Dance & Community: Celebrating Christmas Ceroc Style

This festive episode celebrates dance and community at Ceroc Inspire. Liz and Mark chat about the joyful atmosphere of the Ashbourne Christmas party and the build up to the much loved Red Carpet Christmas Night at Ceroc Derby. With photo booths, shared food, reflection boards, fun classes and fundraising for the Stroke Association they explore how dance community creates connection warmth and Christmas memories.

Transcript

Speaker 0:
Hello, and welcome to Ceroc inspires dance inspiration podcast. I'm Liz.
Speaker 1:
And I'm Mark. And we're here keeping you up to date with everything that's going on into rock inspire.
Speaker 0:
So let's get started. Wow. We've had the best afternoon, haven't we?
Speaker 1:
It's been absolutely amazing.
Speaker 0:
Such a lovely party at Ashbourne.
Speaker 1:
Loads of people. Loads of people.
Speaker 0:
Oh my goodness. And
Speaker 1:
such a sense of community.
Speaker 0:
It was amazing. It it was so lovely. It was a proper Christmas party, wasn't it? Yeah. Not just a freestyle.
Speaker 0:
It was just, just so welcoming and happy and festive. Christmas. Yeah, really festive. Such a great community at Ashbourne.
Speaker 1:
Proper Christmas mode.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. They know how to party at Ashbourne, I really do. Really do. And, yeah, it was it was just so nice. I mean, it was weird, wasn't it, that it was actually 10 to 5 when you said, oh my goodness.
Speaker 0:
We need to be calling the last few tracks.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. No. And no 1 was actually getting ready to leave.
Speaker 0:
No. I think they'd all forgotten that it ended at 5 They were all still dancing, weren't they? Yeah.
Speaker 1:
We were just having a little afternoon 1, 2 till 5. Yeah. All of a sudden, 10 to 5, like you say. And it's like, uh-oh. I need to go and tell Chris it's last track.
Speaker 0:
I know. It's crazy. It's crazy how how quickly the 3 hours disappeared. Yeah. But, it was a really good afternoon.
Speaker 0:
Really good.
Speaker 1:
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. We really enjoyed it. Such a a a great way to start the festive season off, I think.
Speaker 1:
I I think it's good because even though it was a little 1, we had the 2 DJs, so it was me and Chris.
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Chris's first ever freestyle, which I think you thoroughly enjoyed. I think he did a really
Speaker 0:
good job as well, didn't he?
Speaker 1:
He did.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. He did. And it like I say, it's it's him moving forward in his DJ journey, isn't it? It's, it was it was definitely good a good 1 for him to start with, I think.
Speaker 1:
So it's a nice little warmer today, ready for our special red carpet Christmas night tomorrow.
Speaker 0:
Yep. That annual big Christmas party at Ciroc Derby. Well,
Speaker 1:
we roll out the red carpet, literally roll out the red carpet for you to come to.
Speaker 0:
Yep. So when you walk up now to the doors, there'll be the red carpet out there. Unless it's absolutely chucking it down with rain, and then we'll just have it when you come inside.
Speaker 1:
No. Because it still goes out. It rained last year, didn't it? But it's underneath the canopy, ain't it?
Speaker 0:
Yeah. But as soon as you walk in, the Christmas party night is something that I think people anticipate, don't they? Yeah. They they when they know it's coming and they've been before, they're like, oh, it's the red carpet Christmas night. We've gotta go there.
Speaker 0:
Such a good night.
Speaker 1:
It's literally, you walk up the red carpet, in through the door, and the photo booth will be there on your left Yep. Ready for taking pictures of you and all your Christmassy gear or your glam gear or
Speaker 0:
Whatever you wanna wear. Christmas. Yeah. Whatever you're coming in, but we'll definitely get your Christmas photo for you. And then people hopefully will be bringing their donation for the buffet table as well.
Speaker 1:
Yep. Which usually goes a bit crazy and carries on round the corner.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. It does. But when people first come in, I think it's it's a proper party feel right at the beginning, isn't it? Because we've got a little something for everybody, haven't we,
Speaker 1:
to get a gift? Surprise for people.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Just a little something. It's not it's just a little gift. It's just a thank you for supporting us, for the for the whole of the year as Ciroc Inspire, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. We've
Speaker 0:
done 18 months now as Ciroc Inspire, so it's just a little thank you. So you're gonna be, sort of next to me on the door, aren't you? Well, you're gonna set up a playlist and give out the little presents to people when they come in.
