Ballroom Dance Lessons

[tangerinebunny]

Do many people really dance? or just watch?

 

I ask because my husband's university just offered the faculty a great deal - group lessons for faulty, staff, students - $5 each for six lessons and a dance at the end.

 

But are we going to be out there alone on the Mercury's dance floor?

 

[btw, I'm a total dance klutz, but if I stop doing all the things I don't do well, I'll have to stay home and do the windows. no way!]

[CruisingKitty]

The DH and I are cruising in July this year, and we are talking about dance lessons. The only thing is, I am nearly 6 ft tall, and the DH is 6 ft tall. Any suggestions on shoes so I don't turn into an Amazonian over him and can't do underarm turns? Or will I just look odd wearing flats? I appreciate any comments!:p

[mummsie]

Do many people really dance? or just watch?

 

I ask because my husband's university just offered the faculty a great deal - group lessons for faulty, staff, students - $5 each for six lessons and a dance at the end.

 

But are we going to be out there alone on the Mercury's dance floor?

 

[btw, I'm a total dance klutz, but if I stop doing all the things I don't do well, I'll have to stay home and do the windows. no way!]

You will be surprised at how many people do both. There will be quite a few people shuffling around enjoying themselves on the ship. Don't let it bother you. Just try to not fall over when the ship takes a roll.:) We are very experienced dancers and still have trouble dancing sometimes when its a bit bumpy out there. Our last cruise we kept bashing into this big post in the middle of the dancefloor. It seemed everytime we were near it the ship would rock and we would go hurtling into it. Made for some interesting times though :p:D Gayle

[tangerinebunny]

choppy seas? sounds like a great excuse for my two lefties. :)

[GCurry]

tangerinebunny

"Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching."

MsGCurry uses this with her email, an old saying, but it really applies to dancing. Unless, of course, you compete like Smooth, Mummsie and others on this board where everybody had better be watching.

Dave Barry said, "Nobody cares how well you dance, just get out there and dance!"

At our many social dances if I screwup a step, (horrors that it should ever happen) we might stop, and go through it several times, after all, we are dancing for us, not for you. If you happen to like what we do, well that's fine too.

 

CruisingKitty, one of our dance couple friends are both tall, she is about your height. Even with her husband who is two to three inches over six feet, she will wear low heels. She doesn't mind dancing with me as we are about eye to eye, but admits she feels uncomfortable dancing with the shorter men. Is it Drew on DWTS who is a little shorter then his coach?

 

Speaking of which, I think George Hamilton has clowned around about long enough, the judges have been kind. Ole Lance would tell him that if he isn't moving his feet he's not dancing. I loved it when the judge said he was just standing there while his partner was flatulating around in front of him!! My what a turn of phrase.

 

I'll admit that on a cruise downhill dancing can be a challange.

[CruisingKitty]

Thanks soooo much for the reassurance, it gives me hope! Now, off to do my favorite non-cruise hobby, shoe shop!

[smoothdancer]

CrusinKitty,

I am just green with envy!!... There is nothing better than to see a tall couple on the dance floor.. They are beautiful... You can certainly buy a 1/12 inch heel and be the bell of the ball.... Trust me from one who competes, we would love to have the height of you and your husband.

 

Yes Mummsie is right.... More than once on a ship he swayed one way, me another, due to ship motion... We just laugh it off, have fun, wait for the next beat of music....On a cruise and on the dance floor it is just all about enjoying time with your dance partner and well who cares if he dips, you dont!!

 

Watching is fun, dancing is better no matter what your dance level is... I say just get up from the table and dance!

 

Happy sailing,

Smooth

[Zajdie]

My husband and I have forgotten every routine we ever learnt. Who cares, we have great fun trying to remember and getting everything wrong and repeating things over to try and remember steps.

You just have to take care not to bump into people but we have been know to make friends because of that. Just enjoy yourselves..everyone can dance at least a little bit.

[GCurry]

Zajdie, welcome or welcome back? We had one of our dance club formals last night, a "March of the Penguins", live band, and had a great time. I had told the band they really like Latin, which they do, so they really enjoyed the dance. We range from the octogenarians, to (horrors) one of the members is pregnant, which might be a first in club history!! Their dance skills range the same way, from fantastic dancers, to those who do a forward promenade all through a foxtrot. One thing DWTS has promoted is, the members requested a Quick Step, and a Viennese Waltz.

