Jim & Nicky

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoy a brilliant New Year. 2009 is certainly going to be an exciting one. We've got a baby to be born (Feb) and two big weddings to attend and enjoy.

Apart from a few health scares and issues, pregnancy is going well and going on maternity leave will be welcomed as I can then sleep during the day as I'm certainly not sleeping at night - I suppose that prepares you for having the actual baby :-)

We've changed our baby boy name at least 6 times, Jim's so fickle! I think of a name and he goes with it for a few weeks then doesn't like it - we're now on our latest one and every day I keep asking him if he likes it! so far so good. Our girl's name is in stone and we love it.

Hopefully see you at dancing either at Mikey's Sidcup on a Monday or Dwain's Crayford on a Wednesday - I won't be dancing anymore as I just can't get my breathe these days, but Jim'll will no doubt have a few jigs.

Happy New Year to you all!

Jim & Nicky x

So here's the bump at 29 weeks (almost 7 months), Jim's promised me he's going to take some lovely "Demi" shots this week :-) not sure I'll be able to post these ones online though hee hee. I'll ensure he takes some "with clothes" ones that I can post.

Other news......we've been to Mikey's Dance Dedication Sidcup venue a few times now and we love it. Great atmosphere (very Dance Riviera, and a lot of our dancers too), lovely intimate venue and everyone dances with everyone, great friendly atmosphere - just the way it should be. So get yourself down there to experience it....in the new year the venue are pulling back the carpet round the edges making the dance floor even BIGGER! www.dancededication.com

Another great venue is Dwain's VibeDance nights www.vibedancenights.co.uk every Wednesday at Crayford, there's lots going on and it's always a great atmosphere down there, and despite Dwain being incapacitated at the moment, he's always around to ensure the night goes smoothly.

Looking forward to Christmas, got lots of people to see and entertain, as always, and I'm certainly looking forward to the middle of January when I shall be on maternity leave, where I shall attempt to visit people but will most likely be sleeping when I can - averaging around 3-4 hours per night at the moment :-(

As always, be great to hear from people, contact us at jimandnicky@gmail.com

Nicky x

Ok, ok, so I'm a lot slimmer in this picture, but a girl's gotta dream a little eh!

Jim and I will be teaching (probably for me, the last time) - although Jim can still teach - at Mikey's Dance Dedication Sidcup venue tonight.

We look forward to seeing lots of dancing friends and of course catching up with everyone.

See you there tonight. J&N x

Jim and I will be at Dwain's VibeDance Night TONIGHT http://www.vibedancenights.co.uk/ to support our mate Pete (aka DJ PT), also known as Naked Pete (yes it's that obvious!).

It'll be great to see Simon & Nicole again too and I'm sure will be treated to a great routine from them as always.

Hope to see you all there, check out the website for the Crayford address.

Jim & Nicky xx

Well, here is a our little Babby B in 3D, quite scary actually how much they can get through a scanner.

Nicky is now 6 months pregnant and looking well but huge! Went to Party Weekender Warmwell and celebrated Nicky's birthday, it was sooo great to see so many Dance Riviera crew and dancers there, having a fantastic time.

Highlights were.....teaching our Smooth Jive class, everyone loved the routine......catching up with friends......eating in the Smugglers Inn pub, yummy roast beef......lots of lovely dances (Darren and Phil spring to mind:-)......the fancy dress (well done Newquay Jive again!).....ballroom Andy and stripper ?????(who cares what his name is!) their lyrical jazz type dance was lovely......Taz and her burlesque girls and boys in the fancy dress, rock on.......Darren and his team's efforts for a great 10th anniversary weekender. Here's to next November. To book go to www.partyweekender.co.uk

Other news.....Jim and Pete have almost completed converting our garage into a dance studio, so we can do our private lessons and small workshops in there. They've done a fantastic job and have spent hours and hours and days and weekends doing it all, it looks great. We'll be showing it off soon. Jim's updating our website http://www.smoothjive.com/ soon and will list where we'll be teaching and of course private lesson time availability etc.

JIM AND NICKY TEACHING AT.......DANCE DEDICATION ON MONDAY 24TH NOVEMBER AT SIDCUP.

We'll be putting an appearance in at Dance Dedication's Sidcup venue on Monday 24th November, hope to see you all there for a dance and catch up. http://www.dancededication.com/

For those of you who know Dwain of http://www.vibedancenights.co.uk/ please send him good wishes as he's broken his leg at Camber after "roller discoing", poor thing!

See you all soon

Jim and Nicky x

Hi everyone

Just a quick update as it's been a while since we blogged anything. We'll I've been quite ill with terrible and painful toothache which has completely put me out of action - finally it's been solved! just dealing with a cough n cold now - damn I miss Lemsip and Nurofen!

Jim's busy converting our garage with Pete, they're doing a great job, although I'm sure they're just sitting out there drinking beer and playing with boys toys :-)

We went to Jive Addiction's Southport recently and had a fabulous weekend, we taught 2 classes, our Bump n Grind was funny as I had the bump, I just grinded for an hour - our classes do what they say on the tin! and our Strictly Smooth Jive "Chill out" routine was packed out and was enjoyed by all. We'll be going next year (babysitter required hint hint) either next June or September to Skegness as that's where Jive Addiction will now be holding their weekenders.

We've been missing our dancing but we've been so busy with house stuff and getting over illnesses, plus working hard, that there's not been a lot of time to do what we actually love to do which is dance, so hopefully we'll be dancing at some of the venues soon enough, we'll let you know where and when.

It would be great to hear from you guys, our new email address is jimandnicky@googlemail.com, drop us a line and let us know how you all are.

Jim & Nicky & bump (which is getting huge by the way!!) xxx

We are teaching at Dance Dedication's Swanley venue tomorrow night Tuesday 2nd September, so we hope to see you all there.

