Dance

The Show Must Go On
by Jérôme Bel

SFU Woodwards and The Dance Centre
Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU
Jan 20 to 23rd, 2010

I was especially looking forward to going to see this show  because I anticipated that for several reasons it would be a bit of an adventure . Firstly this would be the first production I would see in the new Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre in the Simon Fraser University complex, newly built on the old Woodwards site. As it turned out it is still so new that I was directed by a security man to an entrance to the theatre complex through a gap in the construction fencing that still surrounds much of the area.

The second reason was that instead of driving my car I planned to take the Canada Line up to Waterfront and walk along West Hastings to the theatre, checking out a Salsa Studio on the way. I can just hear the groans of "what's the big deal, taking transit" but I was going by myself to this show, and for me, walking alone late at night in what is not as yet a very desirable part of the city, constitutes an adventure.

South-East Asia Ballroom Dance Cruise 2009

Index Page

This is a 16 night cruise within a 21 night trip.  We start in Beijing and the north and sail south to end in Bangkok. The area and the itinerary are shown in the map above, from the Princess Cruise Lline web site.

• Raring to Go - Visas, travel  research, numbers... and shoes
• Of Beijing, Great Walls, Great Smog and Great Congestion.     
• Dancing through the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea
• Shanghai and more dancing at sea
• A non-visit to Okinawa , Japan
• Taipei (Taiwan),  formal night  and more dancing at sea
• Two days in Hong Kong and  still more dance cruising
• Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
• All at Sea and Formal Night
• Formal Night: A Collage of pictures
• Singapore and cruising

A dream vacation, ballroom dancing , sometimes rock-and-rolling, my way across the Pacific Ocean with my favorite group of dancers and dance hosts on the Pacific Princess.  

South Pacific Dance Cruise 2009 Part I. The Hawaiian Islands

 South Pacific Dance Cruise 2009 Part II. Dancing At Sea

What better way is there for a newbie ballroom dance addict to spend the Labor Day Weekend than dancing the nights away in the largest ballroom afloat with Dancers at Sea? As the smiling faces in the picture taken on the Black and White Formal night photograph attest to, there were many great minds that thought alike on this question.

A mere three months ago the only idea I had of dancing on cruise ships was the little bit  I had read about dance hosts  that were hired on some of the transatlantic crossing  ocean liners. I imagined a few men in jackets or tuxedos being mobbed by hordes of women that wanted to dance with them. Certainly I had no idea that  there was an organization that organized groups of dancers to travel together, with professional teachers and hosts at a guaranteed ratio of 1 host for every 3 single guests.

Intrigued by the concept I ventured out for my first dance cruise - a 7 night  West Coast Ballroom Dancing Cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver, my home town. I had such fun that when I heard about a four night cruise from New York to Saint John and back, I couldn't resist signing up. For starters it was an excuse to visit my son in New York  (New York, New York: Part I), get him to join me  on the cruise, and then spend time seeing some theatre before returning to Vancouver - (New York, New York, Part II and Part III.) 

 Before I decided to take the cruise I  did my homework, reading up on the ship from within the Cunard website.  The Cunard line call the Queen Mary 2, the "grandest liner ever built."  The ship can carry 2592 guests in "elegant accommodation". We booked a cabin with a small balcony. I thought that was pretty elegant since on my first cruise I only had a porthole.

Some other information from the Cunard site told me that in January 2004 the Queen Mary 2 took  her maiden voyage from Southamptom, England, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her crew complement is listed as 1253, almost a 1:2 ratio of staff to guests. At  1132 feet in length the QM2 is only 117 feet shorter than the height of the Empire State Building. 

But what is most important to me are the dance floors. I found mention of the G32 disco- "contemporary music with a DJ and  live band,"  and then reading further, the  Queen's Ballroom is declared by Cunard to be the "largest ballroom ever to sail the seas."  And from the picture it certainly seemed that way.

The night before we were due to take the cruise I managed to get a ticket to see Burn The Floor. This incredibly energetic ballroom and Latin dance spectacular got me so fired up I could not wait to get on board and dance for hours each night.

On Friday, September 4th, 2009, we left  downtown Manhattan around 2 pm by cab to go to the cruise-ship terminal at Brooklyn. The boarding procedure went like clockwork. These people are obviously used to getting 2500 people off and another 2500 on to the ship within a few hours but it is actually still quite amazing when one thinks of the logistics involved.