 

Smooth, looks like you are having record weather in your neighborhood, hope you were safe inside. I wonder if Tropical wasn't trying to come back today as bad as the weather is. It was 38 degrees this morning in Bacliff, so I'm sitting beside a lot of tropical plants waiting for it to warm up. By Wed. it should be back in the 70s in SE TX.

 

Mummsie, saw the Perth couple perform again, they are at the professional level, and are looking to open a studio in this area.

[tropicalsunset]

well, I thought I posted an hour ago ... but I geuss it didn't go..

 

Flights were running late in FT Lauderdale yesterday afternoon due to bad weather in Philly as well as strong rain storms in Tampa...our flight took off over an hour late and we had stops in Tampa and Baltimore... both in bad weather..had to deice in Baltimore and fly thru the storm where it hadn't started yet in Hartford... we got home late .. just as the first few flakes started to fall... one of our friends from NJ is still in FT Lauderdale and probably won't get home until tomorrow..

 

The cruise was wonderful... it was a 4 day/5 day back to back.. The 4 day over the weekend had several groups on it.. all women... but Dave and I had the Rendez vous duo much to ourselves... we got to know them and they would play a rhumba or cha cha if they saw us in the area.. also we danced swing and hustle..-- the 5 day was not sold out and they ran a SR citizen special .. the dance floor saw alot of those couples dancing to slow songs... unfortunately, the back ache I had before leaving moving into my right leg...aggravated I think as we danced the night away Sat on leaving Cozumel and seas were very rough... we were dancing swing and falling on each other...finally gave it up but probably should have called it quits much sooner..

 

Lots of Birthday fun.... a celebration at Hogs Breath on Key WEst and several private parties with my friends...

a dear friend made up a special 2006 calendar for me with Photos of my cruising friends, my family and cruising sights!! it is precious!!

 

We got snowed in today... I am soo glad I have my cruising photos to look at and enjoy... and booked another for next Jan on the refurbished Century!!!

 

Welcome to the newcomers on this thread...

[GCurry]

Shame on you Tropical, visiting one of GCurry's favorite hangouts in Key West. That place is a hoot, we hit it at "Fantasy Fest", their combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras, they had more queens then Europe!!

 

Glad you made it home ok, a lot of times getting to or back from a cruise is the biggest adventure of the trip. I'm sure we all have our horror stories about what happened with that connecting flight to where ever.

[smoothdancer]

Tropical..

So glad you had a great time! Wow, what horrible weather to come home to. We had about 2 feet of snow here after it was all done! Sure glad it all happened over the week-end.

 

Still preparing for our upcoming comp here. Mummsie I have no idea how you dance in so many categories. We are dancing three new routines this comp, in addition to the international standards routines. It has been great fun bringing back our American style of dance. The routines are beautiful, but with a month to go I still am not sure we will be able to pull it off. Our foxtrot routine was just put together last week. It has been fun however doing something new.

[Zajdie]

Nice to meet you people. Dancing over here's getting more and more popular since the programmes on t.v. which I think you get in the States now.

We got up to gold standard, level 2 but I don't know if that means anything where you are. Not been able to dance much for about four years but we're hoping to start again. I'm hopeless at remembering routines 'though but does it matter? I get there eventually.

 

Love dancing on cruises. We're on the Queen Mary from Los Angeles on 8th March and I can't wait. We spend two days in LA first. Staying in Marina Del Rey...anyone know it? The travel agent booked it.

 

Hope you're all ok in the snow over there and I thought I was cold here.

 

Bye the way, glad to see there are people with enough energy to do Latin American. I used to love them and the tango.

[smoothdancer]

I understand!. We dance at gold level international, but in the US (for amatuar dancers)there are not levels, it is simply gold, broken out by age categories, usually in spans of 10 years.

 

Even if you dont remember routines, having danced your way up to gold, you must remember basic steps to get you around? No? Seems to me it must be kind of like riding a bike... Just not something you completely forget how to do. Althought now and then we take some time off, we never have stopped dancing in about 10 years, so I dont know. I just dont know what my life would be without danicng... It just is a part of us, I guess a part of our personalities at this point!

