Ballroom Dance Lessons

[tropicalsunset]

Smooth: did you see the episode with the dance instructor??

I would sooo love to go to that comp .... on Sat the 13th we have tix to see Franki Valli at the Mohegan Sun ... we are going with friends... but if there is something on friday night...I would love to check it out!! or Boston in July... I LOVE Boston!! I have a friend that lives in the Beverly area and am looking for an "excuse" to get up there this summer.

Which weekend is that??

or maybe we will just plan on seeing you At the CT comp at the end of July... I am hoping it doesn't coincide with a friends wedding we must attend...

 

don't know if we could ever keep up that pace.... we have our youngest son graduating from high school the end of June and are busy with all the college plans...a dear friend turning the big 5-0 this month.... a couple weddings coming up and accompanying showers and all..and I'm having a barbecue in June for my coworkers... ( am I crazy or what???)

 

--- Oh, and my boss asked to pick up info about my dance studio she wants to learn to dance so she can "WOW" the folks at a wedding shes attending at West POINt in two weeks...!! (I think those dance shows have people convinced you can learn to dance like a pro in two hours!!--

just like on TV!!!:rolleyes: :D :D ) She's a Type A personality so maybe she can do it.... ;)

[smoothdancer]

Holy Moley!!!!

Good thing you asked.. I have our schedule all screwed up... Va is in July, Boston in June... Anyway Boston is the Yankee Classic in June... It is cool... It is in Copley Square which is minutes from Quincey Market... Great food and fun!!

If it fits your schedule here is the link... Warning....This comp is kind of "stuffy"

http://www.theyankeeclassic.com/

 

No, Springfield on Friday is not much to see... Just us lowly amatuars!!

 

Yes, I did see the show of the dancer... A few years back we watched them perform and it was fun to see the normal side of her!!

 

We wont be competiting again in CT until Sept...Maybe then!

[mummsie]

Hi all, Well I did it. I passed. It was so nice to put the theory books away for the last time. It was very nerve wracking. I make quite a few mistakes but the professional doing the exam was very good. He would say things like. Can you do the step again but start diagonal to wall :) The dancing part was easy it was the cold questions that were hard. Anyhow its all over now so I can relax for a while :)

So now I can stop dreaming theory 24x7 like I have been for the last week.!!! Back to serious stuff like having fun dancing and can now get stuck into organising daughter's wedding. We picked the dresses up on Saturday. The 2 bridesmaids came over yesterday to try the dresses on. They all fit perfectly thank goodness except I have to take one dress up about 3 inches. Wedding is still a few months away but everything has to be done early because her chief bridesmaid lives quite a distance away and being a school teacher can only come down to see us on school holidays.

Gcurry would love to give you some lessons in New Vogue. :) Maybe next year we will get to your part of the world. Not sure yet but I know we are definately going to Alaska on a cruise. Mummsie

[tropicalsunset]

CONGRADULATIONS, MUMMSIE!!!! that is great news!!!! all your hard work has paid off..... !!!!

 

well, looks like my husband and I may be escorting 4 teens to Boston to see DANE COOK ... their adult ride and son bailed out .... so let me tell you.... try to find a decent hotel in Boston on Patriots Day weekend.... we ended up getting a couple rooms in Waltham and will take the subway in.. not the way I anticipated celebrating Easter... leaving one son home and taking 4 teens to a hotel in Boston... While everyone else is at church and having a nice dinner... we will have breakfast and then enjoy the pool......what we do for our children!! (course I told my son.... we could always sell these tix on EBAY!!!! :D :D :D )

[mummsie]

thanks Tropical :-) Yes what we do for our kids. :-) Have fun with them all. I had a housefull of them yesterday and had to feed them last night. Still at least you know where they are.... My son turns 21 in a few weeks so trying to organise his party. Here the legal age is 18 but most kids have 2 big birthday parties. Kieran only had a small gathering about 15 people for his 18th with no adults so this time its going to be proper party with some big people included. :)

[clofty]

Congrats Mummsie,

 

Yes, the kids always come first. My kids are on the younger side and my son had his 11th birthday with 4 boys sleeping and 4 girls coming to his party. He had a blast and I felt for the first time that I was a 'cool' older mum as the girls said it was the best party they had been to. (Even better than the coolest girl in the school's party!). My son was pleased as he likes the 'girls' (takes after his dad) and much prefers hanging out with them (I still can't convince him to do ballroom though!).

 

GC Curry, you sure did get a workout with the whisk, wing and other all taught in one lesson. We were taught the whisk,weave, and wing a long time ago and can't remember one step now! Mind you there is never enough room on any social dance floor these days to dance anything than the basic monstly with a pivot turn or swing and pivot (or whatever the term is!).

