Dancing on the Queen Victoria World Cruise

[theTom&Carol]

On last month's QV San Francisco to Sydney segment, there was sequence dancing during some of the 9 am dance (lesson) sessions, during some of the evening band breaks, and also up in Hemispheres many nights. Maybe 6 or 8 couples were enjoying their sequence dancing.

Don and Olena had sea-days 12:15 pm dance instruction free classes, and then would repeat the same lesson for more practice at 5 pm. The repeated class was great to pick up on what what missed during the earlier session. Classes were Cha-Cha, Quick Step, Tango, Waltz, Rhumba, Fox Trop.

Overall, there were many more opportunities to dance aboard the QV as compared to a year earlier. This came as a welcomed surprise.

[CrasyLynne]

We are joining the QB for the last leg (Cape Town to Southampton). We are American-style social dancers - much less regimented and find we can dance our style to many of the ballroom (we call smooth) and Latin (we call rhythm). We are making sure we an at least move around the floor for quick steps (frankly makes no sense on such a small, crowded floor but they play a lot of them. However, we really enjoy salsa, west coast swing and Argentine tango as well. Any times with such variety?

[tangoll]

Short report on Queens Room music and dancing: Trevor Newby and orchestra very good, lots of capable dancers, including many Japanese; dance hosts of fairly high standard. Looks like a good if not excellent cruise for dancing. Not many arm wavers.

 

Just off QE after 10 days: Trevor Newby orchestra of high standard, but too many quicksteps, waltz beat too slow (like at 28/29 bpm, better if 30/32 bpm), only one VW per evening, but one or two more at CD time, dance hosts all active and 1 - 2 good to excellent dancers. Michel Chartrier, the vocalist, is OK, but hearing the same voice every night, with the same music, gets boring. But one big complaint, which I wrote up on feedback form.

 

Eugene, the male dance professional onboard, came to the QR almost every evening, but he would dance exclusively with just one lady or ladies group (only the Japanese) who either had taken lessons with him, or perhaps hired him for the evening session, be it one hour or more. My and others feeling is that the QR is for social dancing, and that if the male or female professional comes to the QR in the evening, they should spread their dance talents around, and not just be exclusive to those who hire them. The QR is not their private dance studio, and that they should not use the QR to sell their wares. If they are considered as ship staff, then they should not even be dancing in the QR; much as dancers from the onboard dance troupe probably wouldn't be allowed to dance in the QR, if hired by a passenger.

 

Darya, the female professional, danced exclusively with one couple on only one night.

 

The commercial aspect of Eugene and Darya selling their talents in the QR is just too blatant.

 

I'll be on QV in one week's time, and can compare music from these two ships: QE and QV.

Edited March 22, 2016 by tangoll
Added sentence on M Chartrier and QV

[Slow Foxtrot]

Just off QE after 10 days: Trevor Newby orchestra of high standard, but too many quicksteps, waltz beat too slow (like at 28/29 bpm, better if 30/32 bpm).... Michel Chartrier, the vocalist, is OK, but hearing the same voice every night, with the same music, gets boring. But one big complaint, which I wrote up on feedback form.

 

Eugene, the male dance professional onboard, came to the QR almost every evening, but he would dance exclusively with just one lady or ladies group (only the Japanese) who either had taken lessons with him, or perhaps hired him for the evening session, be it one hour or more. My and others feeling is that the QR is for social dancing, and that if the male or female professional comes to the QR in the evening, they should spread their dance talents around, and not just be exclusive to those who hire them. The QR is not their private dance studio, and that they should not use the QR to sell their wares. If they are considered as ship staff, then they should not even be dancing in the QR; much as dancers from the onboard dance troupe probably wouldn't be allowed to dance in the QR, if hired by a passenger.

 

Darya, the female professional, danced exclusively with one couple on only one night.

 

The commercial aspect of Eugene and Darya selling their talents in the QR is just too blatant..........