 

Have you ever been to the Blackpool competition.... Some day we hope to attend!

 

Glad to have you join us.

[Zajdie]

We've never entered any competitions and I'm ashamed to say that even though we only live an hour from Blackpool, we've never been to watch.

 

As for steps, my husband makes them up and I follow. I'm lucky that he's a natural dancer and can lead. His mum was a ballet dancer and choreographer and he obviously got it from her 'though funnily enough his sister is almost totally devoid of any rythm whatsoever. Strange how it goes.

 

Couldn't live without music and dancing..it's like a drug. My husband and boys are very musical and good dancers too.

[mummsie]

In Australia we have a different system of gradings. Other than age groups which are similar to the USA although ours are 15 years once you get to adult and on up to masters 1 and 2. Gradings start at level 1 and go up to level 5 for open. Level 1 dancers only do 1 dance in each style - level 2 do 2 dances in each style and so on up to level 5 except for the masters II couples - us over 50's only do 4 dances for open :-)

Series 4 of Dancing with the Stars starts here next Tuesday night - will wait for the usual influx of people turning up at the studio on Wednesday night :D

Smooth - you were wondering how we dance so many styles - easy - the only routines we have to remember are the standard and latin. New Vogue is sequence so the steps are always the same for everybody. Once you learn all the syllabus dances - 15 all up you really only need to really practice the few that you get to dance at each competition. For example most of our level 3 events last year had the same 3 dances - Twilight Waltz, Carousel (a foxtrot) and La Bomba (a tango). So even though at practice we go through the whole 15 dances each week, we really only concentrate on the 3 we need too. Makes it much easier:D Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

I am convinced that some of your dancing ability comes from the enviornment that you grew up in.

 

My husbands parents loved to social dance, and music was always playing in his house. He has a incredible sense of rhythm, and timing. One the other hand there was hardly ever music playing in my house, my rhythm after many years still leaves something to be desired. I have to work at it, while for him it just comes naturally.

[GCurry]

Any thoughts about who goes? I was a bit disappointed in Drew, I've been totally impressed with his foot work until the rumba last night. There he looked like a gymnastics "spotter" for his partner. Ah well, the judges didn't care, why should I.

 

Mom was a piano playing elementary music teacher; I've always danced and sang. I guess that's why they keep referring to me as a song and dance man??

 

59 on the island and low 40s tonight, just brought the plants in again.

[tropicalsunset]

well, no dancing in either Dave's or my childhood tho' we both played instruments and Love music...

 

I thought the same thing about Drew's rhumba... I thought he was imitating P. Miller... !! haven't watched it in a couple weeks!!-- The judges are half the fun!!! I'm hoping that the judges don't argue like that in the competitions you all participate in!!! :rolleyes: :)

 

We are off to the CT coast to visit our friends this weekend tho' it is going to get cold here in the NE... we are supposed to go out dancing... but don't know if my leg is going to cooperate..

 

BRRRR.... I can't wait until Spring... I keep looking for those crocuses to pop up.... :D :D

[smoothdancer]

Oh yea... I have dafodills and crocoses(I think we both spelled this wrong)!! outside of my kitchen window... When they burst into color I know Im home free!!

 

I have not been watching DWTS much, but I have seen so many similarities in the figure skating on TV... I love to watch that... I am waiting ever so patiently for the couples dance skating....

 

No, the judges are not like that in competition... They stand along the edges of the floor, record the scores on a score sheet... There are runners who pick up the scores, they get entered into a computer, averaged, and out come the results!... They are juding independent of each other, and usually are consistant... Soon after, the marks are posted on boards so you can see how you scored judge by judge. Often they are also posted on the internet about a week after the comp.

 

I find this whole new ice skating judging really interesting. The reason ballroom will never be an olympic sport is because you are not awarded points for level of difficulty or required to do a certain step, as in the new ice skating rules. A lot of the dance scoring comes from posture, presense on the floor, music interpretation, apperance, so on and so on.... A person can dance very basic steps and score much better than a dancer with diffiicult combinations. The only limitiation is that you cannot dance steps at a level higher than the category you are dancing in. I think with the new Olympic rules the beauty of the skating has suffered... ya know no points awarded for that.... Oh well...

