Dixie Belles Line Dance Club

August Dance with Martyn Jaye, Friday 30^th August 2024

It was possibly the perfect way to end a summer of sunny days and hot nights when Martyn Jaye returned to Barnham Community Centre on Friday, 30 August to entertain at Dixie Belles.

Martyn's fame preceded him so an air of expectancy pervaded the already heated atmosphere in the venue stoked up by Jenny Bembridge's disco, which set the scene for what was to follow enticing dancers onto the dance floor. Martyn emerged onto the stage to heavy applause and kicked things off with a Happy Birthday singsong for Jenny's birthday the following Sunday before launching into Ribbon Of Highway. A sequence of current favourite dances followed in the shape of Eyes Like Diamonds, In Walked You, Around The Fire and Memory Lane. From there we were taken through a series of old favourites including Neon Moon (for County Line Cha-Cha), High Class Lady, I Just Want To Dance With You and Things I Carry Around. The set ended with another current favourite Cross My Heart (to song Don't Be Cruel).

Martyn's second set commenced with a storming Can't Let Go (for Train Wreck) before continuing with a mix of newer dances I'll Be Thinking Of You, Straight Lines, Show Me The Door and Sin City Lights. Introducing the Barn Dance with Rodney Crowell's I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried, Martyn took the opportunity to dust down Tush Push (to All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down) and particularly One Step Forward, which he said was one of the earliest numbers he remembers performing. The latter attracted a good floor of dancers with long memories, which quickly became crowded by dancers attracted by Shivers, Dark Side Of The Moon and Sin City Lights.

Martyn's love for performing and pleasure in digging deep into his repertoire to satisfy all dance requests was there for all to see as he mixed tempos on tracks such as Seven Nigbts To Rock, Running Wild (Into The Dark Night), Billy B Bad and a pulsating Backroad Nation. Toby Keith's You Can't Read My Mind (for Telepathy) was a welcome surprise and got a good floor of dancers as did newer numbers Drinkabye, Straight Lines and Here We Go and Texas Time (which also works well for Western pairs dance Best Of Friends) went down a storm with a crowded floor.

All too soon Martyn came to his last numbers Til You Can't and Bonaparte's Retreat. By then he had overrun the third set by 15 minutes, yet Jenny's request for a final number was well received by the audience and Martyn elected to do Dim The Lights. Not surprisingly he got a long standing ovation for a brilliant night's entertainment.

Jenny played a good mix of numbers between sets so all standards of dancers got the opportunity to take to the floor. Dixie Belles stalwart Sue baked some cakes in honour of Jenny's birthday and I can personally vouch for the excellent lemon drizzle sponge!

One comment from a member of the audience summed the night up perfectly - there was something for everybody! We are lucky to have a number of fantastic acts on this scene currently. Martyn is part of that number due to his overwhelming enthusiasm for entertaining his audiences, combined with an instinct for what numbers are going to work. We eagerly await his return at this club.

--- Thanks to Steve Sheldon for an excellent write up.

Arundel Festival, Sunday 25^th August 2024

After our first performance at the Arundel Americana event in July, we were asked if we would like to take part in the main Festival, held every year in and around Arundel, which attracts thousands of visitors.

Originally we were positioned at the bottom of the High Street outside the Swan Hotel, which is a very windy spot, but luckily we had two gazebos for cover. We soon made ourselves at home with our chairs, tables and picnic food, and Christine kindly leant us her new battery operated speaker, which I have to say was brilliant. Our first set took place here, but as most of the audience were in the middle of the High Street, we moved up there for the next two sets.

There was more emphasis on teaching this time, but even after we moved it was still difficult to engage people to take part. We also had one or two technical issues, but we soon got things moving. We did similar dances this time, but more emphasis on beginners ones, hoping to engage more people, and also dancing on tarmac can be a bit hard on the bodies, which wasn't helped by the fact that we were on a hill in the middle of the High Street. Nevertheless we all did out best, and were met each time with audience appreciation,

Special thanks to Liz, Sheila, Le, Chris, Magnus, Steve, Jane, Carole and Sonia for taking part.

Arundel Americana Festival, Saturday 20^th July 2024

We were asked if we would like to take part in the Arundel Americana Festival, which took place on Sat 20^th July. I must admit I was a little apprehensive at first, but we needn't have had any doubt, as we were very well received. The event ran from 3pm till late and featured Americana, Country, Folk and Bluegrass, and we were allocated 3 sets to fit in between the bands.

We showcased some of our favourite dances, with some beginner teaches for the audience, and I was pleasantly surprised how many took part, including the children. We started with American Kids, followed by Champagne Promise, then taught The Electric Slide to A little Less Talk by Toby Keith.

