Ballroom Dance Lessons

[GCurry]

Hi Y'all,

Love the dress Smooth, that is truly beautiful, even with that other person in it. As much as those gowns cost, I'm surprised you don't have to go out for corporate sponsors like NASCAR. But, it's probably hard to find a place to put the stickers, and seeing Bubba's Auto Parts on a ball gown wouldn't help your score any.

 

Lisa, we'll look for the American Challange on PBS, as I'm sure watching good dancers has to help.

 

Tropical, "Smooth" off that same album is our Cha Cha favorite.

It sounds like you had a good cruise even if DH did get a touch of Mal D Mer. He was probably faking it so he wouldn't have to do the Salsa Dancing.

 

Speaking of which we had our first Salsa lesson last night. My God two hour lessons, why don't I just go down to the gym for Aerobics instead, I'd probably sweat less, but at least I had the foresight to bring a towel!! It doesn't help that the instructor and the majority of the class are young hispanics who only need one minute breaks about every hour.

 

They are teaching Salsa with a Mambo basic step, a kind of Merengue I've never seen before but simple, and something called Bachata, which is from Santo Domingo by way of New York the way I understand it. Whatever they are, it's hell on old Gringos.

We also start ballroom again with a new instructor next Tuesday, so we'll have lesson's twice a week if I survive.

 

Cruise wise, we have Alaska coming up the first of June, and about a year from now, we are doing the Mex Riviera out of San Diego.

[tropicalsunset]

GCurry: You ARE THE MAN if you lasted 2 hours in SAlsa class!!! :D :D

[smoothdancer]

Hey McG... You have a new instructor, do tell!!

 

We also have a new instructor for our international standard. He is from Germany, and after about 3 lessons we are happy with our decision. Our smooth instructor decided to continue to travel from Boston to Ct once a week...Whewww!! By the way, our smooth instuctor was one of the semi finalists on the American Ballroom Challenge and we caught a few glimpses of them on the show.

 

Talking about gowns, the professionals are sponsored by dress designers. All thoes gowns you see them in are on loan. If you look right above the jacket pocket on the gents that is where they put thier logo. Our professional smooth coach even receives all of her shoes free from the vendors.

Saw the gown price, did you!!!... And that is a used gown, however they are sold after just a few wears, sometimes just worn once by a pro. I only own one gown that I bought new.

 

We started on an open V Waltz routine last week that we will dance in March... Very very hard! not to mention the music is so darn fast. Lisa may be able to witness us crash and burn on this one!

 

Wonder where Mummsie is... Sailing somewhere I guess.

[S&D]

Hi there everyone,

 

I think Mummsie is still on the Pacific Princess..can't wait to hear her report when she returns..we are cruising on that ship - Friday next week..very excited too!

 

I take my hat off to anyone doing a 2 hour salsa lesson, we dance one tune as a rule, and then sit and have a rest, and then continue on..... it certainly keeps you fit!!

 

Hey there Tropicalsunset....we learned our basic mambo/salsa to Santana's Corizon Espinado as well...we love that Supernatural CD..we also love the "Smooth" track, one of our very favorites! I have seen cha cha and mambo both done to that great music.

 

We only have about 6 basic moves to that dance , in a small routine, that's about all we can remember, but oh well, it gets us up to that Latin music that we love!

 

We are enjoying this thread such a lot..

 

Warmest wishes,

 

S&D:)

[mummsie]

Hi S&D, Arrived back on Saturday. Had a great time. Only a couple of rough days - the first day out was really bad - I think about 150 passengers of the 680 turned up at the doc's for the needle. I managed to keep down some Quells and was right after a day.

There are 3 bands on the ship - the show band which only play one or two songs before the show - they weren't very good. Then up in the Pacific Lounge on deck 10 there are alternating bands. One is a trio from the Phillipies and the other are brother and sister combo from Canada - Annie and Andre. They are both really good and will play requests for whatever you wanted. We pretty much had the floor to ourselves so they just played until we dropped.!!! :D Dan is the cruise director and is very funny.

We went to some wonderful islands on this trip - let me know where you are going and I will see if I can help you on what to do.!! :D

We are starting Argentine Tango tonight just for something different :eek: Our daughter and son in law are also coming so should be a bit of fun.

McG - 2 hours of salsa is pretty crazy - hope it doesn't kill you.

Mummsie!!