In spite of a line-up it took us less than half an hour to get through the immigration and boarding procedures, and find our way to our cabin. The cabin was small and compact but well laid out and it was great to be able to go out onto the small balcony and let fresh air into the cabin.

We knew that our cases would take a while to reach us so we set off to explore the ship and our surroundings. We found the spa where both of us hoped to have at least one massage. We also checked out the Golden Lion Pub  where we were to meet for the 5:30 "get to know your fellow dancers."

Burn The Floor
Directed and choreographed by Jason Gilkison
Longacre Theater,220 West 48th St., New York
Till January 3rd, 2010

New York, NY:  As a reviewer, I think it important that my readers know the biases and foibles that influence my writing.  So before I write another word about the show irself,  I have two confessions to make.

Number one is that there is no way I can be even remotely objective about this production. I am an unrepentant  ballroom dance addict (doing as well as watching)  and my summary of this show is that  I loved it, loved it, loved it - yup, I really really loved it..

And that leads me to confession number two.  I was so blown away by the dancing and the amazing dancers when I saw it  before leaving on my  Labour Day Getaway  dance cruise, that I used up a second slot of my precious six available  theatre time slots of this New York visit  to see Burn The Floor again. This time I saw it with my son who is rapidly becoming almost as addicted to ballroom dancing as I am.

This is the index of postings to my Travelblogue that documents my ballroom dancing-focused West Coast cruise in the Sapphire Princess  from Los Angeles, California to  Vancouver, British Columbia. I traveled with a group of ballroom dance enthusiasts led by Wendy from Dancers at Sea. With three hours of dancing every night,a dance workshop, excellent food on board and excursions to wine country en route, it was the perfect trip for a gourmet food and wine-loving , ballroom dance addicted, travel writer.

The nature of blogs results in the latest posting appearing first on screen, so that  later events appear first. This Travelblogue index lists the postings in chronological order from pre-embarkation to the termination of the trip, as a guide to your reading.

INDEX OF ENTRIES:

   1. Dancing at Sea: A West Coast Ballroom Dancing and Wine Tasting Cruise

    Anticipation and Cruise Dancing 101

   2: Dancing at Sea: Embarkation day: A slow boat (oops- ship) to ....
 
   Not missing the boat - and getting to know you

   3. Dancing at Sea: I could have danced all night

   The on-board dance venues - and the dancing

   4. Dancing at Sea:  Days of wine and rosés - Santa Ynez Wine Excursion
 
  An excursion to Santa Barbara wine country

   5. Dancing at Sea: I enjoy being a girl ...

   Formal evening dinner and dancing

   6. Dancing at Sea: I left my heart...

Snowball Classic 2009 Photo by Andrew Leung, Picture This

I have come to my ballroom dancing addiction relatively late in life.  When I made a "mid-life" decision to change careers and redeploy myself from left brain physician/scientist to right brain entertainment /travel writer, one of my residual left brain activities was to make a list of the ten things I wanted to accomplish in the next ten years. Top of the  list was to get back to dance, especially the Latin dances, which I had loved in my late teens when my knees were still elastic and my hips could actually swivel. So having tried out a couple of dance styles and studios, I found myself at the Vancouver  Ballroom for a beginner bronze samba class - and after the first lesson I was hooked! Two years later, thanks to the endless patience of Bernice and Aegide, though neither my brain nor my body learns as easily  as a sixteen year old, I am working my way through the medal tests in Standard and Ballroom and rejuvenating myself in
the process. Sort of like Benjamin Button.

Being away for nearly a month, I was concerned about keeping up my level of fitness and not putting on weight – what with no gym, no dance classes, and having to try all the new and exciting restaurants in Cape Town. I was also concerned about withdrawal symptoms from my growing dance addiction. So being a trained researcher and all that, I used the Internet back in Vancouver, to find a dance instructor in Cape Town who taught international dancing. I found someone that sounded promising and gave Brin his cell phone number. Brin had phoned him a couple of weeks ago to find out where he taught. Edwin had suggested that I call him once I reached Cape Town – and that was the first thought on my mind when I woke up today to bright Cape sunshine. I guess normal people would first think "beach" but not me.

Since 6 am was a mite early to be calling anyone, Barry and I went for a walk along the beach front before coming back to the flat (apartment in Canadaspeak) for breakfast. By just after 9 I reached Edwin by phone and we arranged that I would meet him at the Scout Hall in Orangezicht, one of the two locations where he teaches for an hour lesson at 1:30. Then we would see how it worked out and plan further lessons if it seemed right.