Ballroom Dance Lessons

[critterchick]

I wish! I think they want to stay out of our way so we don't hurt them! One of the funniest sights at my brother's wedding was the 2 couples who were out on the dance floor when the DJ played "In the Mood." One was a couple who have competed in and won some western (e.g. Las Vegas) competitions. They took up about 10 sf of the floor, doing precise, graceful movements. DH and I took up the entire rest of the floor. He never knocked my hat off, though, so we must have been doing something right!

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

You guys are starting to lose me - the beginner. All I know is that we can't get worse and that we have a lot of fun. This is my husband's busiest time of the year for work so it is very difficult for us to find time for practice. I'm lucky he can make it to our class on Mondays. Now on top of everything else he just bought (and we closed) on a house that he plans to rehab - no furniture - maybe a good place to practice - think? ooops! - have to bring the boombox.

 

Kaye

[4kidslefthome/goincruisin]

I am glad to see that we are not the only ones who thought that they should take dancing lessons before going on a cruise. We started our lessons at the beginning of May - my DH's idea, and we love it! So far we have learned the Waltz, Rumba, Swing, and the Meringue (not sure of the spelling). The M is certainly our favorite. We are looking forward to dancing on our cruise to Hawaii in Sept on the Serenade. :)

[tropicalsunset]

4kidslefthome: welcome to the group...

 

Kaye: don't give up..!! we went through a tough time last fall with my MIL ill with cancer and the holidays .... we didnt' get much time to practice but we kept our appointments for dance classes and it allowed us to get a break and some fun in between all the stress.

 

I love to watch "Gold" group at our studio but as I'm focused on my own work we don't get to do that much.. however, we have alot of fun with our dancing and joke around.. one time my dance instructor asked if we ever argue when we dance....NOT!!!...... we help each other and have quite a bit of patience with each other... we've both been in that spot where you JUST DON"T GET IT.... and then after awhile... it works!! :rolleyes: :D

 

Got Happy feet....I'll have to see what's going on tonite!! :D

 

Lorraine

[curtis1313]

I have enjoyed reading this thread the last few weeks, so I thought I'd join in and introduce myself. I am one half of a forty-something couple from New Hampshire. We have been taking lessons for about two years now. We've been taking private lessons the whole time, and based on some of the posts in this thread, we are very fortunate, cause our cost seems much lower. If we pre-pay 20 lessons, the price is about $29 for a one hour class. We had done a few group classes in the past, but really like the individualize curriculum and attention when it's private. Also, I don't really like dancing with anyone besides my wife (I know that's awful and goes against the whole social aspect of Ballroom dancing and I know it makes you a better dancer - but I can't help it - Please don't judge me to harshly !). We have a great teacher as well. She is always in a good mood and very gentle in her approach. She calls my mistakes "personalized embellishments" ! And she always laughs when my wife and I have our little quibbles in the middle of learnng something new. We try to go out dancing at a minimum once per month but moreso when we can. We belong to an Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association that has dances at school gyms, churches and other assoted locals once per month. There is also a Ballroom just about an hours drive from us that has dancing with a live band every Saturday night.

 

Wow, I'm going on and on. One more topic: Dancing with the Stars. Honestly, I'm not liking it all that much. I'd rather watch the "real" Championship dancing on PBS. This show has too much hype - the overly chatty hosts, the style of the panel of judges that was copied directly from American Idol. However, I do enjoy watching some of the dancing and trying (and hardly ever succeeding) to recognize some of the figures. Anyways, the rating are high, so it may survive awhile.

 

Well, thanks for indulging my long-winded introduction.

 

Take care,

Curtis1313

(aka Paul)

[Kaye from Chicagoland]

Lorraine -

 

Thanks, I needed a little pick-up! We'll keep up our lessons, but I was starting to not understand the terminology. We just want to have fun and try to coordinate ourselves together.

 

Kaye

[tropicalsunset]

Curtis: so glad you joined the group.... wondering what area of NH you are in... My DHs daughter lives in Manchester sometimes we get up there for a weekend -- maybe we could check out some of the dancing while we are up there??!!

Those classes sound awesome!! :D Thats how we feel ... we like to dance with each other... I get frustrated enough trying to learn with Dave.( MY Hubbie)!!

I love that "personalized embellishments"!!! sounds like you have a great instructor... we are getting to like our new instructor....tho' the change has been tough...

 

Kaye: that is what we are really working on PARTNERING!!

I geuss I gotta really focus on FOLLOWING!! :eek: :D

 

Have a great weekend and keep on dancing!!

 

Lorraine

[Ollie_WA]

Hi,

 

Last May (2004) my hubby and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary on the Explorer of the Seas. For my birthday in March 2004 my hubby gave me/ us dance lessons...we loved it so much, and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise, dancing the nights away.

We will be on the Navigator of the Seas in 6 weeks, and I just can't wait to dance again. We really wanted to take more refresher lessons but just haven't had the time. Our younger daughter is graduating from High School next Friday, and we are very involved in the Grad Night party preparation. I am going to look into possibly taking a couple weeks of lessons...do you think that is possible???