 

Yes, the weather has been weird everywhere, with cyclones in Oz, and tornados over here!

 

I definitely think we should all get together for a new vogue dance session on a cruise to Alaska! 23 June 2007! We'd have to book a dance floor out for a few hours though. That's all it would take to learn the Merryln, the Evening 3 step (we like doing this to Michael Jacksons' Beat It') and it's great when it's progressive. The Gypsy Tap and maybe even a Swing Waltz. Then everyone picks it up even quicker, providing you don't eat garlic the night before and use good deodorant, I'll dance with you!

 

I have been wanting to introduce New Vogue here, but I don't have the time and am not a great dancer and have no instruction certificate. Hey Mummsie, mabye that's where you come in. A 3-4 month holiday to teach a few states and maybe we can get it going.

 

Here in Tallahassee (a university city), the younger set love the Argentine Tango and the latin dances, so I don't hold out much hope for the New Vogue unfortunately.

 

Anyway must go and get these kids settled after such a big weekend.

Once again Mummsie, what an accomplishment!

[smoothdancer]

Good for you Mummsie, what an accomplishment!.... did the friend you were preparing with also pass? What now, will you begin to teach priviate lessons...

 

Wedding and a party coming up.. Sounds like fun! Both are boys are grown. One in Texas and one in Illinois. We dont get to see them as often as we would like, but ahhh is life!

[mummsie]

Hi Smooth, Yes Peter passed with flying colours - he is one of those very clever people who always do well. He is also our studios best dancer so I was very fortunate to be able to learn with/from him. I am now supposed to give 10 private lessons at a basic social type level under supervision from our studio principal. I am not qualified to teach anybody who does competition work. Will wait and see what happens. Not really in a hurry. I just wanted to get the exam out of the way.

Clofty - what ship are you going on in June? May be a little early in the year for us - I think Gary was thinking of leaving it a little later - Gayle

[clofty]

Hi Mummsie,

I was toying with the 23rd June Sapphire Princess Cruise, there is a thread already on CC board. I think "SmoothSailing" has the last post on the thread and I'm not sure how to link.

But I have no set date really. My sister in law just moved to Seattle last week, so I may be changing my plans to suit a get together or even cruise with their family.

Bookings should start to open soon and I wanted to get a good cabin. Princess seems to have the best itinerary as RCCL changed their ports this summer and passengers were not impressed with the changes.

I believe you've been on the Sapphire Princess. The Diamond also does the same itinerary. Both ships go Vancouver - Whittier and then back, well they are this summer. I haven't had much time to research lately.

There is so much info on CC now that I seem to get lost in it and when I get back out the kids have been eating popcorn for dinner!

[smoothdancer]

I have been on the dawn Princess, throught the Panama Canal, nice line!

 

In the states, unfortunately, an instructor can start to teach with out much supervision, or practical/theory experience. It is great to hear that the guidlenes in your neck of the woods are more structured. I cant wait to hear of your impressions and experiences as an instructor. Good Luck!

 

Hey, popcorn for dinner sounds good to me!

[mummsie]

Clofty, Yeah Diamond is currently here cruising. Will have to look at the Sapphire next year for Alaska. Would be good.

Smooth - will keep you informed. Will be interesting when I turn up tonight for the social class to see if anything has changed. :D Mummsie

[GCurry]

Mummsie, I've been really impressed by your dance world in OZ, it seems to be totally organized from start to pros. The regimentation of your dances as "New Vogue" starting promenades and all is also interesting.

We are miles away from that in Texas, although reading Smooth & Tropical it seems better organized in the NE.

We had a great cruise reunion from a Grand Princess cruise up in the Metroplex this past weekend. Sat. night we went clubbing at a place on one of the many lakes in the area. Half the club was pretty hard rock, while the other was Country & Western. Our friends were more Rock, but we danced a few on the Country side, as you can Foxtrot to Two-step, and they do play country waltzes & swing. The regulars were somewhat mystified by the Foxtrot, and there ain't no Charisse in a country waltz.

 

Ole Lance gave me a good bull whipping last night with "Sir, don't you ever count, it starts on 3 it starts on 3!!", as he flogged us through some waltz and rumba.

 

As you can see by the ticker, we are going on a seven day in December out of Galveston. It only adds Roatan Honduras to our new port list, but it will be with a lot of friends.

Much like you Mummsie, we are looking at Alaska for the summer of 2007.

