Rock Bottoms Jive & Blues is fast approaching, so here is some advance information to help you prepare and to help you know what to expect when you arrive.

We still have a few spaces available, although booking restrictions do apply. If you know anyone who would like to join the party, please ask them to contact Hev at hev@rockbottoms.com. Please note - we can take female only bookings.

Once you’ve read the information below, feel free to ask any questions you may have. Contact Hev at hev@rockbottoms.com, or ask any member of the Rock Bottoms team during the weekend.

For our regular visitors who don’t need to hear everything again, we’ve started with the details specific to this event. Further down you’ll find the more general information that applies to Rock Bottoms as a whole.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all soon!

This event is all within the Derwent Hotel (part of the TLH Leisure Resort), Belgrave Road, Torquay TQ2 5HS. The entrance to the Derwent car park is on Falkland Road (car park postcode TQ2 5JJ). If it is full, please look for space in the other TLH car parks - Victoria, Carlton and Toorak.

Derwent telephone 01803 400100

A detailed programme of events, including all workshop timings, is coming soon. It will be put on our Rock Bottoms Facebook group and on this website, and will also be emailed to all participants. Sorry, we no longer provide printed copies.

If you don’t read anything else here, please don’t forget to bring:

Fancy dress - your fabulous Mr Men & Little Miss outfit for Saturday night
Pyjamas - for Sunday breakfast and the legendary Pyjama Class
Eye mask and ear plugs - there may be some noise from the street at night, or possibly from your roomie
Swimming cozzie - so you can make the most of the fantastic hotel pool
Towels - hotel towels are provided for your room, but please bring your own for the swimming pool and for massage
Your diary - so you can check out which future Rock Bottoms events you can join us for

We have a fabulous line-up of teachers for you this weekend:

Matt & Nele - Jive
Nigel Anderson - Blues
Yohann - Tango (beginner / intermediate)
Lee & Dawn - Jive, Latin & Pyjama
Andrew & Kim - Aerials
Andy - Lindy Hop

Jive - Jon Brett & Nick Stephens
Blues - Myra Hales & John Dunlop

You are welcome to join any workshop you fancy, but please don’t overdo it - you’ll need plenty of energy for the lovely long evenings of dancing. Where a workshop has a level indicator, please do take notice of it so that everyone gets the most out of the class.

As always, Saturday night is our fancy-dress theme night, and this time we’d love you to embrace the wonderful world of “Mr Men & Little Miss”. It’s an easy theme to get creative with, as there are so many characters to choose from. And if none of them takes your fancy, why not make up your own? Think bright colours, simple outfits and, of course, hats - many of the characters have wonderfully distinctive headwear.

If you’d like to perform a Mr Men / Little Miss-inspired dance during the fancy-dress judging, please let us know - there may even be a few spot prizes up for grabs.

And do stick around on Sunday evening, when the teachers may well be showing off their own Mr Men & Little Miss talents!

Arrival day (Friday) timings are as follows:

12 noon - Car park becomes available, but there is no room check-in just yet. Please go straight to reception to register your car
12 noon - Hotel Bistro opens - a very sociable place for a coffee, a beer or some lunch
3:00pm - Hotel check-in opens. You’ll be given your room key and your event wristband, which you should put on right away
3:00pm - Rock Bottoms desk opens, where you can ask questions, book a massage, buy merchandise and book onto future events
4:30pm - 6:00pm - Welcome Dance, a relaxed social dance to get the weekend underway, with complimentary tea and biccies from Ben’s Barrow
6:45pm - Evening meal in the restaurant (last sitting on arrival day is 8:30pm)
8:30pm - Jive begins in the main venue
9:00pm - Bottom Warmer class
9:00pm - Secret Disco opens for Blues
10:00pm - Teacher introductions

There are no daytime workshops on Friday. You are welcome to use the pool and other hotel facilities even before your room is ready - just ask at reception for details.

Massage is available on Saturday only this time. Bookings open at the Rock Bottoms desk from 3:00pm on Friday, so get your booking in early - there are no massages on Sunday.

All massage is £40 per hour. Please pay cash when you make your booking, and if possible bring your own towel.

WOWDANCER will be with us throughout Saturday, selling a wide selection of popular dance shoes. So if you’ve been thinking about treating yourself to a snazzy new pair, this is your chance to try them on, test them out and take them home.

We’re a group of around 300 dancers spending a lot of time in close proximity, and we’d really like everyone to have a happy and healthy weekend. So if you feel a major lurgy coming on just before arrival day, please use your common sense and stay at home. We know that’s disappointing, but nobody wants to share their germs around the dance floor.

If you do have to cancel at the last minute because you’re unwell, we can provide an invoice to help you make a claim on your travel insurance. A decent annual travel insurance policy can be found for around £30, so it’s worth considering.

You are welcome to check into your room anytime from 3:00pm onwards. You get your room key from hotel reception, where they should also give you your Rock Bottoms wristband. Please put it on straight away - before you put it somewhere safe and immediately forget where that safe place was!

Please note - no printed schedules will be given out. We recommend taking a screenshot of the programme on your phone from this website or the Facebook group so you have it handy throughout the weekend.

The Rock Bottoms desk is open from 3:00pm, so come and see us if you have any questions or need any help. We’ll also have some Rock Bottoms merchandise to help you look cool, plus water bottles and fans to help you keep cool.

