empressorchestra

Many congratulations to all that took part in yesterday’s Inventive Competition, especially the finalists and winners.

Thanks to everyone that took the time and trouble to congratulate the Orchestra on the music and quality of our recent album ‘Always & Forever’, I’m delighted that you love the album whether you dance or listen to it and that the time spent designing the cover (which doesn’t break when you open it) has not been wasted.

It was a significantly poignant moment for me when Robert and Louise Aldred decided to use my waltz, ‘Always & Forever’, as music for their dance the ‘Clearwater Waltz’, those that know me fairly well will understand why, and I’m delighted for them that it was placed first in the Modern Section.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Well not long to go now before the start of another exciting Blackpool Sequence Dance Festival. There is plenty on offer for those of you wishing to dance socially as this festival is not all about competition.

The floor leading is always excellent with the likes of Steven Shaw and Helen Blackburn and also many past “Blackpool” Champions leading their own prize-winning dances. It’s probably the most relaxed of all the dance festivals with a warm and friendly atmosphere and it also has great music from Larry Green at the organ and of course ourselves.

If you haven’t been before or haven’t made it for a while, there is still time to book your tickets from the Dance Festival website (located on our ‘LINKS’ page).

I look forward to seeing you there (come and say hello)!

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Mirko Gozzoli and Alessia Betti.

After a long and extremely successful career Mirko and Alessia have announced their retirement as a couple from competitive dancing.

Having performed for them on many occasions and admired their wonderful dancing from the stage, we wish them the very best of luck in the years to come.

A fabulous partnership, the epitome of ballroom dancing and inspiration to so many, they will be sadly missed!

Just to let children and parents know that from 2010, the Blackpool Junior Dance Festival will be moving from Blackpool Tower to the Winter Gardens.

There are several reasons for the move: A larger dance floor, easier access, tighter security, better facilities for the dancers, adjudicators and orchestra and also for those selling merchandise. This coupled with the fact that the building can be dedicated to the JDF and not shared with the general public during the Easter holidays makes it a more suitable venue.

The “Jungle Jims” experience has changed somewhat over recent years. Each child now has to be accompanied by an adult and they are only allowed in there for one hour, without makeup! (that includes the girls). The space and layout is better for this kind of event and for dancers and spectators there should be more on offer at the Winter Gardens from 2010.

If you have any comments or questions that you wish to leave on this or any of the subjects on our Blog, please feel free to do so.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Well, we have finally managed to complete the biographical content on our ‘Personnel’ page with the last of the Empress Orchestra members being submitted today.

We will update its content as and when, but invite you to take a look at the pedigree of the musicians that work so hard to make your musical and dance experiences so memorable.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

We recently added another piece of video footage to our ‘Videos’ page that is available to view (free of charge) right away.

This particular clip comes from the programme ‘Space Pirates’ and was recorded by the BBC for CBeebies.  It features the Empress Dance Band (the Empress Orchestra’s little brother) performing a Viennese Waltz in Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom.

We, with help from the wonderful dancers, beat off stiff competition from the likes of Ronan Keating and the Jingles to be voted into 1st place by the extremely knowledgeable panel of adjudicators!

(They deemed it the best music if you want to ‘Spin Around’)!

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

The second of three articles I was asked to write for the Japanese dance magazine ‘Dance Wing’ has now been published. Back in July I “blogged” briefly about volume 49 and this edition continues largely with their analysis of the Blackpool Dance Festival.

It’s a richly colourful magazine with some stunning photography, this issue features (amongst other subjects) the ‘Team Match’, hair styles (ladies) both modern and Latin, with an explanation of how to achieve the lustrous look! There are also revues of the Pro Ballroom and Pro Latin competitions by Anne Gleave and Jukka Happalainan respectfully.

Translations to all the main pieces are in English.

There is once again a wonderful presentation (on DVD insert) this time by Lene James-Mikkelsen filmed during the BDFI UK Congress 2009 entitled, ‘Back to the Future’. A very insightful lecture with some wonderful demonstrations highlighting a few of the basics often missed by young competitive Latin dancers.

The DVD also contains the semi-final and final of the British Professional Rising Star Latin Competition 2009, which of course features music of the Empress Orchestra.

The second of my articles touches briefly on our album ‘Always & Forever’ and also a little about the Orchestra itself and why (unlike many bands) we don’t use a vocalist for competitive performances.

If you’re interested, then follow the link to Dance Wing.

Comments welcomed as always!

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Those of you that have Sky TV may have spotted that Justin Lee Collins has a new series on Sky 1 and Sky HD: ‘Just-in at the deep end!’

He has already tried his hand at: ‘Mexican Wrestling’, ‘Chicago’ (in the West End) and ‘High Diving’.

Episode 4 sees JLC try his hand at Ballroom Dancing!

Some of the filming at the start of the show was shot from the Winter Gardens, back in November 2008, during the British National Dance Championships. If you were taking part in the competitions, you may be on the television dancing to the sounds of the Empress Orchestra.

This show is being aired on Sky 1 and Sky HD on Thursday 3 September, at 10 p.m.

If you want to read more on this topic go to the “RSS” feed (above right) or click on “comments” below.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Having done a quick search of the internet I found a number of sites offering Empress Orchestra albums as free downloads. I can assure you that none of the companies offering this service have permission from the copyright holder to do so (namely me). Many of the companies, based in Russia, offer albums free for download when you pay a membership fee.

The companies know that what they are doing is illegal; but flout the law knowing that virtually no copyright holders will push for prosecution; it’s just too expensive.

Ironically, some of these sites warn you that it is illegal to download material without permission, as it may infringe copyright laws, this suggests that their sites are legitimate – NOT TRUE.

Some points to think about:

1. You are freely handing over your credit card details to companies that are quite happy to break the law.
2. Some of these sites contain malware, this is a spy-type software used to gather information from your computer.
3. You are helping a company that hold no rights to any albums to make money through membership.
4. None of the money you give goes to the writers or musicians of the albums that were made especially for your benefit as dancers and listeners.
5. The orchestra albums made can cost more than a chart CD to produce with only a fraction of the returns from sales.

These are just a few of the many points I could raise. The decision is of course yours to make, needless to say, if you like the music that we have recorded for you, then please buy from DSI as we would love to make you another album in the future.

I welcome your comments and questions.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick

Our Testimonials page is now officially open and so we would like to share with you some of the wonderful comments expressed about the Orchestra.

As we are fortunate to provide music for at least five of the world’s most prestigious dance events, we have attracted comments from some of the world’s leading figures in Ballroom and Latin Dance.

The Testimonials page includes quotes from: Marcus Hilton MBE, Donnie Burns MBE, Peter Maxwell, Richard Gleave, Karen Hardy, Graham Oswick, Kenny Welsh and Bryan Allen amongst others.

There are still more comments to be added, so please bookmark us now and visit again soon.

Best wishes,

Ashley Frohlick