South Plympton Tuesday Night Challenge Class will continue it's trial till December and then the viability will be reassessed. If you want to try it out, then your time is limited ($20 per session).
Parafield Gardens Wednesday Mainstream Day Class will be closed from the 8th October and relocating to Windsor Gardens starting on the 8th October.
Windsor Gardens Monday Morning Easy Class will not be running on 6th October (Public Holiday)
Windsor Gardens Wednesday Morning Transition Class will commence on the 8th October. 10am till 11am, at the George Crawford Hall, Lothian Ave, Windsor Gardens (Near the Holden Hill Police Station). This will be the first half of the Mainstream class, which will be structured to accommodate the two groups ($10 per session).
Windsor Gardens Wednesday Morning Mainstream Class will commence on the 8th October. 10am till Noon, at the George Crawford Hall, Lothian Ave, Windsor Gardens (Near the Holden Hill Police Station) ($15 per session).
South Plympton Monday Afternoon Challenge Class will be starting at the Vermont Uniting Church, on 13th October from 1pm-3pm and trialed till December ($20 per session). 

Since July 2025, we have been running a new concept of class called the Challenge class. The intent of this class is to test the latest higher level popular dances, and to revise many of the old harder classic "Advanced" and "Intermediate" dances from yesteryear. This enables newer dancers to get exposure to the classics in a teaching environment (rather than trying to pick them up at socials), and the long term dancers a chance to revise the much loved classic they have missed out on doing, due to the structure of classes being offered.
Over the past couple of months we have done the following material:
New Dances:

• Million Dollar Smile
• No Time To Talk
• Scarborough Waltz
• Beautiful In My Eyes
• Don't Click Play

Classics from Yesteryear:

• Chill Factor
• Titanic
• Gypsy Lady
• Fly Like a Bird
• That's Nice

It this sort of class structure interest you, come and join us on Monday Afternoons (from 13th Oct) or Tuesday Nights (already running). The classes are $20 per session to cover the small numbers of people that are experienced enough to attend, and to acknowledge the higher amount of preparation time needed to run a class of this level.
The choice of material will be similar, but different, between the two classes based on requests, though both classes will teach the same newer dances to allow them to participate at socials without walk-throughs.
 

Recently we have been experimenting with split level Mainstream classes at Morphett Vale. There seems to be some confusion about this, so I will attempt to clarify what is going on with our level system.
The choreography we do has been assessed by an AI checker program written by Peter (B.Sc, BE, Hons), to calculate the difficulty level of the dance. It considers over 50 different factors (speed of music, turns, movements etc) in making it's determination. It has been trained using our experience as instructors of 30+ years to recognize music, choreography and body mechanics issues and measure their impact. Using these results, each dance is allocated to a particular class level. It is used not only on new untested dances, but also on all the thousands of legacy dances we have taught over the years.
Prior to the invention of the checker (about 15 years ago), we moved a bunch of dances that had been incorrectly leveled based on the instructors "gut feel". This did not go down well, especially as the results could not be quantified or explained, so was considered to be based on "personal taste".
Once the checker was completed recently, we went through the same exercise of moving incorrectly leveled dances, this time using scientific analysis and proven reasoning. It still didn't go down well LOL, but at least we could explain why it happened in each instance. Some dances went up, others came down and most are now in the right place. New dances are tested before being put in a class, to avoid people learning a dance and then having it taken away, as has happened in the past.
Our current classes are:

• Lifestyle - Levels 1 and 2
• Easy - Levels 1,2 and 3
• Transition - Level 4
• Mainstream - Level 4 and 5
• Crossover - Level 6
• Challenge - Level 7, 8, 9 and 10

Prior to the "invention" of Transition classes, Mainstream Classes (originally known as Basic Classes) had 5 dances in the program. A Warmup Level 3 dance, 2 Level 4, and 2 Level 5 dances.
When Transition was created, the Level 3 dance was dropped from Mainstream, so the level went up slightly.
When the checker was implemented, the Mainstream level went down a bit as the harder 3's (incorrectly leveled originally) came up to level 4, and the harder 5's went to level 6. This is why you may recognise some of the dances in the current Mainstream program as "beginner dances", as they were originally taught as Easy Level dances before the realization that they were too hard for true beginners.
As we have less instructors than we did 5 years ago, we do not have the bandwidth to have Transition and Mainstream classes everywhere we would like them. To alleviate this issue, we are experimenting with adjusting the program slightly in a couple of Mainstream classes to enable the first half of the class to be sold as a 1 hour Transition class (for $10).
Currently in Mainstream, we have a 4,5,4,5 program structure. This is made up of a level 4 warmup dance, and a level 5 cool down dance.  We alternated between a new level 4 and a new level 5 dance each week between these two (which is repeated the following week), then we have a full class of revision every 5th week. Any left over time in the 2 hours is dedicated to requests till the end of session.
The new experimental format uses exactly the same material, but keeps the level 4 dances in the first hour, then tops the hour up with level 4 requests. The second hour has the level 5 dances, then tops it up with level 5 requests.
Theoretically this means there is no difference in content for the mainstream dancers, except maybe the requests may be more varied in level than might otherwise have been the case.
The purpose is to give newer dancers the opportunity to get started without the intimidation of level 5 dances scaring them off, till they are more prepared for them. I believe the upside is worth the small request sacrifice. Hopefully those people will move into attending the full Mainstream class as their confidence increases.
We do not force people to move up (or down), nor stop them from moving up if they want the challenge. This system allows customers to find the level of challenge that suits them, and to progress when they feel ready. Each level does however rely on a knowledge of the terminology from the lower levels, as this enables a more rapid teaching process. If you don't have sufficient background, you may struggle for a while till you get exposed to the terminology and body mechanics, as we cannot slow the teaching down for people dancing well outside their experience level.
 