The Jive starts in the Starlight Lounge at 8:30pm each evening. The Secret Disco opens at 9:00pm, with Blues continuing into the early hours.

Please check the DJ schedules displayed on the doors of each venue. These show the DJ set times as well as any additional evening entertainment.

The Bottom Warmer is a short, fun class on Friday at 9:00pm. The aim is simple: get everyone onto the dance floor, mix with some new people and get dancing. No pressure, no serious stuff - just a great way to kick-start the weekend.

One of the great Rock Bottoms traditions is the Sunday morning Pyjama Class - so do bring your pyjamas! This is definitely not a serious dance class. It’s a little bit off the wall and mostly about having a good laugh. You’ll learn a fun routine and, before you know it, we’ll all be dancing around together in our pyjamas.

We’d really encourage as many of you as possible to join in. It’s great fun and makes for some memorable Sunday morning dancing.

The Teacher Cabaret is on Saturday night at 10:00pm. On Sunday evening, at around 9:00pm, there will be some extra performances: the Pyjama Class performance and possibly a teacher “Mr Men Little Miss” show too.

Bring along any good-condition, unwanted dancewear you’d like to sell - we welcome both ladies’ and men’s dancewear. Please make sure every item is clearly labelled with its size, price and your phone number, and bring hangers for your clothes.

Alex Hardie will be taking photographs throughout the weekend. A good selection will be uploaded to the Rock Bottoms website shortly after the event. If you want to see the complete collection, head over to Alex Hardie Photography.

Please do not film during workshops. However, at the end of a workshop, if you ask nicely, our teachers may do a short demonstration of the workshop material for you to record - so have those phones ready.

You are also welcome to film the cabarets for your own personal use. Rock Bottoms will upload the cabaret performances to Facebook where the teachers have given permission.

During the weekend many of you will make a booking for one of our future events. We love this, partly because it means we know you’re having a really good time. But why wait until the weekend? You can beat the rush and get your next Rock Bottoms adventure booked before the event.

We’ll announce on Facebook when bookings open. If you’re a member of the Rock Bottoms Facebook group, you’ll be among the first to hear.

For help getting to the Derwent Hotel, please check out the hotel page of this website. Or simply plug TQ2 5HS into your Sat Nav.

During our Rock Bottoms weekends the Derwent Hotel car park often fills up, particularly at busy arrival times. You are welcome to use any of the car parks within the TLH complex - Derwent, Carlton, Victoria and Toorak. Whichever you use, you must register your car at hotel reception when you arrive.

To ease the strain on the car parks, why not consider the train? Torquay train station is less than a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Or, if you have a spare seat in your car (or need a lift), put a car-sharing message on the Rock Bottoms Facebook group.

Dinner on Friday starts being served at 6:45pm, and you can still be served if you arrive any time up to 8:30pm. If you expect to arrive after 8:30pm, please contact hotel reception in advance so they can arrange a cold platter to be kept for you (01803 400100).

Please note - on Saturday and Sunday the last dinner serving is 8:00pm.

Your Rock Bottoms package includes breakfast and evening meals for all three nights of your stay. All meals are served in the hotel dining room - sit with your friends, or take the opportunity to meet some new people.

Meet & Eat - look out for our “Meet & Eat” tables, one or two large group tables identified by a balloon or two. Our door staff can point you in the right direction. If you’re a group who would like to sit together, feel free to put your own reserved sign on the table of your choice.

If you’re vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or have any other dietary requirements and you haven’t already told us, please let us know as soon as possible. On Friday evening only, the chef will be waiting by the restaurant entrance to speak to anyone with unusual or specific requirements. Please don’t wait until you’re sitting at your table to ask - the chef has a lot of meals to organise!

The on-site Bistro is a great place for lunch, usually serving between around 12 noon and 3:00pm. It has a lovely sociable layout and serves good food, so it’s a popular spot. If you fancy heading out instead, it’s about a five minute walk to the seafront or around 20 minutes into town.

The hotel has a lovely indoor swimming pool, so don’t forget your swimming cozzie. There’s also the hotel’s own Aztec Spa, offering all sorts of treatments if you fancy a little pampering, and a hairdressing salon too. Hev visits every time she’s at Rock Bottoms and can highly recommend the team - especially if you’re looking for a fabulous ‘up’ do for Saturday night!

For enquiries about hotel facilities, or to make an advance booking, contact the hotel directly on 01803 400100.

Our workshop and evening venues are private to Rock Bottoms, so security shouldn’t be a major concern. The easiest way for us to identify our guests is by your Rock Bottoms wristband, so please wear it throughout the weekend.

You’re welcome to bring your own soft drinks into the workshops during the day. In the evenings, please use the hotel bars. Water fountains are available in all venues, day and night, so please make use of them and keep yourselves hydrated.

During dinner, wine waiters will circulate to take your orders. We’ve tried the house red and white ourselves - purely for research purposes, obviously - and can report that both are excellent!

You must check out of your room by 11:00am on Monday. If you’re planning a very early departure, please let reception know when you check in so they can make the necessary arrangements.

Do keep an eye on the Rock Bottoms Facebook group for any last-minute updates or important announcements. For more information about Rock Bottoms events, and to make future bookings, please visit this website.

Any questions? Please contact Hev at hev@rockbottoms.com