[S&D]

Thanks so much Mummsie, sounds great,..was the DJ in that lounge after the band had finished, late at night?..just wondering!

 

Also how did you find the food?

 

So glad you had a good time, yes, we have heard many reports on the sickness on the first few days..we will go with heaps of meds I think!

 

Looks like it's not too long before your NEXT cruise ..the Norweigian Sun looks like a lovely ship too...:) :)

 

S&D

[mummsie]

Thanks so much Mummsie, sounds great,..was the DJ in that lounge after the band had finished, late at night?..just wondering!

 

Also how did you find the food?

 

So glad you had a good time, yes, we have heard many reports on the sickness on the first few days..we will go with heaps of meds I think!

 

Looks like it's not too long before your NEXT cruise ..the Norweigian Sun looks like a lovely ship too...:) :)

 

S&D

Hi. Yes the DJ is in the lounge after 11.30 - I don't know if he actually did anything though - the average age on our cruise was probably 75 :) We were the younguns except for about 10 kids, about 4 honeymoon couples and about 30 people under 40 :D and we only danced until 10.15 pm or so when the first bracket finished.

Food was great as usual. Only night we didn't eat off the daily menu was French night and also the Lobster night - not into seafood. Mummsie

[GCurry]

Oh my aching back, knees, hips etc. We started group lessons last night with our new instructor at the Johnson Space Center. I was keeping an eye out for jealous Astronauts, but figured if they saw me dance they wouldn't be jealous.

Kelly started us off with Triple Step Swing. After an hour of that, I'm really looking forward to the Salsa lesson tomorrow night. Which reminds me, that I probably need to limp through some practice tonight.

If you want to try a little Salsa, I found this link, go to "Musica en Demanda."

http://www.bachataradio.com/

 

Ah well, it's all probably good exercises for us, I'd hate to think something this painful wasn't.

[mummsie]

Hi all, had our first lesson of the year last night. Didn't forgot too much over the last 8 or 9 weeks. We are dancing in about 8 weeks at the Queensland Open down the Gold Coast so that should be interesting. It will be our first major competition in about 3 years. :D We have to alter all our armlines for our new vogue as the dances we were working on in the open last year are graded events for us at the moment - except for one that we have in both graded and open. What a pain. Our teacher is trying to make them sort of similar so we don't have too much to remember.

Also have to look around for some material to make myself another new gown. I would like to have 2 on the go this year so I can change for New Vogue and Standard. New Vogue dresses normally don't have fly aways as its easy to get caught up and strangled when they fly around your head. My current dress would be for New Vogue and I want to make a standard dress with a nice fly away that can be detached if I need too or if I don't have time to change between events.

We started doing some Argentine Tango on Monday night - that was fun. We did it for about a year 5 years ago but have forgotten pretty much everything. It sort of started coming back so hopefully with a few more lessons we should be able to do something that looks remotely ok. :D

Mummsie

[tropicalsunset]

Ok... we are back to SAlsa... I don't know why she keeps going back to this... our next cruise is the GAlaxy exotic Med cruise in October... I think our dance instructor likes to see me spinning out of control!! not too much latin tunes up here .... we often request something from Santana as it is most likely something local bands/DJ have or know..

 

Our studio always wants us to go to the studio dances.. however.... Dave and I don't enjoy dancing with most of the "serious" students there ... we have more fun going to the local Elks with friends.. dancing freestyle and throwing in some ballroom when the mood strikes... ah such is life..

 

I am enjoying watching the PBS special of the Ohio Comps from last FEb... such absolutely beautiful dancing... we would definitely be the "bulls in the china shop" compared to these folks!! ... :) :)

 

Smooth: this last snow/ice storm was fun !! I hope you didn't try to go in to work!!! clearing it away was like removing big bricks and chunks!!! I keep telling myself ... spring crocusses are just waiting to pop up underneath it all!!! :D

 

Dancing in the Elks Ballroom SAt night for us... an appreciation night for us volunteers... Nice to have the officers wait on us for a change!! :D since DAve and I both volunteers and we are able to bring a spouse or S.O..

We are "dating up" with friends!!! ;)

[tropicalsunset]

OHH!! i have to share this website...!!!

This from an email from Ballroom Fever in Enfield... our original instructor is teaching there now and I am on there mailing list..

