Dance

This has been an unusual voyage from the dancing perspective because of the timing of the days when the ship is at sea. Wendy usually organizes two dance workshops taught by her dance pros in the morning on sea days and most times there is at least one quite early in the voyage. But in the cruise round the British isles, the sea days came at the end. So workshops were scheduled on the days that we sailed between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh back to Southampton.

We gathered in Club Hemispheres at 9 am for the first workshop taught by Robert, on rhumba.

Quite often at the workshops there are many more women than men but on this first morning two of the Cunard hosts joined in for the first class and part of the second, and as well Wendy invited another passenger who had been dancing with our group. So for the first class at least we were evenly matched and that meant that rotating partners worked well.

Before working on any sequence Robert talked a bit about technique. Since these classes have a range of dance skills from absolute beginner to long time dancers, the material is usually kept simple, but most of us can benefit from going back to basics and emphasizing how to do them properly.

By the time we returned from our shore expedition  to Edinburgh, it was time to change for dinner. Most of us made it to the Britannia Restaurant by six-thirty though our ranks were a bit depleted.

The dinner was as usual very good. I have been really impressed by the food and by the excellent dining room service on this particular cruise. It is also interesting watching how some dishes seem to catch everyone's attention, and other times the whole range of options appear on the table. 

Tonight most of the people at our table ordered the Char sui pork (Chinese barbecue pork) spring rolls with BBQ sauce- and they were good. Crisp and tasty.

I had the grilled double cut sirloin steak with Rissole potatoes and Burgundy jus. It was cooked medium rare, just perfect for my taste.

Rissole potatoes are a  method of sauteing partially cooked potato balls until they are brown and crisp. I guess it has a similar effect to hash browns except that in the latter the potatoes are shredded or finely diced so you don't get the soft interior. Anyway they were also good.

Shortly after I wrote my first Dance Cruise Travelblogue, the West Coast Ballroom Dance Cruise,  I received a delightfully enthusiastic comment from someone I had never meet. Her name was Peggy, and she commented that she and her husband Harlan were long time cruisers with Dancers at Sea  and always had a wonderful time.

When I finally met  Peggy in person on the New Year Caribbean Cruise, she was as bubbly and enthusiastic  as in her correspondence. Harlan in turn I found to be an equally enthusiastic dancer, and a thoughtful gentleman, who made sure to dance with all the ladies at some time, especially when Peggy was up dancing. This  endeared him even more to all of us.

So when we learned that Peggy and Harlan were celebrating an anniversary on this cruise, apart from enjoying a delicious surprise cake for dessert with them at dinner,  we  all applauded as they took the floor for a celebration dance.

Here are some video snippets  of Harlan and Peggy dancing, and then of Harlan and Magda, Peggy and Robert taking the floor.

I have to figure out how to shoot videos in the dim lighting of a ballroom but these give an idea of the evening.

Masters' Play
Ballet Kelowna
Roundhouse Community Centre
Sat, Apr 19th, 2010

Vancouver, BC: In an unusual conjunction, this weekend I had the pleasure of seeing two dance shows (instead of two plays  back to back on successive evenings. Friday night's show was the stunning high energy Burn The Floor Ballroom and Latin Dance production at the Vogue Theatre. As a lovely counterpoint, on Saturday night, Ballet Kelowna, a small ballet company with a huge heart performed at the Roundhouse Community Center.

This was the 14th of 17 performances for Ballet Kelowna on their 2 month tour through communities of British Columbia, from Fort Nelson to Golden, and to their home base in Kelowna. Their schedule listed in the program looked quite grueling to me but as the dancers range in age from 19 to 25, they have the youthful energy to bounce back from the performances and travel between locations. On stage they certainly showed no signs of having been on the road for long although this is near the end of their tour. The ensemble on tour consists of three ballerinas, Tiffany Bilodeau,  Christina Cecchini and Raelynn Heppell, and three male dancers, Cal Glover,  Davin Luce and Eloi Homie.

When Artistic Director, David LaHay, began to introduce the program for the evening I knew I was in for a treat. His enthusiasm and obvious passion for honoring those who have been part of the history of Canadian ballet created an excited anticipation as he  talked about each piece we were about to see. The concept behind this program was to celebrate great Canadian choreography.

Burn The Floor: FloorPlay
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Jason Gilkison
Vogue Theatre
Remaining shows Apr 17, 2 and 8 pm, April 18.

Vancouver, BC:  Last night at the Vogue Theatre I saw  Burn the Floor for the third time in eight months . The show has lost none of its impact from the first two times I saw it  in New York and the dancing- and the singing - is as fantastic as before. They got several standing ovations and deservedly so. Anyone who loves dance should see this show and there are only three performances left  before they head off to Toronto.

We were a group of 8 people with very mixed experience in dance,  that met to go and see  the Friday night performance.  All of us, from the 5 who are simply enthusiastic observers of dance shows, to me - a very late starter in ballroom dance, and my two teachers, who are ex-competitive dancers, were wild about the show. 

Earlier this week I had enjoyed the opportunity to chat to some of the dancers and to Preview the cast dancing in three of the numbers up close, but the energy they generated in the dance studio was nothing compared to that  in the theatre, when magnified by the strong percussive music.  You could power a city with the force of their energy.

Unfortunately I had a very large, tall man  in the seat in front of me with a big head that really blocked my view of the overall  stage, except for two numbers when he sat a little lower in his seat. If it was the first time I saw the show I would have been really upset. 

But as it was, looking around his head,  I found myself focusing less on the spectacle and more objectively on the individual dancing- the various steps that I could identify and the awesome precision of the footwork.

Forget about your superheroes. Forget about "swifter, higher, stronger". The fittest athletes not to compete in an Olympic Games are performing in Vancouver this week. It's the cast of Burn The Floor, the  dance spectacular that reinvents International Ballroom and Latin Dance in a show that is absolutely riveting.

They are fresh off their Broadway run - where I loved it so much that I saw it twice in two weeks  - see Burn The Floor - New York Theatre.

And guess what,  I already have my ticket for the Vancouver show.

So what's so special about this show? The music will rock you to the core and the percussion rhythms of Georgio Rojas with vocalists Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia will make you want to get up and dance.

The dancing is amazing.
It's fast and high energy. You won't believe that human legs can move that fast.

It's sexy and passionate. If you've needed Viagra, you won't after this show.

It's sensuous and romantic - like floating in a dream dance.

"I get the performing part - its a dance show after all, but athlete?" you may ask. 

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."