You all seem like such a fun group of dancers...so glad I stopped in to read this post!!

Ollie:)

[curtis1313]

Lorraine - we live right next to Manchester. In fact, that's where our dance studio is. The Ballroom I mentioned would be about 40 minutes away. You can check it out at http://www.rockinghamballroom.com. They usually have live bands every Saturday night. The studio has informal dances on most weekends. You can check that out at http://www.queencityballroomnh.com

 

I hope on your next trip you can enjoy some of these opportunities.

[GCurry]

It's the ole bacon and eggs thing. The chicken is involved, but the pigs committed. We have two different folks here, and they are both great, those who dance as a hobby on a regular basis, and those who want a couple of lessons and will look good on a cruise.

Thanks for joining Curtis1313, another man's opinion is alway welcome.

I find, you really have to commit to dance, onshore and offshore, it's like any other hobby, it's a big part of your life, and, it's a partnership, if DH is only doing it because you want it, it wont work!!! There is a huge amount of acitivities on a ship that don't envolve dance. Don't waste your money, if it is not a mutual thing.

This message is brought to you by your Sunday morning cynic!

That said, we met down on Galveston Island last night with other dance people and shared an evening of BBQ, conversation, and fun; it's the people.

[abbydancer2003]

I don't think we've ever intimidated anyone with our dancing. :) (I think we're beyond the bozo phase though).

 

And in my opinion, for whatever that's worth, Foxtrot is one of the most difficult dances. It's not the patterns as much as the timing. We tend to rush it. Our teacher once had to take a restroom break, and before he left put on the slowest piece of music he could find and said "You better still be on time when I get back". We weren't. Also complicated by the fact that foxtrot has 2 rythems (slow-slow-quick-quick and slow-quick-quick).

 

abby

 

PS. If you really want to see good passenger ballroom dancing, go on the Oct 8 Sapphire Princess Mexican Rivera cruise. 52 of us, including about 10 professional teachers. I can almost guarantee several couples on the dance floor every time.

[tropicalsunset]

Curtis: thanks for the info... I will keep that in mind next time we go up there...probably later this summer!!!

 

Abby: We started dance 2 years ago and wanted to focus on the swing and latin dances... didn't think we'd ever want to really learn the foxtrot or Waltz.... now I love the foxtrot...we do struggle with it but it is soo pretty -- I think the slowness of the dances its hard to keep your balance...gotta work on that too..!!!

 

Ollie: Wow!! you took classes awhile ago and you still remember the steps??!!! I know our studio offers discounts for refresher packages of classes so I don't see a problem in that. Have fun on Navigator ... do let us know how it all goes!!

 

ABby: The Sapphire cruise sounds awesome!! keep us posted if you hear of anything in the future... since I am between jobs right now ...we had to cancel our Panama Canal cruise we had planned for this October... and we are

now into saving money by doing group classes but hopefully soon I will find a FT job somewhere and will be back in the "swing" of things!! :)

 

Lorraine

[Ms Belvedere]

Has anyone heard of this movie that is a quasi documentary about kids in ny taking ballroom and then competing? I saw a clip on it and they said it was real popular at the film festivals. Title was Ballroom ___________or _________ Ballroom. Can't find it anywhere.....looks interesting. If anyone knows what I am talking about please let me know. Thanks:D

I've been enjoying this thread after somone on the RCL boards refered to it.

 

The movie is Mad Hot Ballroom and hasn't been widely released yet. Here is a link to it, I think it looks like a great movie to see and am looking forward to it even if I have to wait for it to come to Blockbuster.

MAD HOT BALLROOM

[dms_cruisers04]

What better way to enter a thread then talking about a movie? :) Way to go Ms.B.

Mad Hot Ballroom does look fun. Have to keep an eye out locally.

 

Saw the posting on the RCL board by dreamscometrue2 also. Nice to hear that so many of you are dancing socially. It's been fun hearing all of your observations and experiences so far. Can't wait to hear how the lessons go this week. And of course everybody's take on Dancing with the Stars. DW and I are favoring John O'Hurley.

[Ms Belvedere]

What better way to enter a thread then talking about a movie? :) Way to go Ms.B.

Mad Hot Ballroom does look fun. Have to keep an eye out locally.

 

Saw the posting on the RCL board by dreamscometrue2 also. Nice to hear that so many of you are dancing socially. It's been fun hearing all of your observations and experiences so far. Can't wait to hear how the lessons go this week. And of course everybody's take on Dancing with the Stars. DW and I are favoring John O'Hurley.

 

Thanks Mike, it's great that so many are taking lessons and/or have been dancing for years! I'd love to take classes with GCurry's "Lance of Hollywood", he sounds like a character and I bet they walk out of class feeling like they've really been taught by a pro.

