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Pontins Brean Sands - December 2007 |
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Written by JoJo
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Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
Club Cubana organise 4 weekenders a year at various Pontins Holiday Centres across the country. This one was held at Brean Sands, Somerset at the beginning of December and was called Latin Explosion 5. Most Pontins weekenders mix Salsa with another style of dance and this one was no exception with classes being offered in various styles of Salsa together with Brazilian style dances.
Teachers included David and Jennifer Stein, Tony Lara and Daniella, Fritha Fallon, Rohan and Cressida, Alex Amoroso, Lee Hunter, Ian Worrell and Berg Dias. Classes on offer included On1, 3-Some, Styling, Shines, Bachata, The Hustle, Forro, Samba, Ache, Gafiera, and Kizomba. DJs included Sizzla, Maverick, Tony Lara and Doctor Salsa.
We had intended to arrive at Pontins around 4pm so that we could unpack and then relax with a few beers in the on-site pub The Queen Vic, and maybe squeeze in a few dances too, before going back to our chalet to eat and get ready for the first of the three full-on party nights. However, plans went completely belly up – don’t ask (Jimmy…. your ears must have been burning!) And this time it didn't involve Mel and her hair/nails lol.
We eventually arrived around 6.30pm and went to book in - amazingly there wasn’t a queue :o) Sadly our chalet looked so far away it was practically in another county to everyone else, and to add insult to injury we were also told that they only had one key to our chalet...... between three of us...... NOT HAPPY!
So off we went in search of our chalet via the supermarket for the essential bottles of rum! We were in a large 2-bedroom chalet so we had plenty of space which was great. After unpacking, we made ourselves something to eat then hit the rum whilst we all got ready to go out.... suddenly things didn’t seem so bad :o)
Soon it was time to go out, so the three amigos hit the main room and prepared to party. The music on the Friday night was superb, which kept us on the dancefloor for most of the night.
It seemed like everywhere I looked there were loads of familiar faces around me which was really really nice. There was a large showing of dancers from the Midlands and also lots of dancers from London, Liverpool and Manchester. It was great to hang out with old friends, both the ones I see regularly in the Midlands and also those from further away, whom I don’t get to see so often. I danced all night and stayed out until the lights came on at around 5.30am, having had a great first night.
After a bit of a lie-in on Saturday morning we got up, cooked and ate a huge greasy breakfast and hit the Queen Vic for a session of afternoon dancing around 2pm. For me, this is the best bit of these weekenders. The atmosphere is more relaxed than at night, and there is something fantastic about drinking and dancing all afternoon. We stayed in the pub all day, whilst others came and went between various classes. We didn’t see any of the classes, we were having far too much fun in the pub, but I asked a few friends about the classes they had attended, and everyone seemed to have really enjoyed them – both the Salsa and the Brazilian ones.
After dancing until 7pm we all went back to the chalet again for some more food and the all important rum.
It always seems to be windy and rainy at Brean Sands, and this year was no exception. It had rained on and off all day, and by the time we headed back there were large puddles everywhere, which are a real menace in the dark when you can’t see where they are!!
So, after food and rum we headed back out again for round two of the party nights which had a 70’s theme, so there were lots of afro wigs and loud shirts around lol. On the Saturday night I wasn’t so keen on some of the music being played, and found that a lot of it was unfamiliar to me which didn’t encourage me to dance as much as I had the previous night. One DJ in particular played a whole set of extremely fast tracks, which many people were complaining about, so I decided to sit them out. Trouble was I then lost my mojo, the adrenaline stopped and the afternoon’s dancing finally took its toll and the tiredness set in. Steve and I decided to call it a night before the end in favour of some sleep, and left Jimmy to it.
I was told that they were playing RnB, Disco and 70’s music in the Queen Vic, but I didn’t go in there – everyone that did said they had really enjoyed it though.
Sunday came around all too quickly, and once again we stuffed ourselves with another greasy breakfast, fed the scraps to the resident ducks and got ready for our final afternoon of dancing. Today the weather had got worse still – definitely nice weather for the ducks lol.
I left the guys getting ready and hit the Queen Vic again around 2pm. By 3pm the atmosphere in the pub was amazing, the place was packed and everyone was buzzing, but at 3pm we had to move into the main room, as they were changing the music to lambada in the pub :o(
Some people went immediately, others hung around in the pub for a while, and more still went off in search of more classes. So we went from a packed room which was on fire, to a large room with hardly anyone in it which was a real shame as the great atmosphere was then lost. It took a good ½ hour before the room filled up and then at 4pm we had to move back into the pub as the main room was then going to be used for more classes.
As the pub is much smaller it was quicker to get busy and regain the great atmosphere, but then again another hour later, we were moved across to Lunars - another large room. This was really beginning to annoy me now as again we went from a fab, packed room with tons of atmosphere to another large ½ empty room, which again took ages to get going. This time it was worse though as to get to Lunars you had to change your shoes and go outside, so many people decided to call it a day rather than move again. For me all this to-ing and fro-ing spoiled the afternoon.
We had a bit of a bash at dancing to the Lambada, but due to our limited experience, although it was great fun, the novelty soon wore off and we ran out of things to do, so at around 6.30pm we also decided to call it a day and head back.
More food and rum later Team Pontins headed out to party for the last time – my my, time does indeed fly when you are having fun – just where had the weekend gone?
The music in the main room was better on the Sunday night, but they were also playing Cuban music and a good mix of all the well known salsa tunes in the Queen Vic, so when the shows came on in the main room, I headed into the pub. The music in there was fab and apart from bobbing back and to between the pub and the main room a few times, I ended up staying in the pub until it changed to lambada at around 3am. I then went back to the main room for the last couple of hours or so. By 5.30am I’d had enough so decided to take off my dance shoes for the last time in favour of some sleep before the long journey home on Monday morning.
The three of us had had a wicked weekend and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everyone else I spoke to shared the same opinion, and a good time was had by all.
Of all the DJs our very own Midlands boys Maverick, Sizzla and Doctor Salsa did the best job. Doctor Salsa played some great sets in the pub, both in the afternoons and on Sunday evening. It was great to see Maverick and Sizzla at Pontins and hopefully they will be invited back as they both played some great stuff and Sizzla was even heard playing some Bachata!!!
Out of all the Pontins weekenders, Brean Sands is my favourite – everyone goes, it’s always sold out and it’s very friendly. Personally I’d be gutted if I could not make the Brean Sands one. I don’t like to wish my life away - but roll on next December is all I can say.
There are 4 Club Cubana Weekenders at Pontins Centres across the UK in 2008 so for more details of these weekenders visit:-
www.clubcubana.com
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