Our next set kicked off with the classic Islands in The Stream, followed by Diamonds in A Whiskey Glass, then a run through of Honky Tonk Highway, finishing with Cross My Heart.

Our last set comprised of Eyes Like Diamonds, Sin City Lights and an instruction of Country Walkin' and finally finishing with Around The Fire, to a great track, Old County Barn by James Johnston. All in all a great time was had by us and the audience, and we were asked if we would like to take part in their August event, so watch out Arundel here we come.

I would like to thank Christine, Le, Liz, Lyn, Magnus and Sheila for being brave enough to strut their stuff on that stage.

Hope you like the videos.

June Dance with Steve Lovett, Friday 28^th June 2024

Last Friday, 28 June award winning artist Steve Lovett returned to provide the entertainment at Dixie Belles, Barnham Community Centre. From the very outset with Train Wreck, Steve set about the task of entertaining a very big audience comprised of dancers and listeners. With the unerring instincts we have come to expect from Steve, we had 3 sets of Premier League entertainment as he set about squeezing 5 hours of dance numbers into the allotted time at his disposal. From the high octane start Steve spent the night keeping the dancefloor somewhere between busy and chock-a-block deftly mixing the tempos and the music for the latest dances and popular older ones, easing the throttle occasionally when the latent atmosphere and tropical room temperature demanded it.

The innate ability possessed by Steve to recognise a great number and the demand for the accompanying dance brought dividends immediately and he ploughed through the tried and tested Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Lovin All Night and Codigo counterbalanced by Sin City Lights, Diamonds In A Whiskey Glass and Telling On My Heart. The first set culminated in nearly everybody doing the Barn dance to Alan Jackson's Good Time.

The second set continued the hot party atmosphere with Never Drinking Again, Backroad Nation and Truck Driving Man, the latter true country classic working perfectly for Cowboy Charleston. In that set it was also great to hear a reprise from Steve on his version of Tim McGraw's Everywhere, which is perfect for the pairs dance Sway.

Astonishingly, even allowing for the quality of the first two sets, Steve somehow exceeded expectations with the best 3rd set I have witnessed this year. In this one we had Steve's exquisite take on Randy Travis's Eyes Like Diamonds and In Walked You, two of the best true country songs used for dances for some time. This set substantially overran as Steve pumped out 14 numbers enticing pairs up again with Neon Moon and Tempted, performing an exemplary Til You Can't (with heart stopping crescendo) and pounding guitar le through Straight Line, Around The Fire, Shivers, I'll Be Thinking Of You, Steamboat Queen, Whiskey Bridges and Cross My Heart. This finish elicited one of tbe biggest and noisiest standing ovations seen at this venue.

After the hubbub subsided, Jenny Bembridge didn't have to cajole Steve to return and for his encore we got a plaintive Remember When. Steve Lovett provided a masterclass for us and retains his place at the cutting edge of dance acts, getting those new dance numbers out there so we can perform those dances learned at classes in the live environment.

What a fantastic night we had and somehow Steve Lovett continues to up the ante and exceed our lofty expectations. Long may he continue to do so!

May Dance with Nadine Somers, Friday 10^th May 2024

There is always an air of excitement when Nadine Somers comes to perform at Dixie Belles, and this night was no exception. Although Nadine had a bit of nightmare of a journey, which can be a bit of a thing on a Friday night, and being stuck on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge for longer than she had hoped didn't help, but she managed to make it in the nick of time. And with a bit of help from the dancers who helped her in with her equipment she was soon set up and ready to go.

Her choice of songs made sure the beginners as well as the more experienced dancers got the chance to show of their skills on the dance floor. From Cowboy Charleston, Lucky Lips and County Line Cha Cha, to the more advanced dances of, 3 Tequila Floor, and Around the Fire, sung to Old Country Barn, which I thought was her best song of the evening.

I like the way Nadine is not afraid to change song titles for the dances, as with "Why Haven't I Heard From You", a Reba McEntire song, for Champagne Promise and "Redneck Woman", which was made popular by Gretchen Wilson, for Lamtarra Rhumba. I had tried the latter out on my beginners so they could get used to the upbeat tempo, and finally rounding off the evening with two encores, Memories and Seven Nights to Rock.

This was also a special evening as our raffle was being donated to a very special little girl, Phoebe who at the tender age of two has brain damage, and has spent many months in Southampton Hospital undergoing various surgery. Her mum Juliet is one of our dances, but obviously at the moment she and her husband are having to spend most of their time with Phoebe. I was absolutely amazed at the generosity of our dancers, not only donating all the raffle prizes but also buying so many raffle tickets, for which we were able to raise £300 pounds. So a very big thank you to everyone who donated.

