Let's dance

[rabbitneedles]

It's only 11 weeks now until our 1st Regent cruise and we have decided to take Ballroom dancing lessons for the next 8 weeks. On previous cruises we have sat on the sideline watching people glide around the floor and decided it's time to learn to dance .My question is with just over 2 months to go what dances should we learn,? Waltz quickstep ,etc or just stick to one .Any suggestions please

Sue :confused:

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Tough question, I'm no expert, I'm kind of at your stage, but if I had to choose, I would pick the rumba to start. It's a very versatile dance step that is suitable for lots of kinds of music. If this one comes easy, then add another one. The foxtrot is the obvious one, although it's pretty boring, and the rumba I think is more interesting. You could choose something fun like salsa or swing. Just my opinion..

Oh, and have a great cruise! Ours is less than 12 weeks away.

[rabbitneedles]

Thanks Wendy,

didn't consider Rumba , will mention it at our 1st lesson

Sue

[UKBayern]

A slow waltz (4-beat, not the Viennese 3-beat) is always good, as it covers most of the romantic tunes played on a cruise ship and is not too hard to learn. Even if you can only dance a square of 12 steps, it already looks terrific. The foxtrot is pretty difficult to learn for a beginner, most dancing schools on the European continent do not teach that until the students are a little more experienced. I would suggest a cha-cha-cha, as you can dance that to most disco/pop songs, and once you know the basics of the cha-cha it is easy to learn rumba and salsa (roughly the same base steps and simple turns).

If you are in a dance course, don't they just teach you a variety of all dances, without you actually having a choice? Most dancing schools I attended and know of do... Have fun, anyway!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh yes, cha-cha is very easy and fun! I had never thought of the foxtrot being difficult, funny, but then what we used to call the foxtrot was simply "slow dancing".

[rabbitneedles]

I'm not sure if we get to choose the dances, As we have left it until the last minute it will be nice just to get round the floor without stepping on toes and of course the exercise is a bonus after indulging in all that food

:D

[ChatKat in Ca.]

There are often dance classes on board. We took a class on one of our cruises and the instructor actually gave up on my husband because he has no rhythem and two left feet. But he tries hard.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I had to do the dance classes alone last time, because of my husband's frozen shoulder. But he's been doing physio and he says he's he's up for dancing this December. So we have to practice our rumba (which we learned on the ship), although his default is the jive. Not sure if they have dance lessons on the 7-day Caribbean trips, but we'll see.

[Dancer Bob]

The OP being English, I presume their studio will focus on International style.

I don't know the size of the dance floors or the quality of the music on board your ship, but with only 8 weeks to go, I would say emphasize latin: rumba, essentially the same steps are used in cha-cha and mambo; and samba, the basic step is easy and fits disco-ish music. Merengue is very useful but there's been a lot of controversy over whether ISTD should include a syllabus, your studio might not do it. True jive is too fast for most dancers, but your studio might do American swing, which is mostly the same steps at a foxtrot tempo.

Foxtrot, there are two kinds, you want American social, also known as rhythm or crush, not International; also fits tango music. The other ballroom dances are probably too difficult for the time you have left.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

True jive is too fast for most dancers...

"True" jive is what was danced in the 50's, not what international ballroom dancers call jive. (Just ranting.)

[JMARINER]

.........My question is with just over 2 months to go what dances should we learn?........


The most likely music that is played is usually:

Swing (East Coast Style)
Cha-Cha
Rumba
Foxtrot (or Box 2 step)
Waltz (not Viennese, think "Waltz across Texas")

Once in while they throw in:

Samba
Polka
Meringue
Salsa

Remember the reason to dance is to have FUN!!!

J

[RachelG]

I love swing dancing, but unfortunately, my husband has 2 left feet (at least, possibly more). He is impossible, to the point that I have been known to dance with the gentlemen hosts.

[JMARINER]

.... I have been known to dance with the gentlemen hosts.

I thought I read somewhere that the dance hosts on Regent are gone for good. Maybe someone else knows.

j

[RachelG]

I thought I read somewhere that the dance hosts on Regent are gone for good. Maybe someone else knows.

j

There were some on our Iceland cruise this spring, though I didn't dance with any of them.