Socials are an integral part of our line dance organisation. They provide an opportunity for our dancers to test out their knowledge and skills, check out their options to stretch themselves in a higher level, and meet other members of our community from different regional areas.
The program is made up from requests from those attending. There have been an increase in the new members of our community attending the socials, which is wonderful. We have adjusted the programme to accommodate this with an increased number of easy level dances on the program. We are discontinuing writing up the programme on a white board, to enable us to be more flexible in responding to the floor level.
The remaining social dates for this year are as follows:

The Address is: West Croydon and Kilkenny RSL, 19 Rosetta St, West Croydon.
Dancing starts at 1.30pm and concludes at 5pm at a cost of $15 (cash only). The program is run by request, and everyone gets a request form when they enter, to nominate 5 dances they would like to do. We try to ensure that you get at least one of those, but we only do about 5 level 6+ dances during the session, so don't just ask for really hard ones (or lots of unusual ones), or you could miss out altogether.
We have decided not to offer meals beforehand this year, as they were not being well supported and it was not economical for the caterers. Instead, we will return to the format we were using long before Covid-19, with a break about half way through, where we share a combined afternoon tea for 20 minutes. Please bring a small plate of food to share with your fellow dancers. Also bring a coffee cup if you wish to take advantage of the free tea and coffee provided. We will have minimal fridge space, and a pie warmer, but no oven, so please don’t bring food that needs cooking or defrosting. We feel this is a better way to assist people to mix and chat. Doors will open 30 minutes before the starting time.

As mentioned last month, Liz and I have decided to downsize our large house to a 2 bedroom apartment. This has meant getting rid of a large amount of accumulated stuff, both personal and business related. There is just not going to be the room to store unnecessary clutter.
We will be having a garage sale on Saturday 18th October and Sunday 19th October from 9am till 4pm at 7 Jessie Goodes Court, Parafield Gardens, to sell some of our stuff to anyone that might be interested.
There is a large amount of eclectic gatherings: Clothing, Furniture, outdoor chairs, Sound Equipment, Decorations, Caravanning equipment, ornaments and collectables, Xmas decorations, kitchen appliances and crockery, costumes, filing cabinets, metal detector, books, CD's, records and the list goes on, all priced to go.
Come and check it out, make a day of it LOL Get to see where the live streaming over Covid actually happened. Cash only please.
If parking is a problem, park in the Parafield railway station, it is a 2 minute walk to our place.

Our 2027 offering for a Mediterranean Cruise is still available. We do have a single lady in need of a cabin mate, should you be interested in joining us without a partner.
We are very comfortable with choosing Viking as our cruise provider again. Having experienced cruising with P&O, Hurtigruten, Royal Caribbean and Viking, we are convinced the quality of staff, tours and food is second to none of the others. All meals (even specialist), and non spirits drinks with meals are included, as is internet access, tours, gratuities and on board activities. We are also being given special on board credit as part of our group package that can go towards optional tours (Pompeii maybe) or spirits.
Our opinion is that if you are going to take the time and money to travel so far away, it is worth maximising the experience. To that end we are offering additional "bolt ons" both before and after the cruise to explore Greece, Rome and Malta. These are optional, and you can just pay for and go on the cruise and return home if you wish.
You can be assured that we are very experienced travellers, and can take the hassle out of organising all the component parts that make up a dream holiday without issues that you have to deal with. We understand it is not a cheap holiday, but the inclusions and assurances of quality make it very good value for money.
2027 - Greece, the Adriatic Sea, Italy and Malta (August)
After optionally spending 5 days touring Greece, we will embark on a Viking Coastal Cruise (not Mid Ocean) in Athens on the 7th August. The cruise will conclude in Rome 15 days later. After a couple of days in Rome we will optionally fly to the island of Malta for 7 days before returning home. Full itineraries and application forms are available from your instructors if you ask them, or email Peter and he will send you one via email.