I also have to say a special thank you to Lol for all his hard work at putting up the lights etc, as he's the only one willing to go up the ladder, with a little help from Sue, and to everyone else who helped thank you very much, I couldn't do it without you all pitching in and helping.

And just to round off this magical evening if you were lucky to catch them, we had a fantastic surprise of the Northern Lights in this very southern region.

So this is me, Jenny, signing off and hope to see you all at the next event on Fri 28^th June, with Steve Lovett, this will be a red, white and blue party dance.

Valentines Dance with Rob Childs, February 2024

If you are a line dancer and could have been anywhere two nights ago, then you couldn't have made a better choice than going to Barnham Community Centre for the Dixie Belles Valentine Dance featuring Rob Childs. Jenny Bembridge went through the complete gamut of emotions prior to the dance, which until late on could have been cancelled as Jenny did everything possible so the attendance made the dance worthwhile. Thankfully it was a sell-out and a fantastic night to boot.

If a week is said to be a long time in politics, then 5 months is a very long time in line dancing terms. When Rob Childs appeared at Dixie Belles last September, I reported an excellent night but I was also critical of the number of dancers who left before the event finished. Happily that was all forgotten last night as a rejuvenated Rob Childs took the collective Dixie Belles dancers under his spell at 7.30 pm with Missing and didn't relax his grip, with just about everybody still there, until the second encore of High Class Lady just before 10.45 pm. Between those times we enjoyed a sensational night with Rob fully in command and at the height of his powers musically, establishing an immediate rapport with the audience, some of whom were new enough dancers not to have seen him before.

On this occasion Rob's programme was topical reflecting new dances such as Three Tequila Floor, Five Leaf Clover, Memory Lane and Save It For A Sunny Day among others. Rob also drew on his vast repertoire of recordings to remind us of the danceability of I Saw The Light and Two Of A Kind Workin On A Full House for County Line Cha-Cha and Barn Dance respectively. Rob paid homage to Country music superstar Toby Keith, sadly lost recently, with You Can't Read My Mind (Telepathy) and A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action (danced here to Got To Be Funky/Black Coffee). Dedicating Wrapped Around to his fiance Izzy (also in attendance) while also upping the tempo on Honky Tonk Highway and Seven Nights To Rock we had the chance to marvel yet again at his supreme musicianship. The big surprise was the introduction of The Night Has A Thousand Eyes for Ribbon Of Highway, which some readers might recall Bobby Vee taking this into the UK singles 60 years ago almost to the week. Not only did this work Rob received the accolade of a standing at the culmination of the numbered! Add in Last Living Cowboy (for Cowboy Charleston) and One Step Forward (for the elders, including me) we enjoyed the complete dance package.

It seemed too early when Rob ended things at 10.30 pm, but reflecting the heady party atmosphere, Jenny brought him back for two encores with things ending on High Class Lady. Rob Childs is once again at the pinnacle of his dance powers and on this evidence is crying out to be seen again!

Before I close, a mention here for the stunning backdrop on the stage behind Rob that was devised and installed by Lol Slater (step stool held by Sue Weston).

Red, White & Blue Party Night with Tony Rouse, July 2013

New Year's Eve Party with Cheyenne 2012

Xmas Party with Alan Gregory 2012

Red, White & Blue Party night with Tony Rouse July 2012

New Year's Eve Party 2011

Xmas 2011

Red, White & Blue Party Night with Bobby D Sawyer 2011

Xmas 2010

Halloween 2010

Red, White & Blue Party Night with Bobby D Sawyer July 2010

Grand Charity Line Dance June 2009

Halloween Party 2007

Independence Day Party 6th July 2007 with John Permenter

Hi Jenny,
Thank you for hosting such a terrific evening last Friday. John was so good and that fiddle!! Just love that music! There is always such a good "family" atmosphere at your dances and that is to your credit. Look forward to seeing the digi photo of us all that evening - perhaps you could kindly e-mail it through. Thank you again for such a welcoming friendly club atmosphere.
Love Marion

Grand Charity Dance 23rd February 2007

Halloween 2006

4th July 2006, Red, White and Blue Party Night with Bobby D Sawyer

Grand Charity Night in aid of The British Heart Foundation and Leukaemia Research, held at The Assembly Hall, Bognor Regis Campus of the University of Chichester
19th May 2006

Keith Urban
19th April 2005

Heather Myles Night
25/11/03