[smoothdancer]

MC,

 

One of the recent comps that I went to (A Fred Astire comp) the started the comp with country/Western. Two-Step, country waltz, ect. I spoke the night before with someone in this division and she told me she did this because it was just plain fun... We went and watched, lots of hat flipping, jeans and boots, and I have to admit it did look like fun. I have to say though, the turns in the Two-Step reminding me of Polka. (My moms side of the family is polish, and a wedding just is not a wedding with a few Polka's!) I still could not figure out how they danced in thoes boots.

 

We just made our final payment on NCL today. On my way home from work I stopped at the mall to try to find more casual clothing.... I just could not do it. I ended up in the formal section (as usual) and I decided not to fight it.... We are crusing formal, even if alone!

 

Are you going Princess in December? I love the Afts on Princess. We picked an aft for our HAL cruise in November.

[mummsie]

MC - I don't know if we are better organised or not. I think because 90% of our studios are privately owned and are all registered under only a couple of different organisations it makes a difference. All the professional dance teachers have to be registered with Dancesport Australia as well so there is quite a bit of control in that respect. Hey I just realised I am now registred with Dancesport Australia as a coach :D.

There are only a couple of Arthur Murray's American style dance studios here but because they are not registered we don't hear much about them. They aren't allowed to compete in official events here. Mummsie

[GCurry]

I'm beginning to realize more and more what a huge difference there is between the two. Correct me, International has a lot of lifts and throws, and American has a lot of intricate footwork?

 

Ole Lance prides himself in being fired by Arthur Murray personally, as Lance refused to dance Arthur's way, as he thought the steps were incorrect.

 

Yes Smooth, this will be our second voyage on the "Grand", and with some of the same people I might add. This is the first time we'll spring for a balcony, and it is high and somewhat aft. I regret it will only add Roatan to our port list, but there should be some good dance opportunities. It seems you can't cruise anywhere out of here without stopping in Cozumel. Which is great if you are a diver, but is usually a beach party if you are not. We'll go to Belize again, perhaps we'll snorkel this time as we went Cave Tubing the first visit.

[smoothdancer]

I cant speak for the land of OZ... but in the states....

 

In international dance you never break a dance frame... I consider it the harder of the two... You must use your bodies in a contra dance frame to dance in partnership without ever opening up.... Here, it is really partnership dancing as you are dancing in a small area and really need to use your body to develop the dance... No, there are no lifts at all.. In comp dance the lady must have one foot on the floor at all times...

 

In American, or smooth, you will dance a lot of side by side, long lines, more of the Ginger Rodgers, Fred stuff... Absolutely different styles of dance. International is a strict dance with posture and dance frame being key, smooth is more expression.... I love them both....

 

Oh, I a such a %$%$$.... I just cant talk myself into snorkeling on a cruise... I love to go on the sailboats, but when it on comes time to put the gear in my mouth that someone did a few mintues ago it just drives me crazy and I back away!!!.... I stay on the sailboat...Nick goes for it!!! Yuck!

[GCurry]

A lot of people the Currys included, take their personal mask and snorkel which are small, sanitary, and inexpensive. The tour boat will provide the fins and snorkel vest which makes it very easy. MSgcurry doesn't like to swim a lot, so she is just as happy sitting on the beach with a margarita.

 

GCurry, however, was a recon swimmer in the Marines, and grew up swimming in Austin, so I'm at home in the water. The Hawaii trip gave me the opportunity to swim with Green Sea Turtles, that was fantastic. We'll post some pics if we can ever get the huge collection put together.

 

Smooth, thanks for clarifying the dancing, I'll need to watch a lot more on television to really understand the differences. Some things are pretty clear such as American & Viennese Waltz, American & Argentine Tango. So in International you don't have the open, breaks, and cross over steps?

[smoothdancer]

I didnt explain that very well. I was referring to the standard dances only(waltz, fot trot, tango and QS) In the latin dances there are open breaks, cross body leads, ect... The difference for latin is that the music is faster in Rhythm for the rumba while slower in Swing then in International. I dont dance international latin, so I had a one track mind!

 

Still at the level that we compete in, lifts are not allowed, which is a good thing!!. Dont know that I could pull that off.

[Lisa141]

Hey all. Just back from my cruise on RCCLs Mariner of the Seas. We got back into port last Sunday but it has been really busy getting everything back in order especially with the Easter holiday!

I was very pleased with the dancing opportunities on Mariner. We were able to dance every night.

There were quite a few dance floors, starting from the top of the ship -

Ellingtons (14th deck) Small dance floor but had a live band 5 nights with ballroom dance music

Lotus Lounge (5th deck) nice sized dance floor, was used for Crown and Anchor Welcome back party and 1 few nights with live band. We were actually able to do a waltz in there!

