Part 4 - We hope you’ve enjoyed our story so far from 1996 to 2001 (If you haven’t read it, just click above). So what did the millennium bring?
One of the lovely things that launching the competition brought was recognition! Not in the ‘Ooh are you the guys that launched that amazing competition at Blackpool’, no it was recognition that ourselves plus a lot of other Northern dancers, not only loved dancing, but could actually hold their own. We then started getting requests from other companies to teach and or perform for them, bearing in mind that we didn’t run any regular classes at this stage! The first company we worked for was Newquay Jive, as they asked if we could teach a workshop and then perform in the evening for them, we accepted & then panicked!
Our first teaching job! I then phoned Nigel Anderson who had become a good friend and was at the top of his game in teaching, we loved what he and Nina Daines had done to bring the MJ world on. In short his main tip was ‘Preparation’. So for weeks we prepared our workshop moves & technique.
So how did this Workshop go? Well we had been told all the dancers were of an ‘Intermediate’ level, so that was how we had prepped and pitched it. BUT after our introduction we asked everyone; Please put your hands up if you’ve danced for over 2 years - About 4 hands! Over 1 year - another 4 hands - 6 months 6 hands, 3-6 months around 20 dancers, all the way to NEVER DANCED - 2 hands! Yes we panicked, we had prep’d but we didn’t have any experience re changing our classes at the drop of a hat! So we looked at each other, gulped & started!
This was one of my greatest moments re a personal ‘learning curve’, as I realised by the end of part 1, that you should never underestimate people! Taking into account Nigel’s Preparation rule, we slowly & methodically went through the moves & combo’s and we think because of our extreme preparation, we left no one behind, the response was amazing & watching everyone at the freestyle in the evening, it was humbling to see everyone busting out these new found moves & yes even our NEW dancer was working through our Intermediate moves. He must have thought his 1st actual beginners class later that week was an absolute breeze π
At the very first Pontins Jive Addiction Weekender organised by John & Wes circa 2001, they asked us to teach for them! We were so pleased to be asked, but yet again all we had done so far were performances and workshops, still not teaching on any regular class nights, so when we entered the room in the morning to see a crowd of (we found out later around 1,500 dancers!) we were to say the least, amazed and terrified! We believe it went well, but to be honest it was all a bit of a blur, as we had to play our own music as well, off quite a complex sound system, which we had no idea how to use! Baptism of fire once again! We did get asked back though.
Another strange workshop was in London for IJIG they had asked us to teach a workshop that was a mixture of Waltz, Cha Cha, Salsa, American Smooth and Tango, all to be incorporated into MJ. Again we planned this and even had some private lessons ourselves to get the Waltz section more polished. When we arrived we were amazed to find the workshop had nearly 120 dancers in it, 3 rows of 40! An amount we had never even taught on a class night. The numbers didn’t seem to cause too many problems, it couldn’t be as personal as we’d have liked but the feed back was great and again it was lovely to watch everyone in the evening, incorporating some Latin & Ballroom into their MJ.
So for the first 5 years after our 1st Blackpool Weekender as Chance 2 Dance, we concentrated on teaching for other companies all around the North & Northwest mainly Class Nights, as Modern Jive grew, along with workshops throughout the UK stretching from Eastbourne to Edinburgh, we had also been asked to teach for Club Dance Holidays, a few times in different areas of Spain, including Barcelona (Still one of our favourite cities), then Jive Addiction launched their holidays & again asked us to be part of that, along with other dance companies.
With all this experience the big thing locally was, when were we going to start our own classes?
We looked around and found what we thought was a gap for us. There were MJ companies doing a good job out there, but none really taught structure, ie foot patterns or armography, and we noticed there was unrest from those who had danced for around 4+ years, they no longer felt they got as much from weekly classes and wanted more advanced moves. Because our style incorporated a different look as well as different dance styles, which was what we taught on our workshops, we kept getting asked for classes like this. This was that gap.
I had come across a lady in 2003 who I had started to learn from on line, a lady called Skippy Blair (Born 1924 from USA). She was teaching something called West Coast Swing (a dance that had very little presence on our shores) but I loved her methods, using such things as; a Dancers Walk, 3 Toe Base, Slotting & much more!
I had personally for a number of years, used her technique in Modern Jive & although I had no intention of learning this lovely new dance from America, I loved how it changed the look & feel of MJ, we had also been learning Salsa for a number of years & loved to play around with Salsa Moves in our dances.
So the idea was to create that next level for our dancers and keep them interested and still learning new things!
So we became Revolution Dance, with a plan to revolutionise the MJ world (Northwest), the first real shake up since MJ was 1st launched in the 1980’s!
We opened at Knutsford Civic Centre May 2006 and was truly amazed at how busy we instantly were, with some dancers driving over 100 mile (round trips) to join us. As far as we could see we had some of the best dancers around & they were still hungry for more! Not only that, but our beginner classes with new moves & basic structure, were bringing on new dancers much quicker & without bad habits, it was a win, win for all dancers. So that was how & why we became Revolution Dance and started teaching.
Our performances had also taken a turn at this point, as we had worked for the charity DEBRA, supporting individuals and families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). It was an amazing night & we had performed 2 dances, but had been blown away by the Singer & Compère of the show Cole Page. After the show he said he would contact us as he wanted to incorporate us into his act, (This was around the time that Strictly hit our screens) as he wanted to have dancers dancing whilst he sang. Up until then he had always sung with a 26 piece Big Band & other singers, he thought our dancing gave the audience another dynamic that he hadn’t had so far! The next time we heard from Cole he asked if we could do 5 dances on his show at the Manchester Opera House! WOW! We’d love to.
He ran through the songs and only then did it become apparent that one of the songs Mr Bojangles was to be a solo for me, something I’d never done before and never really wanted to!
Cutting a long story short, that morning before we set off, I ran through my solo one last time and part way through, I suddenly froze, this part of the choreography had me looking directly into the audience! What would happen if I froze at this point! Something I had kept at the back of my mind whilst rehearsing until today!
We arrived at the Theatre to find that the rehearsals were running late, so we didn’t even get to run through them on stage, we got 2 min’s to run part way through & get used to the stage, that had an extreme rake! The incline of a stage, so the audience can see the actors, dancers or singers better, something we hadn’t come across before & it definitely meant quickly readjusting our spins, dips & drops!
So that was us done, we went & had dinner, I say that loosely, as neither of us could eat, we were so nervous (Neither of us had ever worked a stage before, not even in school plays! Let alone a near 2,000 seater, national theatre!)
We got back in good time & that was it, we went on nerves and all, I didn’t make a mistake with my solo, I can’t tell you how relieved I was! Our addition to Coles show went down a storm and this led to being invited back and further offers of other shows and requests to perform for other events & theatres such as the Palace Theatre Manchester, Lounge 10 ‘an amazing restaurant in Manchester where the rich and famous avoided prying eyes and the press’, we also graced the same stage as Katie Melua, dancing to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at Proms in the Park, we even provided entertainment on Sky TV, during a Live Ricky Hatton Fight, the BIG one before his World Title Fight.
So that was our move from Keith and Janey, to Chance 2 Dance, to Revolution Dance & that’s only the start, we still have 15 years left
For Part 5 Click Below: Keith launches the first full Modern Jive Magazine & starts to get to know those amazing BBC Strictly Stars.
