I shan't be Dancing in the Street... or in any part of Trafalgar Square in July, to be honest...
Hello one, hello all. How are we on this fine, sunny evening? Today I went to my BBC Dancing in the Street audition, met the very lovely Anton du Beke and spent a nice couple of hours with my random new friend, Selena.
So today, I woke up at 6am... 6AM!! I've not seen that time in ages. My dog was well confused. I caught the 7.20am bus (ouch) and got to the train station about 7.30am where I went to the Virgin Rail Fast Ticket collection thing. And this is how many tickets I was given:
I really only needed two. Lol. Plus - if I’d have bought the tickets on Tuesday - two singles - it could have cost me 2 x £12, instead I bought them on Wednesday and it cost me £35. Grrr. Oh well.
So I went Stafford - Crewe (there was a very loud snoring bloke on the train, I nearly threw a 5p coin at him - I don’t know why THAT specific coin, just thought a 1p wouldn’t do much and I need all the 10ps I can get - me being a poor student (lol!) and all) - Preston (very rickety train) - Blackpool North. When I got into the station I realised I hadn’t got the foggiest idea where I was going so I went to Customer Services and the woman told me that The Globe wasn’t within walking distance and that I should get the number 2 bus. So I did. And thanks to the nice bus driver man, I got off at the right stop and found The Globe Theatre.
I wandered in aimlessly and a woman accosted me and asked if I was here to register. She gave me some forms and asked me to fill them in. Some random people came to sit with me. I was in the queue to give my forms in when the Producer (I think) woman saw that I’d written “Student” in occupation… “Of what?” she asks. “Drama and French” I tell her. “Well write it down we’re not mind readers, you know!... I’m the forceful one” she tells me. “Great, I love you already” I tell her. I think she’s either rolling her eyes or stumped by me at this point. Then I was given this number - twice - to stick on my front and back:
All those who registered on the website are in group 1 at 12pm, she tells us.
About 20 of us go into the main theatre area that has a very small dance-floor like area. We see Anton standing over the far side (muchas squeeing at this point). We all stand on the dancefloor and he walks up on stage, accompanied by Strictly Dance Fever Series 1 runner-up Jodie. He’s very flirty and friendly and chatty, like the Anton we all know and love, and we start working through some latin moves (this is where my lack of knowledge at knowing dance terms will make most of you laugh muchly) - including some cha cha chas, some New Yorks, some step turns, some hip and chest thrusts and some other random moves. I’m not that bad, but not great.
We’re dancing to the Pussycat Dolls “Don’t cha”, which I wouldn’t really associate with latin dancing, but okay, whatever.
Then the girls go on one side, and the guys go on the other - there’s only three guys - so Anton and Jodie go on that side too. Each of the guys danced with one of the girls. I danced with Jodie and she talked me through it - thank God - I hadn’t got a clue. All the girls danced with a guy.
We moved onto some ballroom - muchas “Oh crap, I’ve never done ANY ballroom dancing in my life” from me - the Quickstep, I believe. He showed us this little routine, haha! Oh dear. We went through it a few times but I was getting so frustrated with myself - I could NEVER do “Walks & Turns” in my Modern Jazz class. I danced with Jodie again, and she made me stand up straight… I kept looking at my feet - during the Latin too. I’m surprised I didn’t trip her up. I was so horrifically awful.
Anton and the producer called out 10 numbers for the callback at 4.30pm - mine wasn’t one of them - funnily enough. However my new friend, Selena’s was. Everyone got one of these Anton photos:
He personalised every autograph, as you can see. Haha. And we had a fairly un-amusing conversation about the pen lid. But it was all gravy and he’s a lovely guy. Very toothy, as my Mum would say.
We filled in some feedback forms - there was an extra bit at the bottom that said “Do you have any other comments?” So I wrote “I love Anton!”
…
Lol.
Selena had to hang around for a few hours and I wanted to walk through Blackpool because I’d never been before, so we spent an hour walking North along the promenade and then got a free can of Pepsi Max from some people handing them out in the town centre. We bought some lunch from Boots and sat in the shade on a bandstand, then sat in the sun for a little while. And of course, Carly got sunburnt (arms and chest - as usual):
I bought some Blackpool rock (had to be done) then Selena went back to The Globe and I went to get the tram. Only the guy on the tram said that the train station was that close it wasn’t worth a tram ride. So I walked in the direction he told me to, and took these photos. Including a STUNNING one of me.
I look knackered. And warm… that’s because I was!!
So I asked a taxi driver which direction the train station was because I hadn’t got a clue, and found the station. Woo! I caught the 3.30 to Preston, then had to wait for the 16.29 to Crewe (which didn’t get into Preston until 16.38 - grr) - it was going all the way to Plymouth! And then I got the 17.24 from Crewe to Stafford. AND managed to get the 101 home and I was home by 18.20 I think. Woo!
