Tracks from the 20s

With BC41 fully out of the way, I've started mixing the tracks for my classes once again. I'm due a personal review on BC41, which I'll probably get down to writing soon.

Anyway for my recent classes, I've been mixing tracks from the 20s releases, namely the D&R tracks from BC21-30. It's been fantastic, the reception has been wonderful, and the decibels have been rising. I realise many of us (including myself) do love the tracks from these releases, and have been having a blast in class.

These releases were the ones that I'm most familiar with, because this was the period when I started falling in love with BC, and started to notice the tracks. I was trained in BC27, started TT during BC29 days, and my first proper new release was BC30.

Back then because there weren't that many releases and tracks to choose from, I mainly rotated from BC21-30 post-launch, with the occasional odd tracks from BC13-20. No offence to Nathaniel and Gabby, but I just prefer Dan & Rach's tracks.

Even now, the memories of yesteryear still linger strongly and I can still remember how I felt when the releases were launched.

I didn't remember much about BC21/22 - maybe I didn't really enjoy the releases then. BC23 was the first release where I really loved the music and moves. The mickey mouse tone in 'Stuck On You' where everyone would automatically shout on the RH kicks. Then there was 'Field of Dreams', which was love at first hear, and how the crowd loved doing the 'Energy' part. Even 18 releases later, Field of Dreams is one of my all time favourites. 'Hardcore Paradise' blew me away then. I couldn't get enough of it, though now it's slightly more subdued cos I found other MT tracks I like more. What about that shoulder blaster in 'Retro Rush'. Solid. 'Breathe Easy' had that lovely kata.

BC24, after such a fantastic BC23 release, was a letdown. From the get-go, I think participants were disappointed. The warm up deviated from the usual shout on RH kicks, cos the choreo was a shuffle forward then RH. A bit of momentum lost there. I remember how our gang simply refused to do the circular uppercuts in 'I Feel Alive'. 'She Bangs' was probably a universal disaster across classes as most people didn't want to get down on the floor. The other tracks didn't really capture our imagination.

BC25 was a release I remember for special reason. I bumped into this instructor (shan't reveal who) who was practising the new release, and I basically got a full preview of the entire class prior to launch. The release was a breath of fresh air. Catchy songs such as 'Angels' and 'Luv U More' wowed the crowd, and it was hilarious when people couldn't get the step pattern in the latter track. 'Jigga Jigga' - what adjective can I allocate this track? At that point of time, I could have sworn it was the best track ever. 'Power of Love' the speedball and stomp track is from this release too. Everyone loved it. The T7/8 combo of 'Electro Violence' and 'Crescendoes of Ecstasy' wasn't the instructors' favourites, but they have remained one of my favourites even now.

BC26 - a semi-letdown? The upper warm up was dreadfully boring, 'Scream' was a power track that virtually all instructors (including myself) have binned. The redeeming factor for this release was T7/8 - 'Rhythm & Police' and 'Night Life'. The dark music got the mood going and I can hardly remember the number of times I got high on these 2 tracks. There were hits and misses for this release.

BC27 - I trained in this release, and did it so many times in training that I got a little bored of the release when it was finally launched. There were a few fantastic tracks in this release. During launch, I felt that the warm up was the best ever. The 'Bom Bom Suenan' sounds really got me going. 'Genie in a Bottle' was slightly subdued but there were refreshing tracks such as 'Tribal Dance', 'Bad & Sexy'. 'So What' was the feature of the release for me with its jump knees. 'Neckbreaker' busted my lungs. How about the cooldown - what a lovely way to finish the class.

BC28 - This was the first ever release that I liked T1 to T8. 'The Final Countdown', 'Come With Me' came from this release. Who could possibly hate 'Hymn'? Such an energetic number. During launch, I knew the classes hated 'Hung Up'. It was something different and many people just walked out. I was disappointed. Then there was 'Fight' - the first ever Rock based Muay Thai track, which I love to bits even now. Then 'Reach Out'? I loved the buildup for this track. The best thing from this release? The cooldown - Because Of You.

BC29 - This was a very good release that featured the double knife strike in the warm up as well as T6 - 'Vogue'. I knew several instructors hated 'Action' but not me. I loved 'Fly Away' and 'Heartbeatz'. There was one track which I binned - 'Blade'. Loved the cooldown 'Broken'.

BC30 - This was the first release that I had to learn as an instructor and I can't really comment from the participant point of view. All I can say is that I'm ashamed that I hated this release from the start (just after receiving the DVD) because after I practised and launched the full class, I loved this release to bits. Fav tracks include the lower warm up 'Somebody Told Me', 'Shooting Star', 'Rock Me Amadeus' - love love love this ESK track! Those were the days when I was still starting out new, and I was terribly conscious of the fact that I'll not be a good role model if I can't execute the ESK well, so I definitely spent some time practising this move. I kept doing ESK tracks in my class and had to endure a series of walkouts for this track. Guess 11 releases down the road, this has paid dividends.

Well, I've written a bit more than what I had expected to, all this just came to mind and I wrote it all out. Sometimes I really miss being just a participant, where I don't know much and can just enjoy my class as it is. But it's like once you've swam to the other shore, you can't really swim back.