Last night was my first visit to DJ Ashley's new rock & roll dance at "Dance Studio 101" in Bentleigh East. Melbourne has been under a pre-winter spell lately, and it was cold and drizzly when I arrived but not expecting too many to turn up to dance. I was quite wrong as the place was already filling up quickly with many patrons arriving, and the venue's operator, Paul Zaidman (champion Latin/Salsa dancer and also appearing on the popular TV "Dancing with the Stars" series) finishing his free R&R dance class. There was plenty of parking available in the oval car park located just across the road opposite the venue.

This pre-ANZAC dance featured two bands tonight - the very popular Black Hill Ramblers and the "keepin' you dancin' all night long" Rockin' Daddys which is really Cliff's Atomic Hi Tones rockin' cousin which offers a slightly diluted high octane but very danceable rockin' tunes. With the venue setting up two separate band stages, this means the two bands provided non stop music all night long with with no break between sets. For the patrons, it was a rockin' seamless flow of country rock tunes and 1950's rock & roll. Well done to Shane's Black Hill Ramblers and Cliffy's Rockin' Daddys.

We had a fairly mixed crowd last night, and I think this was due partly to the venue's origin and also the music genres on offer. There were many rock & roll dancers, some country line dancers & Dance 101 students as well as a small number of young rockabilly fillies who came dressed 1950's style. The dancing on the night therefore reflected this cross "multiculture-dance" mix of people which is interesting. In the past, I have seen demonstrations of other dance styles in certain dance gigs. Maybe one day, DJ Ashley can encourage Paul Zaidman & his students to put on a Latin/Salsa/ Ballroom style dance demo for us rock & rollers. I think many of us are not so highly parochial even to the extent of denying us the chance to see & enjoy the skills and excellence in other dance styles.

DJ Ashley's new dance is a valuable addition to the mix and range of venues to keep rock & roll music and dancing alive in Melbourne. It has good parking, large dance floor, small bar facility plus also a BYO everything venue. The sound acoustics isn't too bad either. It was a good dance and I had a great time last night.