 

I'm sure many dancers will agree with you in respect of the professional dance couple using the Queens Room public sessions to dance just with certain selected passengers. As you infer, if they attend the Queens Room most nights they should socialise and dance with all dancers. Not only that, they should use the band-breaks to announce and play proper dance music on CDs. This is what used to happen on P & O cruises. This gives a much more interesting aspect to the dancing, knowing someone is actually in charge.

 

Too many quicksteps? Most of the Brit dancers love the quickstep and can never get enough. However, an uncrowded floor is essential to do the quickstep justice.

As regards the tempo for the Waltz; it seems that most of the ballroom dance organisations give the correct tempo as 28 - 30 b.p.m and, looking at my extensive selection of dance CDs, most waltzes in international style are played at 29 b.p.m. A tempo of 32 would certainly be too fast.

If you feel that 29 b.p.m. is too slow then just lengthen your stride a little to suit the music. Alternatively you could slip the band-leader a tenner to speed things up :)

[fantasy51]

Oops, I have been guilty of dancing with a professional on QV ;) I had a lesson with Dan and Olena a couple of years ago to learn the Viennese Waltz. On the last night of the cruise, none of the Dance Hosts asked me to dance it. (In fact, one of them teased me by walking towards me, looking at me the whole time, and then asked the woman next to me who had never danced it before.) I was disappointed. Next moment, Dan appeared out of the blue with his hand outstretched to lead me to the dance floor. A lovely action on his part. :)

 

On my last cruise, Dan and Olena walked into the ballroom halfway through a Viennese Waltz and saw me sitting down and once again Dan took me onto the floor to dance with him.

 

I have also been asked to dance once by Volodomyr, after rescuing him twice from an importunate, difficult passenger.

 

The dancers are regarded as ships' officers, and I believe they are allowed to dance in the QR. On most cruises, the show dancers have come in for an hour at least one evening and sometimes dance with passengers.

[tangoll]

Oops, I have been guilty of dancing with a professional on QV ;) I had a lesson with Dan and Olena a couple of years ago to learn the Viennese Waltz. On the last night of the cruise, none of the Dance Hosts asked me to dance it. (In fact, one of them teased me by walking towards me, looking at me the whole time, and then asked the woman next to me who had never danced it before.) I was disappointed. Next moment, Dan appeared out of the blue with his hand outstretched to lead me to the dance floor. A lovely action on his part. :)

 

On my last cruise, Dan and Olena walked into the ballroom halfway through a Viennese Waltz and saw me sitting down and once again Dan took me onto the floor to dance with him.

 

I have also been asked to dance once by Volodomyr, after rescuing him twice from an importunate, difficult passenger.

 

The dancers are regarded as ships' officers, and I believe they are allowed to dance in the QR. On most cruises, the show dancers have come in for an hour at least one evening and sometimes dance with passengers.

 

F51, your comment about Dan is consistent with the point I am making about Eugene. Dan danced one dance with you, but I suppose he also danced with other lady pax. My point about Eugene was that he danced with only the lady (or 3 - 4 ladies) who had hired him for that hour's band session.

 

If the dance couple are considered ship's officers, can you imagine if the Captain at the cocktail party hired himself out and spent time only with a single lady passenger who had hired the Captain for that hour? And incidentally, Eugene and one particularly capable lady dancer flew around the QR dance floor during the ballroom dances, while everybody else pretty much just shuffled round and round. It's as if they were putting on a performance.

 

The whole thing seems out of place in a sedate environment which is the Queen's Room.

[Dancer Bob]

I find myself generally agreeing with foxy, although a 10% variation ought to be good enough for social dancing, especially if it's a currently popular song. And American tempo is fine as long as it's properly announced, "American rumba", or "a request for a waltz at 40 bpm" (there are people who like that tempo).

But there is an implication with Quickstep, if the floor is too crowded, a competent band leader will know it's time for sedate music.

I do sympathize with f51, it's now unusual to find anyone who can do a reverse turn in VW, you usually just waddle in ever-decreasing circles. I was told QM2 over Christmas there was only one dance host who could actually dance, that seems consistent with reports here. Just how you arrange to have the professional and the good host dance with women who appreciate the skills they've learned and not waste their time with refrigerators, I've never come up with a really good answer.

