This dropped into my inbox yesterday and it looks quite interesting. Barclays Live has launched a dance competition and will be stopping off at various regions around the UK. On September 4th they’re coming to Piccadilly Gardens.

The competition is open to anyone who thinks they’ve got what it takes to become Britain’s next dancing superstar, be it as an individual, duo, group or troupe. Here’s what you have to do. Email Barclays Live at info@barclayslive.co.uk with either a link to a YouTube video of you / your dance troupe or send the video as an attachment. You should also include your name, phone number and postcode. The closing date for entries is August 29th.

The top ten entries will be put through to live auditions, which will take place on Saturday 4 September on a stage at Piccadilly Gardens. These contestants will perform in front of a celebrity panel of judges including Strictly Come Dancing’s Brendan Cole, as well as an audience made up of Manchester’s great and good.

The top five acts will then be subject to a public vote to decide the winner via the Barclays Live website.

To give you an idea of what happens on the day, take a look at this video shot on July 31st in Leicester Square.

The winner will come away with £1,000, plus VIP tickets to see Brendan Cole in action.

The Barclays Live auditions will form part of a day-long programme of events, including a dance master class by Brendan Cole and performances by a variety of fantastic dance acts.

Note: Children under the age or 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

For further details visit the Barclays Live website at www.barclayslive.co.uk.

It is 2 o’clock in the morning.  I wake with a start and sit bolt upright. I realise that I haven’t got back to a client about a project.  For months.  The project has been left, discarded, forgotten.  My husband shifts besides me and turns over.  I start back tracking and going over the project in my mind but it’s slipping away.  I can’t recall the details.  I’m perched on the edge of the bed, head in heads trying to remember but the more I think about it the more it slips away.  Now I cannot remember the client.  The client does not exist.

I have these dreams regularly.  Sometimes nightly.  The strange thing is that I never immediately recognise them as dreams.  The mind is a strange place and not always kind.  Afterwards I’m restless and sleep fitfully, going through schedules and writing emails in my head.  When the alarm clock goes off at six I’m exhausted and feel I like I’ve worked through the night.

My husband hardly ever dreams.  Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that he doesn’t recall his dreams.  I know that I dream every night because I remember them.  Sometimes it’s just a left over feeling and other times the dream is still there when I wake up.  In the room with me.  In the dark.  These dreams are usually accompanied with screams and a frenzied attempt at an exit.

The dreams occur so often that you’d think I’d become aware much quicker.  But I don’t.  Every time I’m convinced that I’ve forgotten something or that someone or something is in the room.  I call them smart dreams.  They evolve, finding new ways to deceive and trick the mind.

And then sometimes there’s my dad.  He’s in a crowd and he’s laughing.  I can see him clearly – his eyes, his hair, his features.  I can hear his voice, his Salford vowels.  I can see him much clearer than I remember him during the day.  But then my mind starts turning and questions come to the surface that I never get chance to ask. I wake up. I don’t feel sad. I feel happy because he’s happy. For these dreams I’m grateful.