Click here for Dance Dedication's website and details of the venue - the Linden Suite, The Woodlands, Hilda May Avenue, Swanley - BR8 7BT.

We look forward to teaching and dancing with you all tomorrow night.

Jim & Nicky x

On Saturday we went to Dapper Dan (he used to teach for us) and his lovely Viv's wedding in Marlborough (a lovely old market town near Swindon).

It was a beautiful wedding in the town hall with a live saxophonist playing in the background and Dapper Dan just beaming from ear to ear! Viv looked stunning in her wedding dress and serene and happy as you can be.

Funny moment.......the registrar saying her bit and then announced to Dan, did he take this woman "Joanne......", we all looked stunned and Dapper looked at Viv who looked at the registrar and we all burst out laughing! She then apologised saying that she'd just said that name of the bride before!!

The meal and reception was held in the upstairs of the town hall, a stunning dance venue I might add, where a buffet meal was held.

Dapper and Viv did their first choreographed dance to Bodyrockers "I like the way you move", and it was excellent, we videoed it and I'm sure Jim will see if he can get it on here for you. The rest of the night followed with the best wedding band we've ever seen, they were great and with such a wide repertoire, they had people dancing from the first song til the end.

Dapper & Viv are off on their honeymoon to visit Shelagh and family in Gozo.

Pictures and video will follow.......

Nicky x

We had our 12 week scan today and the baby is perfectly normal and more importantly it is singular... i.e. not twins.

We had a couple of pics and I managed to take some video, so I'll try and put them up for all to see soon.

Thanks for all the wonderful support everyone has shown... We really appreciate it.

Jx

Tonight we look forward to attending Dance Dedication's opening night at Swanley - click here for the link to tell you all about it. We look forward to seeing you there to support Mikey, Clem & Tracy, Steve Strong and Gazza plus the other crew.

And to set the record straight and stop these rumours before they go into overdrive! Jim & I are nothing to do with the set up of these new venues, we found out about them maybe a few hours before it was announced to the modern jive world. We are happy to support them by dancing and guest teaching (as we are now gigging independent teachers), but leave all the stress and pressure of running the dance group to them!!

Anybody got any questions, let us know.

Nicky x

Dance Dedication opens NEW venues in Kent


Links:
Dance Dedication Kent info
Dance Dedication Kent web site
NEW VENUE opens Tuesday 12th AUGUST.The Woodlands,"Linden suite" Hilda May Avenue, Swanley - BR8 7BTNEW VENUE opens Thursday 18th SeptemberSt Simon Hall, Brookfield Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4EU.
THE TEAM Teachers"Clem and Tracy" have already made a name for themselves with their relaxed and amusing teaching manner.Having started their dancing careers off with Jim and Nicky (Formerly Dance Riviera) and superbly trained to teach by them personally.
They have already made a huge impact with guest appearances at various jive clubs in the south!Especially known for their silky smooth and flowing routines, helping dancers to relax and learn with ease. They believe everyone can dance and have made it their mission to help everyone find the dancer within. Their belief is that dance should be a fun, enjoyable and social activity for all to enjoy, which certainly shows through in their classes.

"Mikey" who has over 22 year’s professional teaching experience throughout the UK. All classes are designed to be informative, safe, amusing and will allow dancers to exercise efficiently without any pain! His relaxed teaching style and humour ensures that all newcomers quickly progress and soon become accomplished dancers with a desire for their continued improvement.

Resident DJ's"Gazza" www.gazzabash.co.ukA well known DJ in Kent, famous for Gazza Bash's which raises tremendous money for Demelza Children’s Hospice on a regular basis. A guest DJ with many other organisers as well as a favourite amongst the regular Kent dancers.

"Steve THE HITMAN Strong"A national and International DJ who has been on the modern jive circuit longer than we are allowed to tell you ;-) Steve has DJ'd at ALL the major weekender events across the UK and regularly guest DJ's at various organisers across the UK.These two superb guys will be at our venues on a regular basis.

Keep an eye on the weekly listings to see if your favourite will be spinning the discs that week.

VIP GUEST TEACHERSWe are also pleased to announce our first Guest teachers “Jim & Nicky” (formerly Dance Riviera) will be at Swanley on September 2nd. Currently due to other circumstances they are limited as to where they can actually dance in the Kent area, but are happy to announce they will be dancing at Swanley and Ashford on occasions “Baby Bump” allowing!

For those of you across the UK who know and love this couple as much as we do, they will have a website up and running soon for themselves, but in the meantime here is a link to their Blogspot http://jimnicky.blogspot.comMikey, Clem & Tracy & CrewNOTE: The opening of Kent venues does NOT effect the Yorkshire side of Dance Dedication. This continues as normal. See those of you up North on the 6th August at Drax.DRAX sports & social club. YO8 8PFFantastic large sprung dance floor, Air conditioning, Licenced Bar and loads of car parking on site.

We had a great time last night at Gazza's party and it was so great to catchup with crew and friends. Nicky did very well and did not dance all night (except the last dance with me).

Nicky isn't as tired as she has been over the last few weeks, so you may see more of her at some of the venues. We will post which venues we are going to if you fancy a catch up :)

This was me when I found out Nicky was pregnant:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homardpayette/472354262/

If you have been wondering where we have been, then do not panic... we are still alive and kicking. We will be dancing (not Nicky yet) at venues and catching up with you all starting tonight. We will be attending Gazza's charity night at Bromley, so see you there!

Why are we not going to the old Dance Riviera venues?
Were not invited.. Well at least for the next 2 months. Time will tell if we ever cross that doorstep again. Not our choice I might add.

Will we be teaching soon?
Yes... we will let you know when, but it will be quite soon.

J&N x