 

I'm wondering what chance we'll have of dancing on the Mariner of the Seas. We aren't past guests, yet, so won't be invited to the past guest party. If anyone has any past experience I'd love to hear it, otherwise we'll go looking for places when we cruise in October. :)

 

Ms B

[ande12]

My wife and I are in our mid 40's and started dancing 5 years ago after watching people dance on our first Princess cruise. Now we sometimes are the only ones out there dancing and have the floor all to ourselves.Great opportunities to dance on Princess,we think they have more and larger floors then most cruise lines.Dancing on stage at the repeaters party and again at the Captain's welcome aboard are fun and the ships orchestra loves it as they offen times have now out there.Sometimes we go to the lessons on board even though they are basic (our instructor at home says it is rude not to take the lesson).We like to watch others dance and its a great way to meet others.

[texancruzer]

Ms Belvedere: Thank you....that is the movie preview I saw.... I have been asking everyone and finally = yeah !!! Don't know about a "past guest" party but be sure and register for your Meet & Mingle get together. Anyone can register who is cruising on a rccl ship and a party will be given by rccl if at least 25 people register. I have been "talking" with some of my cruise mates for our cruise in Nov. (So. Caribbean on Serenade) for some time now.

 

Our friends called last night and they are coming in a day early - TODAY AT 3 so I better go finish up the gazillion things on my list before they get here. Be out of pocket for a while ....but I will be back !!!!!!:D

[Ms Belvedere]

Ms Belvedere: Thank you....that is the movie preview I saw.... I have been asking everyone and finally = yeah !!! Don't know about a "past guest" party but be sure and register for your Meet & Mingle get together. Anyone can register who is cruising on a rccl ship and a party will be given by rccl if at least 25 people register. I have been "talking" with some of my cruise mates for our cruise in Nov. (So. Caribbean on Serenade) for some time now.

 

Our friends called last night and they are coming in a day early - TODAY AT 3 so I better go finish up the gazillion things on my list before they get here. Be out of pocket for a while ....but I will be back !!!!!!:D

I will register for the Meet & Mingle, there are two group cruises on our sailing and I didn't know if the M&M was just for groups. It'll be fun to meet some more people from CC. :D

 

As far as dancing goes, we've been in ports where bands are playing and have stopped to dance. The bands always love it and and sometimes other cruisers will join us!

[terri23]

According to the news:

 

More television viewers were interested in B-list stars learning how to dance and Diane Sawyer interviewing Brad Pitt than either of the first two games of the NBA Finals. The summer series "Dancing With the Stars" topped the Nielsen Media Research ratings in its second week on the air, with 15.1 million people tuning in.

[tropicalsunset]

ande12: we haven't done Princess yet... that was one of my complaints with our Grandeur cruise a couple weeks ago ... dance floors were always crowded... and I want to try Crystal too...

 

We had dance class last night... one more class and its time to renew... !! geuss we are onboard for another 6 months --

we are going to do a mix of private lessons and group classes.

 

will keep an eye out for that film...

 

so glad to see everyone joining in ... sure do enjoy this thread!! :)

 

Lorraine

[GCurry]

MS Belvedere, I fear Lance would not be quite what you expect. Tonight, practicing "Scent of a Woman" in Tango, "Sir, Sir, what the hell are you doing with that hand, waving at the crowd?" "Honey, when you flair, you need to become a hooker, one heel behind the other!" Imagine a very old and very evil Jockey who walks with a cane.

We danced the Grand Princess in Dec. it had some good floors. HAL for ballroom seems the best for the music. But, there's still a lot we need to know about cruising, sorta like dancing.

Everyone, thanks for sharing.

[terri23]

I don't guess last night's DWTS results were a big surprise! Although Evander had bad luck to get quick step and jive in successive weeks. I think the judges tend to be tough (John O even got slammed) - although they found nice things to say about the soap star. And what's with the love affair w/ Rachel Hunter (gotta say, DH agrees!) :confused: I thought they were good but not wonderful. And Joey seems a bit of a lead foot given his boy-band background. Can't wait to see next week's installment!

[dms_cruisers04]

Terri, stop reading my mind. ;) :D In Rachel's defense, I did think their tango was a little nicer than John's this week. Although I'm still picking John as my favorite. But I agree, what's all the raving about with Rachel?

 

So, how has everyone's lessons gone this week?

[GCurry]

You saw how the lesson went in an earlier post "Sir, Sir".

Being a man of maturity, (age not attitude), I liked John O's tango, especially the synchronized leg moves, I would like to learn those myself. They didn't look as polished as the week before, however. I'm sure Evander picked jive as something he could do, and he did move his feet better than he ever has, just not enough.

I had some misgivings about Tom (America's Funniest) at the start, but I think he is doing a fair job.

I do wish those judges would come to Texas, they'd never make it out of the parking lot!

[tropicalsunset]

Funny, one of my instructors told me I should extend my hand like a gay guy!!-- tho' he assured me that he is not gay... whattup with that...

 

I didn't like the music that Rachel and her partner picked..

and I missed Evanders dance altogether... geuss I'll see the repeat next week!!

 

Geuss I'm gonna stick with Dancing Under the Stars!!! :D :D