 

 

Enjoy and Smile!!!! :D

[GCurry]

Ok... we are back to SAlsa... I don't know why she keeps going back to this... our next cruise is the GAlaxy exotic Med cruise in October... I think our dance instructor likes to see me spinning out of control!! not too much latin tunes up here .... we often request something from Santana as it is most likely something local bands/DJ have or know..

I think I've sprained my Lambada, Salsa is killing me! Our instructor named a bunch of Salsa Clubs in the NASA area and said we should join him after lessons end at 9 for more practice! The only thing I'm looking forward to after 2 hours of lessons is Aleve with a muscle relaxer chaser.

Latin Clubs in Houston are all Salsa, ask them to play a Rumba or Cha Cha and they look at you like "Why is there a funeral?" And crowded, the only way to get room to dance is to say you are from Immigration.

 

 

Smooth: this last snow/ice storm was fun !! I hope you didn't try to go in to work!!! clearing it away was like removing big bricks and chunks!!! I keep telling myself ... spring crocusses are just waiting to pop up underneath it all!!!

We were at 32 degrees this morning in Bacliff, a record for this late in February, I'll now keep watch to see what plants made it.

 

Dancing in the Elks Ballroom SAt night for us... an appreciation night for us volunteers... Nice to have the officers wait on us for a change!! since DAve and I both volunteers and we are able to bring a spouse or S.O..We are "dating up" with friends!!!

One of our monthly clubs dances is in a VFW Hall Tropical so we can relate, and yes, its more about how much you enjoy dancing, not how well you do it.

I do have an interesting story about an Elk's Ball in Farmington New Mexico I could regale you with some time, or a Christmas Party fight in an Elk's Lodge in Beaver OK., and don't even bring up the Friends of the Library Benefit Dance in Leakey TX..

 

Loved the Video's BTW, if I could just convince my little wife that wearing a drape is in this year!! And the parts of Texas I come from, crawling through another man's legs would be hazardous to your health.

[tropicalsunset]

Gcurry!!!! :D :D :D :D :D You are just tooo funny.....!!!

I'm still laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[smoothdancer]

Are thoes bunny ears????

[smoothdancer]

Just thought I would bring us up to the top of the board again!!

 

No dancing for me.... Dont think I told you guys, but I am in a cast now, been so for coming up on 3 weeks now... On our way to a dance practice, in a new pair of clogs, I thought I just twisted my ankle... After about 15 minutes of dance the pain was so much... ended up having an operation on my tendion(sp) and am down for the count!!

 

Lisa... no Pittsburgh comp for us, but should be out of this horrible thing in time for our QM2 cruise in May..... Miss very very much not dancing... I have resorted to just watching dancing on TV, and looking at that new gown I have.... All ready with no where to go!!

 

Anyone have any great dance stories to tell me while I am layed up??? Perhaps though in the end I may have finally developed that hip action... The only way I get from floor to floor in my house is by taking the stairs on my butt..... Wont get to descriptive here!!

 

(Not so) Smooth

[mummsie]

Hi Smooth, How terrible for you. I feel your pain. Similar thing happened to me in August of 2005 and I am still in a lot of pain most days. I am wondering if I should have had an operation to fix it as well - I guess the problem I had was I went to our hospital casulty which is free here in Australia so they don't usually recommend an operation unless your leg has been cut off. It may have stopped the ongoing pain I have every day of my life if I had gone to my local doctor and been referred onto to a specialist.

 

Just hope all that going up and down the stairs tighens up those butt muscles :D You gotta have some positives. - Mummsie

[GCurry]

Are thoes bunny ears????

I do believe they are Smooth, I was going to wait to mention them until I talked the wife into wearing that drape. When she says how will I possible accessorize this, that's when I'll bring out the ears!!

 

Tough luck with the accident, an operation and a cast is pretty major, glad you'll be recovered in time for your cruise on the QMII. (Envy, envy)

Between you and Mummsie, and put me in there too, I'm developing hip problems from when I played racket ball, and some kind of groin strain, my doctor says, that won't go away. I never thought as a dancer, that Sports Medicine would be part of the deal.

 

It's interesting that you should mention hips, it's a major part of the Bachata, 1,2,3, left hip move, 1,2,3, right hip move. For some reason, the hip moves are very difficult for me. I can rumba and cha cha up a storm, but this is totally different. I guess it doesn't help that I hate the music. Being a UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) grad, I'm illiterate in two languages, and enjoy a lot of Latin music and culture, but this stuff just doesn't do much for me.

 

Keep us posted on your progress.