Speaker 1:
Who says it's a present?
Speaker 0:
Well, it might be a present. It's something. A little special something. So, yeah, the the point of the red carpet was, it was something that I came up with, like, back in 2018, I think it was. It's like, let's let's just make it, like, a proper a real proper festive occasion and, you know, it's Rolls Royce, it used to be called.
Speaker 0:
So it's like you need to celebrate, like, a Rolls Royce, like, posh. So the red carpet had to come in, and that's how it got its name, didn't it? Yeah. We just called it the red carpet Christmas night because we welcome our dancers in on a red carpet.
Speaker 1:
Well, I say I mean, it's sort of like it is a class night, but it's not a class night because
Speaker 0:
Well, it is. It's just a different kind of class night. Yeah. It is still a class night. We do still have lessons, and we do still do the beginners, don't we?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. And don't don't go away early because we don't finish a lot past 11.
Speaker 0:
I know. We've got an extension on our red carpet now, don't we? So people can carry on dancing if they choose to. We've got a nice
Speaker 1:
little Christmas party.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. An absolute Christmas party.
Speaker 1:
We did the conga last year. So if you wanna pop back onto Facebook and have a look at the video from last year, you'll see a massive long line of people doing the conga.
Speaker 0:
That was a bit crazy, wasn't it? Especially when we had an overstocked buffet table and those people trying to conga past that and that but it was fun. It was definitely fun. I think this year as well I have created a blank Christmas tree on a big board for people to decorate. So the the point of it is that people put on a post it, a little star or a circle post it, with a gold, silver, white or black gel pen what they've loved about dancing this year and what they love about Cirotta Derby.
Speaker 0:
You know, what any or any thoughts. Moment. Yeah. Favorite moments, favorite night, favorite freestyle, favorite favorite anything really, favorite dance with a certain person or
Speaker 1:
Favorite track?
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. We want you to come in and decorate that Christmas tree.
Speaker 1:
Or we want an overflowing Christmas tree.
Speaker 0:
Overflowing Christmas tree. That will just be so good if we get that. That'll be amazing, won't it?
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 0:
I'm quite excited about that. I think it's nice as well to reflect on your years dancing, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
It's nice to capture the memories. I mean, we do a memory jar.
Speaker 0:
We do.
Speaker 1:
So every New Year's Eve, we sit with a little drink and little nibbles and go through the memory jar of all the memories from this year.
Speaker 0:
Mhmm. The good memories.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So what we're trying to capture on that is the the whole year of the memories of you lot, of everybody that's come
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
What your memories are
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
For Derby.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. And and decorating the tree with our memories. Yeah. I think that would just be so special. So that board will be up there for you to go in your own time when you get a minute to go and just pop something on there maybe when you go in the photo booth or whatever you can pop something on there and decorate your little bauble and make it pretty.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. I like that idea. Obviously we always have a lot of laughter and people being silly in the photo booth, we've had that today aren't we?
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah.
Speaker 0:
Quite looking forward to doing the photograph later, so that we can see people's fun at Ashbourne They're for the first Christmas party of the year for us.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. But we've got some props for tomorrow. They're they're only little card ones, but they're fun. Oh,
Speaker 1:
yeah. Just little little ones to play with.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Just just enjoy.
Speaker 1:
Major. But if you want to, you can bring your own Santa hat or Santa beard or Whatever Christmas classes or whatever.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Just get some really fun Christmas photos, I think. That's quite important, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So at the class night, what we're gonna have? So Dan's gonna be teaching. To start with, we've got the beginners, aren't we?
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
So we're gonna have a normal beginner class.
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Then
Speaker 0:
And the freestyle that we've started to have, haven't we, at the beginning of
Speaker 1:
the day? Then after the beginner class, you'll get your little freestyle like you usually do for half an hour. Then Tan is going to be teaching a special Christmas class.
Speaker 0:
With Nick.
Speaker 1:
With Nick?
Speaker 0:
I'm telling her, I believe.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. So we're not gonna we're not going to say any more about that because that's done surprise, but his But
Speaker 1:
we can't say much about it because we don't know much about it.
Speaker 0:
I think I'll probably know a little bit more but I'm not saying. I think if anybody's been to the red carpet Christmas night before they know that we always have a lot of fun in our special class don't we at Christmas it's just fun it's for all abilities so even if you've only just started even if it's your first night it doesn't matter you'll still be able to join in yeah you'll be able to join in because it'll just be really really easy and just lots and lots of fun.