[GCurry]

You bring up an interesting point Smooth, judging steps.

Mummsie in "New Vogue" where all the couples do the same steps in sequence, it that judged?

DWTS, I spot one or two standard steps, but that's about it.

 

Rainy and cold (40s) in SE Texas this morning, as a morning person, I've been dog sitting, and planning the weekend, one without dance surprisingly enough. Hawaii is a week from Monday so the planning and organizing by MsGCurry is ramping up. As she is the "ComputerSuperGoddess" we will have a lot of digital pics, 10XZoom, docking station, 528 meg cards and laptop for downloads.

[mummsie]

Hi GCurry, judging new vogue is very strict. Each step has an exact foot position so its relatively easy to judge. In the lower grades armlines are also enforced and about the only time you are allowed to let go hold is when you have a position going from shadow to dancing hold. When you dance open you are allowed much more freedom with armlines but the footwork and body positions are always the same. We usually dance level 3 and open in New Vogue and quite often we have the same dance for at least one of the dances - for example Carousel - we have basically 2 routines for the same dance - one with normal armlines and the other for open armlines. If you use the open armlines in the level 3 event its instant disqualification. New Vogue judging is also different in that because everybody is going in a circle around the floor, the judges usually stand in the middle.

An example would be comparing New Vogue to the compulsory vienesse waltz dance the Ice Dancers did the other night - 2 sequences of the dance and everybody had to start the dance on the same beat of music and finish at the same time. Except New Vogue you are all on the floor together.

I have been asked to work at the Queensland Open again this year as the floor runners supervisor. I have said yes as I can't afford to dance. At least this way I get in for free and I can see all the dancers :) Its a very tiring job though - these young kids can't take the pace. I put pedometrs on them last year and over the 2 day event they walked something like 15 kilometers. I have to rest them all the time. If they wore lower shoes it would probably make a difference but they think they have to be fashion plates.:) I actually like working behind the scenes at competitions - I know most of the judges now and its interesting see how the scrutineers add the results. After I get my Level 0 teaching certificate I think I will do a scrutineers course. There aren't many in Queensland about 10 I think so when I do finally stop dancing I can be still usefull in the dancing community. Gayle

[tropicalsunset]

Gayle: there is an 82 year old woman that dances at our studio.. she works with the owner and they are a sight to behold!! She is definitely my inspiration!! Her Viennese Waltz is just breathtaking... she has been dancing for many years and is so encouraging to all the newbies.. so I hope you never stop dancing!! :)

 

Pretty chilly this weekend.. we met friends and spent a weekend at a Marriott not far from here just relaxing -- our annual thing,...

 

I am hoping to get back to our dance lessons after taking a few weeks off here with my back/legs issues and of course the cruise... I geuss I am really hooked as we have really missed it!!

 

hope everyone enjoyed the weekend..

 

Lorraine

[HappyDancer]

Gayle, I'm not familiar with the new Vogue where the dancers are all in sync with one another. Is it similar to the old fashioned round dance? I've only read about round dance, but it is "called" like square dancing, so everyone is doing the same thing at the same time. I don't like the idea of a "called" dance, but I'd love to see the Vogue you're talking about.

 

We haven't had a dance lesson since Christmas, but we did get to dance at a Valentine's party last weekend. My fiance and I haven't competed together, although that's his desire. I've competed pro-am, but he really wants to try amateur couple.

 

I haven't had much luck dancing on cruises....mostly because I can't stay up late enough to enjoy the clubs. After a late dinner and a show, I'm ready to crash!

 

Maybe we'll get to use our dancing shoes on our upcoming cruise....3 weeks from today!!!!

[mummsie]

Hi Happy Dancer, No New Vogue its nothing like square dancing although there is nothing wrong with it either. New Vogue is based on ballroom dances and figures - the only ones not the same as ballroom are the march time ones. Its called sequence dancing. There is also English Old Time which is also sequence dancing but the music and dances are much slower and very genteel - especially my favourite "Gaynesborough Glide" :)