Boleros (4th deck) latin dance music, Great band, dance floor was small but not fit several couples for merengue, salsa, or rumbas, maybe 3 couples comfortably for a Cha-Cha

Dragons Lair (3rd & 4th deck) it was the largest dance floor but they pretty much played dance club music, there was 1 night with music from 50s to 90s so some good hustle or swing music but as I said it was only one night.

They also had the one band playing Ballroom music on the royal promenade but there was not much room to dance with all the people walking through.

Overall, I was very pleased with all the options we had and we danced every night! If 2 bands were playing we would go between them whenever 1 took a break. There were a few other couples who knew how to dance (way better than us!) so it really was not hard getting on the dance floors, even the small ones!

 

Smooth, you had asked for some pictures, I took several but most of the dancing ones did not come out too well due to the low lighting, but I will be glad to send you what I have!

 

We enjoyed ourselves so much, we actually have 2 more cruises booked! and we started back to our dance lessons last Tuesday.

[smoothdancer]

Lisa,

Thanks so much for coming back and giving us a great description of your dancing adventures!. I have sailed on RCCL a few times and did not have all that much dance opportunity so I was thrilled to here about your time. (yet, our RCCL cruises were short ones, which may account for the difference)

 

Would it be ok with you to quote some of your comments? Sure send the pictures over. I know it is hard to get good pictures! When we take dance pictures we have to use an external flash which is a pain.

 

Thanks again,

[Lisa141]

Lisa,

Thanks so much for coming back and giving us a great description of your dancing adventures!. I have sailed on RCCL a few times and did not have all that much dance opportunity so I was thrilled to here about your time. (yet, our RCCL cruises were short ones, which may account for the difference)

 

Would it be ok with you to quote some of your comments? Sure send the pictures over. I know it is hard to get good pictures! When we take dance pictures we have to use an external flash which is a pain.

 

Thanks again,

 

sure you can use my comments. Where do I send the pictures?

[smoothdancer]

JustEatin@Yahoo.com

 

Here is the website so you can see. We are SOOO close to publishing the ballroom section. As soon as I get the right picture, the Arbua front page picture will be replaced with a ballroom picture... Thank you for remembering, while on vacation!!

 

http://WWW.JUSTEATIN.COM

[tropicalsunset]

Smooth, the website is looking good....now when do you have time to do this... with working and all the dancing that you do?!!!!

 

Our trip to Boston was a great success!! there were 2 shows ..of course we were at The 10:30 pm show that started at 11:15... I think mostly as it took so long to get everyone into the venue... and we didn't get back to the hotel until 3:30 am.. the boys were thrilled and we were the token "old folks" in the crowd!! ;) :D

 

Dance class tonite...our second with our new instructor... Smooth -- you are right ... now that we have a new instructor she stresses different technique... and we are learning new things.

 

We are looking to maybe do Adventure of the Seas in the fall... a So Caribbean itinerary with my oldest son who wants a port intensive cruise...maybe we will even splurge for a balcony!!!

[smoothdancer]

I know, I know... there is just so much I want to do, with so many interests..

 

I have a partner in crime!!!... I might be a bit bias here, but my husband is one of the best program developers out there, so I do the design then he does the hard stuff!!!... All behind the scene work and makes it happen. I drive him crazy!! If I whine enough about the look and color he will fix it just to shut me up!! Actually, it has been fun for us, he uses his talents, I use mine, and somehow it just comes together.... In our home office we have 2 workstations on one long wall, and he just cant escape me...(trust me, he has tried) BTY, the new Pepsi site is Nicks work...

 

I have not worked really intense on this site for a few months now and you gave me some motivation to do it again.... I feel pretty strong about promoting dance and making it available to the casual dancer and cruiser.... Sure we push it hard, but that is just us.... I would like your average joe-smow who does not want to spend either the money or time to have a way to experience the complete joy of dance.... It is just that important to me to find the time....

 

Were off now to a coaching session, our last one before we do the regionals in Indy this week-end.... Wish us luck.... We need a lot of help for this one!!

[mummsie]

Hi Gcurry, Smooth is correct. In International there are no body breaks and definitely no lifts in competition. Displays are a different matter as you are the only one on the floor. Its dangerous to do lifts and drops on a crowded floor. In latin you are not allowed to do assisted lifts. The girl can jump with both feet but she is lot allowed to be lifted to do it. Some of the basic steps for both Smooth and International are the same for example the vienesse cross in the tango but International is much more open to interpretation from what I have seen which is very little. International is a lot more structured with where the feet are in relation to the floor (the theory lessons coming out in me):D

Weekend was very busy at the Queensland Open. It was a very well run comp. I think I must have walked at least 30kilometres over the 2 days. I basically didn't have any breaks for the 2 days other than the call of nature as I was the only one allowed near the scrutineers. Still an enjoyable time. Mummsie :)