Speaker 1:
Well, it don't matter, does it? Is it just the main thing is it's gonna be fun. Yeah. It's a fun class night.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. It's it's focusing more on people having fun than it is or and enjoying themselves, and it is actually learning a dance routine. It's just fun.
Speaker 1:
Whether you I'm gonna say it's whether you get it or not, it doesn't really matter, does it? If you collapse on the floor in a heap laughing your head off, that seems more fun.
Speaker 0:
It does happen. I think just to go back to the, buffet that we have, we've done that every year, haven't we, on this? We have. After this Christmas class, and there's been well, we we do still do it, but what we do is if there's any food left over, we will Mark and I go on the way home and look under bridges and I look for people that are homeless Yeah. And give them the food that's left over and just a bit of festive cheer to people that are homeless.
Speaker 0:
If we haven't seen anybody, what I do is there's a place down in Allenton on Harvey Road, actually, and they do the meals, don't they, up in the marketplace.
Speaker 1:
So just just around the corner from the venue, from Turok Rolls Royce from Rolls Royce Leisure, is a little house, and they deal with homeless people, and emergency food rations and things like that. So we'll take it to them, and they can spread a little bit of Christmas cheer when they're giving out food parcels.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. It's not just that. I think when they go and do the hot meals for people, they also but they you know, we're giving them stuff that they can give out, like little bits of festive stuff Yeah. And anything else that we're we take down to them. Sometimes if we've got a few, if if some people give us the raffle prizes back and we take them down
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 0:
If they want to give them to those and you know whatever we can do to help them at Christmas, that's what we try to do, don't we?
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 0:
The little bit that we can do, obviously, we can't do that much, but we do try to. I mean, do you remember that year when we did the I think it was the first year we did it and we went around poking people that were asleep, didn't we? I said, do you want some food? Give us some food.
Speaker 1:
There was there were some grumpy people, but once you realized that they were we were gonna give them food, they were quite happy.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. That was it. But that that was weird, that was, wasn't it? Trying to find people to give it to.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. I I think we spent a good hour, hour and a half
Speaker 0:
Oh, at least
Speaker 1:
on the weekend. People.
Speaker 0:
It was like 1 in the morning when we got home, wasn't it? Yeah.
Speaker 1:
At least. You know what? It was it was actually hard to find homeless people.
Speaker 0:
It really was. Hide. Yeah. They do hide. They do hide.
Speaker 0:
So in a way, it's better when we go around the next day to the people on Hervey Road and give them a carry bag full of food, and they they always really appreciate whatever you Yeah. Whatever you give them. So it is it is an extra little bit of charity. Obviously, we've got the raffle as well, haven't we?
Speaker 1:
Yep. We have the raffle that goes to Stroke Association.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. And the reason for that is because, well, it's not just the only reason, but it made Ciroc sit up and listen, I think, when 1 of the hosts from, Potter's where we hold a weekend, a swish weekender, had a he's a very fit, very energetic little man. He's only a little guy.
Speaker 1:
He's
Speaker 0:
skinny, he races round like a mad person and suddenly in his garden he had a massive stroke and was, you know, pretty much, well, stopped in his tracks for quite some time and I think we went to Swish the following year and he was still in his wheelchair, but he did come back and got on the stage, didn't he? Yeah. Which was great, but obviously that just brings it straight to the forefront to you that somebody that you're working with that's actually happened to
Speaker 1:
Can just drop.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. And the more you talk to people, how many people you know that have had strokes will know somebody that's had a stroke. So I think I myself had a stroke a year ago. I was very lucky.
Speaker 1:
1 of our Ashbourne dancers had a stroke.
Speaker 0:
1 of our Ashbourne dancers had a stroke just around about the same time as me or just after me and had a lot more problems than I had afterwards, so I was very lucky. But I think to myself that, when I had all the tests, you remember when I was in hospital and all those tests, all those tests, all that, the reaction to it, the way that I was treated with medication straight away, is because of the research that they've done with strokes, how to treat somebody quickly to make the least damage as possible. So for me, the stroke association's quite close to my heart, really.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So the little bit here is your little bit of medical now, is go and get your blood pressures checked. Yeah. Because that's an early sign of whether you're gonna have a stroke or not. So if you get your blood pressure checked and it does come back a bit high, at least then, even if you've had it at your pharmacy, they can notify the doctor that you've got a high blood pressure and you might need to be seen.
