The outline plan for the weekend is:

Friday night: Welcome event at York Brewery until 11pm – the brewery is not big enough to hold everyone expected at the same time, but there are good dancing and real ale pubs nearby to spread the entertainment around.  

There will be a late bar with space for music and dancing at the Backpackers Hostel (see booking information), and we also hope to have a late licence at one of the pubs nearby.

Saturday: Warm up dances followed by competition in York's selection of pubs with good beer and floors that could have been made with rapper dancing in mind.

York is fairly compact so it should be possible to arrange the competition route so that it will only take about ten minutes to get between pubs.  

We will send out more details on the competition later, but at present we are planning for each team to dance in four pubs. The evening display dances won't count to the score for the main competition, although there will be a separate award for best/most entertaining display dance. There will also be an award for most unusual venue danced in during the day.

The evening event for displays and prize giving will take place at the National Railway Museum in a space right next to the trains; there will be a real ale bar and food will be available. 

Sunday: Workshop at the York Brewery. 

The accommodation and the main venues are within a few minutes of each other in the city centre, close to pubs and eateries, near the station with car parking for the weekend arranged at the Railway Museum .

As we warned in our previous note about DERT, it hasn't been possible to find a venue for indoor camping in York so the cost of accommodation will inevitably be a little more than in the past, but we hope it will be worth it and that the convenience of the accommodation will make for an enjoyable weekend and a good competition.

The booking information is below – spaces in the hostels will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  If you have any questions please drop us a line.

Black Swan Rapper
blackswanrapper@hotmail.com

DERT06 will be in York, weekend of 17th, 18th, 19th March 2006.

We need your bookings and payments for DERT as soon as possible so that we can confirm accommodation and venues.

There are two accommodation options, both close together in the centre of York and close to some of York’s best real ale pubs.  We will allocate first choice accommodation on a first come, first served basis to those making bookings with payment, and then will allocate to the other hostel as appropriate.  We will allocate people to dormitories depending on numbers and space available.  If you have any particular requests (eg male only, female only, youth dorm, same dorm as the rest of your team… different dorm to the rest of your team…) please put a note in the requests box on the form – no guarantees whatsoever that we’ll able to do what you ask, but we’ll try.

Cost of accommodation is £35 for two nights (Friday and Saturday) including breakfast.
Accommodation for one night only will be in the York Youth Hotel and will be £22.75.     
Note: Accommodation can only be booked when accompanied by an £8.00 participation fee.

The accommodation we have arranged is as follows:

1. YORK BACKPACKERS HOSTEL
Sleeping will be in large dormitories.  There is a late bar, for residents only, there won’t be a curfew and we expect things here to be lively.  A continental breakfast is included in the price.

2. YORK YOUTH HOTEL (Note: this is for all ages - not just for youths) 
Smaller dormitories than the Backpackers.  A cooked breakfast is included in the price.

There is an entry fee for participation in DERT of £25.00 for each team plus a fee for each individual for participation in DERT and/or attending the display dances and prize giving of £8.00 per person.