[poss]

The topic title caught my eye, and I was curious so I've read the posts. My husband and I enjoy dancing, but we've remarked that we rarely see anyone dancing on our cruises. So I'm wondering whether it's because we retire to our cabin early. Does most of the dancing occur in the evening? E.g. after the show? (We're usually asleep by show time.) There are often one or two couples dancing in the early evening, and I know it shouldn't matter if there are just a few others on the floor. But we're not great dancers, we just enjoy it a lot (mostly enjoy disco, i.e. the kind of dancing that one doesn't need to "know how to do," the let-it-all-hang-out kind of thing); we'd feel funny with just a few others dancing. The only time that I remember dancing on our Regent cruises (the only cruises we know) is once when there was a Beatles thing of some sort. Now THAT was fun. Loads and loads of people dancing and really letting loose. Very fun!

[ChatKat in Ca.]

There was a Rock and Roll (50's) Dance Party in the Atrium on Voyager during the crossing two years ago that was well danced to. I think the era of music played has a lot to do with participation.

[cruzndiz]

Where is the ballroom dancing held on the ship? I tried to find some on my last cruise where I was assured I would be able to "borrow" a dance partner due to my husband being a wallflower.....but I never saw any ballroom dancing going on anywhere :confused:

[rxlowry]

I would skip the foxtrot as the dance floors are really tiny and go with the rumba and east coast swing. If you learn those two, you can dance to most music. The waltz is great but they don't play that many songs with a 3 beat rhythm. The cha cha is very good to know as you can do that to many top 40 songs.
We had no dance class on our last cruise and the music wasn't great. We did bust out a tango during the Peter Gunn theme (played during Rock and Roll night??) to receive applause from the crowd!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

It depends on the ship and the way they schedule things on your itinerary. Dance classes are not available on all routes, often just longer ones.

Last time on Voyager classes were in the Horizon Lounge, on the small dance floor there. Another time it was in the exercise room. Not sure where it would be on the other ships.

As far as dancing opportunities, the Observation Lounge, after dinner, and sometimes before. You could dance in the tiny dance floor in the Voyager Lounge, although one or two couples would be about it, and the Horizon lounge depending on what is going on in there.

[Dancer Bob]

Just noticed OP was on Queen Victoria.
rabbitneedles- for dance floors, think Hemispheres or (much) smaller not Queens Room. Was Trevor Newby still the band leader? His music is very good, other bands, well "not very good" is being charitable. Trevor does play a lot of quickstep, the people you saw zooming around the floor have been doing this for years, and its difficult on anything smaller than QR. Don't underestimate the physical stamina required.
OK Wendy, rant away, just wanted to make sure OP asked their teachers for the right thing, we agree terminology can be a problem.

[rabbitneedles]

Thanks for the advice , I did realise the dancefloor would be smaller than on qv and qm ,even if we dont do any dancing on Mariner i'm hoping that learning will be enyoyable and a hobby we can continue with after this cruise ready for the next. I expect it takes years of practice to be classed as good.

[rabbitneedles]

just back from our 1st lesson we are learning cha cha and social foxtrot looking forward to next week the hour passed too quickly :o

[catenai]

On our last two Mariner cruises (2008, 2009) we danced every night in the Horizon Lounge before dinner. I think the music started at 6:30 and we would dance until 7:30 and then head to dinner. My husband likes to dance, so that helps. We met other couples who liked to dance and had a great time. Cruzndiz--we were there!
After dinner and the show, we were usually too tired to go back and dance again. A few nights there was dancing in the front of the theater during cocktail time.
There were dance classes and we even took a private lesson from Igor and Natalia, the ballroom professionals, on our 2009 cruise. The dance hosts were fun, too.
If there are songs you especially like for dancing, suggest them to the band. Enjoy and dance away.

[cruzndiz]

On our last two Mariner cruises (2008, 2009) we danced every night in the Horizon Lounge before dinner. I think the music started at 6:30 and we would dance until 7:30 and then head to dinner. My husband likes to dance, so that helps. We met other couples who liked to dance and had a great time. Cruzndiz--we were there!

Well, that solves my mystery!! I was generally busy stuffing my face at that time :p

[Balliett]

we (65-62) started cold with two lessons of salsa. it's fun and versitile. not a lot of latin music on this cruise, but we have another cruise booked, and a son with a lovely latina bride. you should see those kids salsa (on a HAL cruise to Alaska). We danced tonight on the Navigator in the Pacific. If we stumbled, it was the rolling of the ship! Actually, few dance on this voyage.

[Dancer Bob]

Has anyone heard how much dancing rabbltneedles got on their cruise?

[KathyPet]

I would also pick Rhumba and East Coast Swing. In order to do a proper fox trot you need a large dance space with everyone dancing in the same direction which you are not going to get on a cruise ship.