Speaker 0:
Definitely. I mean, but even for me, I didn't actually have a high blood pressure when it happened to me. I was actually in a hairdresser's chair leaning my head backwards and, it happened to me, but it does that's the whole point of the research, you know, yes, some of mostly the signs and symptoms are that you've got high blood pressure, high cholesterol. I did have high cholesterol. It's now in my boots, no longer high.
Speaker 0:
But you know the thing that all the symptoms and the signs around it, you know, they're not they're not uniform really. No. You know, the signs of a person had a stroke, I didn't have any of those apart from the side of my head went numb. So I think all of that research and as much money you can raise for that research then, the more they're looking into how it can present itself and how it
Speaker 1:
quickly it
Speaker 0:
can be treated. I was
Speaker 1:
gonna say, and how quickly they can sort out Yeah. What needs to be done to make you have a better chance of having a normal life after you've had a stroke.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Because we have had quite a few dancers that have had to stop dancing because they've had strokes, haven't we? Yeah. And that's been really sad that's been their life, and they've been fit and healthy, but they've still had a stroke. So, I think it it is a good a a good charity for us to raise money for.
Speaker 0:
It's something that we'd have been doing for the last few years now, aren't we? Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So so there's your charity update warning to what what's happening with everything that you're doing. Well, the
Speaker 0:
raffle tickets, so you can still buy some on the door, a pounder ticket, and you know obviously Dan and Nick have, are going to be doing what half an hour private lesson each as the main prizes aren't they? So and we've got loads of other little prizes to go with it as well as a gift voucher. We've got a gift voucher a night. So yeah, there's some pretty good prizes in it. So that that's a a really good part of it.
Speaker 0:
And Dan does that I think he does it at the end of the fun class, I believe. I can't remember now. I think so. At the end of the
Speaker 1:
fun class. We usually do the fun class, then we have a little bit of music, then we'll interrupt you with the raffle. So but the main part is the tickets will be in a tin. It's not gonna be anyone in particular who's gonna pick the numbers out. What we usually do is do it at random and get 1 of all of you to pick a ticket.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. And then the winner from that whoever wins it then picks the next ticket.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. That's how it normally works. The other thing that we've got that is really, really good on the red class a carpet class night is that we have an extension till half past 11 Woo hoo. Which is fabulous, though. It just means that you, you know, you don't have to go home at quarter to 11.
Speaker 0:
And more often than not, we have dancers still sitting there when we're packing up and ready to go home, don't we? Yeah. On a normal class night. So I think there'll be a few people that will appreciate being able to stay and dance for a little bit longer. I mean,
Speaker 1:
it's of course, I'd say it's Christmas.
Speaker 0:
I know. Crazy. You can imagine Mark's gonna be on his Christmas tunes tomorrow night.
Speaker 1:
A few, maybe.
Speaker 0:
But I think, you know, it gives you the opportunity to socialize more. You're not thinking, oh my god, I need to get a few more dancers in before I go home. You can actually sit and socialize, and you've got time to get those dancers in and have a breather in between and relax and chat with other people, haven't you? Yeah. It makes it feel more like a freestyle night, isn't it?
Speaker 1:
It makes it feel like a freestyle night, makes it feel like a party night, which it is a party night.
Speaker 0:
It is a party night. It's like the best party night of the year, that 1 is, I think.
Speaker 1:
You know, like I say, it enables you, like, to come, enjoy, relax, and just let that Christmas mood slip in there.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. You
Speaker 1:
know? Cheer yourselves up, have a good laugh.
Speaker 0:
Eat nice food, eat chocolate, have silly photos taken.
Speaker 1:
Yeah?
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Play silly games. I mean, what more can you ask for? A really sociable occasion that is, and it really creates that sense of belonging at Seurat Derby, I think. Everybody knows.
Speaker 1:
People really remember the red carpet night. A lot of people remember our red carpet nights.
Speaker 0:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
And it's purely and simply is because we have a laugh.
Speaker 0:
I mean, I'm sure every every other Sirot franchise class has a laugh as well, but I think it's just that we put on something that's a little bit different. It's it's, you know, there isn't another night like that out there, and it is fun, and people want to come to it, and people enjoy it. And, yes, they do men remember it.
Speaker 1:
It's mine and yours, pride and joy of the year, indeed.
Speaker 0:
It really is.
Speaker 1:
We absolutely love
Speaker 0:
the red
Speaker 1:
carpet night.