[tangoll]

I have just completed a 4 day HK to Singapore cruise on QV. Just a few observations:

1. The Henry Nijkamp QR orchestra played decent ballroom dance music. There was one afternoon tea dance which was very nice and a good change from the evening dancing.

2. The professional dance couple, Volodymyr and Nadiya, did an excellent job of teaching the cha cha, rumba, and waltz in the noon time group dance class. Nice details in their teaching, especially Nadiya, in teaching the ladies' sweep of the arm, such as in rumba New York, New York movement.

3. The absolute worst was the vocalist, Paul Christopher, who has no rhythm for ballroom dance singing. He can sing in lounges or pubs, but with no rhythm, as evidenced by his feet being glued to the floor and stiff body, plus his admission that "I can't dance", he's hopeless as a singer for ballroom dance.

4. The 5 Dance Hosts were OK, and I'm even beginning to know some of the hosts from previous cruises, like Zack and Peter.

5. As ever, so few Viennese Waltzes.

[Slow Foxtrot]

I have just completed a 4 day HK to Singapore cruise on QV........

 

the absolute worst was the vocalist, Paul Christopher, who has no rhythm for ballroom dance singing. He can sing in lounges or pubs, but with no rhythm, as evidenced by his feet being glued to the floor and stiff body, plus his admission that "I can't dance", he's hopeless as a singer for ballroom dance.......

 

It's one of the great mysteries of life that a vocalist who is contracted to sing for ballroom dancing does not understand that he must sing in time to the tempo of the music being played. He is supposed to be singing for the dancers, not singing to suit himself. One would have thought that the band leader would have put him right in this matter. However, Paul Christopher is not alone in being bereft of rhythm as there are several other 'singers' who have similar trouble. However, on the first two legs of the current Q.V. world cruise we had vocals by Jim MaCallister and some of his Sinatra-type renderings were very good.

Perhaps Mr Christopher should learn to dance and this will be of great benefit when singing in tempo with the dance-band.

[Q-step]

It's one of the great mysteries of life that a vocalist who is contracted to sing for ballroom dancing does not understand that he must sing in time to the tempo of the music being played. He is supposed to be singing for the dancers, not singing to suit himself. One would have thought that the band leader would have put him right in this matter. However, Paul Christopher is not alone in being bereft of rhythm as there are several other 'singers' who have similar trouble. However, on the first two legs of the current Q.V. world cruise we had vocals by Jim MaCallister and some of his Sinatra-type renderings were very good.

Perhaps Mr Christopher should learn to dance and this will be of great benefit when singing in tempo with the dance-band.

 

One evening at a local swing (Lindy-hop) dance I noticed that every now and then I would be off with my partner. And I noticed that other dancers seemed to be less in-sync with their partners as well. I decided to sit one out and watch the dancers to see what was happening. It was the vocalist. While she had a good voice, she was singing through the rhythm rather than on the beat. Now this may be good for listening, But it was throwing off the dancers. One of the partners might stay on the music and the other might follow the vocalist. And the slight difference was enough to cause the partnership to be off. You could actually see almost the entire dance floor become a little more tentative in the lead/follow when she sang certain songs. I wished I had filmed it.

 

(Note: In our dance scene we dance with everyone, switching partners almost every song. I only end up dancing with Mrs Q about 30% of the time. If we all danced with our regular partners it may not have been so noticeable. But dancing with different people puts a greater emphasis on the lead/follow.)

[Dancer Bob]

Interesting observation from Q. For a while, the Orchestra, trying to liven up their dull dreary tunes, would have one of the horn players jump up with a loud, off-tempo cacaphony. There were huge complaints about going off-tempo, even though if you listened carefully, the drummer had not in fact changed. Are they still doing that?

[bkecky]

Thank you for all your helpful responses! I'm rarely on here so apologies for my delayed reply!