to Madonna's Vogue and Pot of Gold. Another evening we made a late night expedition to the town, where we danced the night away at a local bar and enjoyed some memorable moments! Thanks to everybody once more for making it such a great holiday! I am pleased you had a great time. Southport 2013
A very big thank you to everyone who came to Southport in February, it was a brilliant weekend. Thank you to those who have continued to support this event year after year. I really appreciate it. My special guest choreographers this time were Peter and Alison. They taught Our Generation, Starting Something, Anything Goes and Floor on Fire. Andrew taught Wait for Love and Dave taught Love is Easy. I taught four dances - Dance of Love, The Storm, Backtrack and my brand new dance Wild Love, which will be available later this month. Big Dave, assisted by Andrew and Sheila, did a great job at handling the many dance requests. During the weekend, which finished in the early hours of Monday morning, we covered a broad range of popular dances, including favourite classics. Celtica Dance School danced several routines on Saturday evening which had the line dancers clapping with enthusiasm. Celtica provide displays at various events during the year and they hope to be with us later this year in Spain. Many of our dancers appreciated the sale stalls for shoes and jewellery. It was also lovely to help celebrate Pauline's award at the 2013 CBA and several birthdays. Thanks again to those who came such a long way to help make this a weekend to remember - this year our international guests included visitors from Norway, Switzerland and Austria. If you hope to come next year, please book early for this popular event - most guests this year rebooked during the event and it is close to selling out already! Spain 2012
For our September holiday, we returned for a third time to the Diamante Beach Spa Hotel in Calpe, Spain. Our guest choreographer this year was Craig Bennett, who taught us his latest dances including Jump, Made to Fly and Call Me Maybe. He also taught Simon Ward and Rachael McEnaney's fun dance Hairspray. I taught my latest dances, including Love Is a Word, Some Nights, All My People, The Best Days and Don't Make Me, together with Heart Beats Louder for those who had missed this dance at their home classes. Ricky Le Quesne was our DJ for the week, with assistance for one night from Dave 'The Rave' Blake. Two-hour workshops were held as usual in the mornings outside by the pool. Because our dancers came from far and wide (Austria, Belgium, Guernsey and Jersey - as well as mainland UK), we saw a great variety of new and old dances during our evening socials, which helped to ensure that classic dances are not forgotten. During the week, we helped to celebrate a 52nd wedding anniversary and several birthdays. Our lovely tour host Anja arranged a sightseeing trip to Valencia, which many dancers enjoyed. Later in the week, we heard about the destruction caused by the tornado in that region. The same evening we were on the edge of the storm. Fortunately, we only experienced a burst of heavy rain, lightning and high winds but we were amazed to see chairs and sunbeds being blown into the swimming pools! On party night, our menfolk donned costumes and makeup and then entertained us with a brilliant surprise routine to Pot of Gold that showed another side to their characters! Thank you Craig, Ricky, Dave, Mike and Dirk! As always, it was a fun week with a friendly atmosphere. However it was tinged with a little sadness as, after many years with us, it was Ricky's last chance to DJ at my Maggie G holidays due to his other commitments. It was also a shame to see our holiday end so quickly, but we all had a great break from our daily routines! We look forward to revisiting Calpe next September. Tenerife 2012
This was our first visit to Tenerife, where we stayed at the Torviscas Playa hotel on the Costa Adeje.
The facilities and food were excellent.
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