Speaker 0:
Don as Don says it's his night, he loves it. Don't be there
Speaker 1:
in his super duper Christmas outfit.
Speaker 0:
Yeah he will. He will not, he will not let anybody else do the red carpet last night, he doesn't want any other teachers and so he can't have any holidays for that particular night, can he?
Speaker 1:
Nope.
Speaker 0:
But for us I think it's it's an idea that I came up with like I say back in 2018 and it's kind of grown hasn't it? We started with the red carpet, we had a buffet, we always had the bring and share buffet and the photo booth but we've added to it haven't we over the years and and you know the the fun classes have changed over the years. It's just got better and better.
Speaker 1:
I think when we first started it, it was the red carpet. Mhmm. Then we added the the buffet. Then we used to have just a few photos. No.
Speaker 1:
No. We added we added the photo booth in the second year, and it's just got bigger and better.
Speaker 0:
It has got bigger and better. It's it's something that we have spent quite a bit of time in the background preparing for haven't we?
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 0:
You'll see that tomorrow night if you come to the night you'll see what went into it but it's fun to prepare for it you get excited while you're doing the background stuff, don't you?
Speaker 1:
We do, we do.
Speaker 0:
And it's it's enjoyable.
Speaker 1:
I mean, our our first Christmas night with that, when it wasn't the red carpet, we stood and gave out Christmas hats.
Speaker 0:
Oh, we did, didn't we? I forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah. We bought hats a bit of loads, and I buy 200 Christmas hats and everybody had a Christmas hat.
Speaker 0:
Oh, gosh. That is that's I'd forgotten all about that.
Speaker 1:
2 great big boxes of Christmas hats that we were handing out.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Yeah. That yeah. But that was fun, and people wore them. Yeah.
Speaker 0:
We did do Christmas cards but I think although we did Christmas cards they weren't actually written to people so they'd be a little bit impersonal maybe, so we decided not to do that anymore. But we do want to say to people like you know we so appreciate you supporting us and coming every week and having fun with us and creating helping to create that community that we've got at Derby.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. I
Speaker 0:
mean it wouldn't be We
Speaker 1:
enjoy it.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. It wouldn't be what it wasn't out the dancers though would it?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. We we can't provide anything without you.
Speaker 0:
No. Well, I think anything that's good has has input from lots of different sources, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. You
Speaker 0:
know, it's not just us. It's not just Dan. It's not just your music or the venue or anything. It it it's the people as well. People don't come, then
Speaker 1:
it's No.
Speaker 0:
You can't create that environment, can you?
Speaker 1:
We need all the different ingredients.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. Definitely. Anyway, we are really looking forward to seeing people tomorrow night. Can't wait to see people coming through the door. We'll be there early, aren't we?
Speaker 1:
Be there early, get it all set up. Yeah. And as always, don't be afraid to come up and ask me for a record.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. A record. How old are you?
Speaker 1:
Hey. I'm getting old now.
Speaker 0:
I'm just showing your age there, Mark.
Speaker 1:
Ask me for a track.
Speaker 0:
That's better. You're showing your age, mate. But
Speaker 1:
Or if you're that bored, you can come and ask me for a dance as well.
Speaker 0:
Yeah. You've been dancing a lot this afternoon, haven't you?
Speaker 1:
I have.
Speaker 0:
Even I had a dance this afternoon.
Speaker 1:
Hey. Guess what? I was just about to say. You can always ask Liz for a dance now as well.
Speaker 0:
As long as it's not a fast 1.
Speaker 1:
Nice and gentle. Yeah.
Speaker 0:
Not a fast track. I can't do a fast track or a super long track, but, yeah, I'll definitely definitely join in. Anyway, we will see you all tomorrow night, Monday night. Cannot wait to see you. Cannot wait to do the creme the Christmas carpet red carpet class even.
Speaker 1:
I can't
Speaker 0:
say it now. And see everybody enjoying themselves and get lots of photos and memories from that. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:
Yay.
Speaker 0:
Thanks so much for joining us on today's Ciroc inspires dance inspiration podcast.
Speaker 1:
We hope you've enjoyed the chat as much as we have.
Speaker 0:
And you know that you can find us at Ciroc Derby, Ashbourne, and Burton, or online at ciroc.com/cirocinspire.
Speaker 1:
And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook for class updates and event news, and also check us out on TikTok and YouTube.
Speaker 0:
We'll be back very soon with more stories, insights, and inspiration, and some special guests.
Speaker 1:
See you on the dance floor.