And, my dancing friends, was my fascinating day in Blackpool!
I’m exhausted.
Fairly nice, random way to spend the day though.
xx
So today, I woke up at 6am... 6AM!! I've not seen that time in ages. My dog was well confused. I caught the 7.20am bus (ouch) and got to the train station about 7.30am where I went to the Virgin Rail Fast Ticket collection thing. And this is how many tickets I was given:
I really only needed two. Lol. Plus - if I’d have bought the tickets on Tuesday - two singles - it could have cost me 2 x £12, instead I bought them on Wednesday and it cost me £35. Grrr. Oh well.
So I went Stafford - Crewe (there was a very loud snoring bloke on the train, I nearly threw a 5p coin at him - I don’t know why THAT specific coin, just thought a 1p wouldn’t do much and I need all the 10ps I can get - me being a poor student (lol!) and all) - Preston (very rickety train) - Blackpool North. When I got into the station I realised I hadn’t got the foggiest idea where I was going so I went to Customer Services and the woman told me that The Globe wasn’t within walking distance and that I should get the number 2 bus. So I did. And thanks to the nice bus driver man, I got off at the right stop and found The Globe Theatre.
I wandered in aimlessly and a woman accosted me and asked if I was here to register. She gave me some forms and asked me to fill them in. Some random people came to sit with me. I was in the queue to give my forms in when the Producer (I think) woman saw that I’d written “Student” in occupation… “Of what?” she asks. “Drama and French” I tell her. “Well write it down we’re not mind readers, you know!... I’m the forceful one” she tells me. “Great, I love you already” I tell her. I think she’s either rolling her eyes or stumped by me at this point. Then I was given this number - twice - to stick on my front and back:
All those who registered on the website are in group 1 at 12pm, she tells us.
About 20 of us go into the main theatre area that has a very small dance-floor like area. We see Anton standing over the far side (muchas squeeing at this point). We all stand on the dancefloor and he walks up on stage, accompanied by Strictly Dance Fever Series 1 runner-up Jodie. He’s very flirty and friendly and chatty, like the Anton we all know and love, and we start working through some latin moves (this is where my lack of knowledge at knowing dance terms will make most of you laugh muchly) - including some cha cha chas, some New Yorks, some step turns, some hip and chest thrusts and some other random moves. I’m not that bad, but not great.
We’re dancing to the Pussycat Dolls “Don’t cha”, which I wouldn’t really associate with latin dancing, but okay, whatever.
Then the girls go on one side, and the guys go on the other - there’s only three guys - so Anton and Jodie go on that side too. Each of the guys danced with one of the girls. I danced with Jodie and she talked me through it - thank God - I hadn’t got a clue. All the girls danced with a guy.
We moved onto some ballroom - muchas “Oh crap, I’ve never done ANY ballroom dancing in my life” from me - the Quickstep, I believe. He showed us this little routine, haha! Oh dear. We went through it a few times but I was getting so frustrated with myself - I could NEVER do “Walks & Turns” in my Modern Jazz class. I danced with Jodie again, and she made me stand up straight… I kept looking at my feet - during the Latin too. I’m surprised I didn’t trip her up. I was so horrifically awful.
Anton and the producer called out 10 numbers for the callback at 4.30pm - mine wasn’t one of them - funnily enough. However my new friend, Selena’s was. Everyone got one of these Anton photos:
He personalised every autograph, as you can see. Haha. And we had a fairly un-amusing conversation about the pen lid. But it was all gravy and he’s a lovely guy. Very toothy, as my Mum would say.
We filled in some feedback forms - there was an extra bit at the bottom that said “Do you have any other comments?” So I wrote “I love Anton!”
…
Lol.
Selena had to hang around for a few hours and I wanted to walk through Blackpool because I’d never been before, so we spent an hour walking North along the promenade and then got a free can of Pepsi Max from some people handing them out in the town centre. We bought some lunch from Boots and sat in the shade on a bandstand, then sat in the sun for a little while. And of course, Carly got sunburnt (arms and chest - as usual):
I bought some Blackpool rock (had to be done) then Selena went back to The Globe and I went to get the tram. Only the guy on the tram said that the train station was that close it wasn’t worth a tram ride. So I walked in the direction he told me to, and took these photos. Including a STUNNING one of me.
I look knackered. And warm… that’s because I was!!
So I asked a taxi driver which direction the train station was because I hadn’t got a clue, and found the station. Woo! I caught the 3.30 to Preston, then had to wait for the 16.29 to Crewe (which didn’t get into Preston until 16.38 - grr) - it was going all the way to Plymouth! And then I got the 17.24 from Crewe to Stafford. AND managed to get the 101 home and I was home by 18.20 I think. Woo!
And, my dancing friends, was my fascinating day in Blackpool!
I’m exhausted.
Fairly nice, random way to spend the day though.
xx