[Keith Rita]

smoothdancer, we are so sorry to hear about your injury--may you get well soon!

 

We have been extremely busy with every day life and all our grand kids activities. We practice dance every Tuesday evening and have our dance lesson on Thursdays. Since we belong to three dance clubs this coming weekend will be our third weekend in a row for a dance. It's a formal affair.

 

Hope everyone has a great dance week!

[tropicalsunset]

Smooth: Hope the ankle heals quickly!! at least you have a CRUISE to look forward to... hope you are strong and Smooth for the QE2!!!

 

our studio folks are off to NC for a competition... Monday night we had the studio to ourselves... plus it was snowing!!

but we still went in to the smallest practice room to do the Salsa!! :rolleyes:

 

My chiropractor is the ER at the Elks... he keeps his eye out for me... carrying trays and such .... always good to have him looking out for us... and seems it always takes soo long to fully heal from these injuries....

[GCurry]

our studio folks are off to NC for a competition... Monday night we had the studio to ourselves... plus it was snowing!!

Certainly no snow in SE Texas, but it has been much colder then usual. with temps dipping into the 30s in some areas, with low 40s at night here along the coast. We are watching to see what plants come back, and what will need replacing.

 

but we still went in to the smallest practice room to do the Salsa!!

We have our last Salsa lesson tomorrow night (Thank God), which should be enough for us, as I can't see us spending any time in Salsa Clubs, but we know enough for an occasional Salsa (Meringue or Mambo) at our dances. Speaking of which we had a nice Black & White Ball at our Mainland Club Sat., it was well attended with a good band.

We will, however, spend a weekend in the Dallas area with 7 fellow Cruise Critics we met on The Grand back in 04. I understand Salsa dancing is part of the plans.

 

Susan & I continue our ballroom lessons at NASA, but the instructor is so slow teaching, that we aren't learning much more then technique. Sometimes, I really miss Ole Lance!!

[tropicalsunset]

GCurry: I just saw a price reduction on Infinity sailing for same week as your cruise... wonder if there was a price drop on your sailing you can take advantage of???

 

We had a "group" class on Swing last thursday night...only we were the only ones that showed and the Manager of the studio gave us what turned out to be an awesome Private class at group rates!! LOVE that!!! she was able to pull together some technique and steps that we had "missed" in the many changes of intructors that we have had...

 

Monday night it will be back to our private class and she plans to work us out with Salsa and Hustle.... she always has ambitious plans for us!

 

Smooth: How are you doing???!

[smoothdancer]

Good! I have a smaller cast on now and the Dr says the healing process is going very good,better than expected... So things are looking up!

 

Gene, I look forward to your cruise impressions... Just like NCL I seem to be following behind you again on Princess! We really enjoyed sailing over X-Mas and so we have booked another X-Mas cruise. This time on the Diamond, sailing to Hawaii. This is a 15 day cruise, I hope we can handle all the R&R! It will take 4 days to get there and 4 days back.

 

Really intersting though on the Princess ships. The Diamond pictures I have seen looks identical to the Golden.

[mummsie]

hello all. Good to hear your foot is improving Smooth. We are starting intermediate Argentine Tango next week - should be good. We are really enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and not having to do strict choreography. We attended a lecture on Saturday evening by one of the best International Standard teachers in the world. He was a top UK competitor and coach for many years and has now moved to our beautiful state to retire. It was a wonderful lecture and it sort of reinforced what our coach tells us but in a different way. The way he explained it all was amazing.!! :D Well worth the hour drive each way to hear him talk.

We have booked another cruise for next year out of Singapore on the P&O Pacific Star. Only a 3 star ship but should be fun anyway. We aren't expecting big things but it was cheap. We are making it a family holiday with our son and daughter and son-in-law going. Our son-in-law isn't too adventurous so it will be interesting to see how he goes.!! :D Mummsie

[GCurry]

Or Princess as the case may be.

 

Gene, I look forward to your cruise impressions... Just like NCL I seem to be following behind you again on Princess! We really enjoyed sailing over X-Mas and so we have booked another X-Mas cruise. This time on the Diamond, sailing to Hawaii. This is a 15 day cruise, I hope we can handle all the R&R! It will take 4 days to get there and 4 days back.

Glad you are getting better Smooth, when is your QMII cruise coming up? I would love to do a crossing on her.

As regards the Diamond, yes she is a sister to the Golden, without the "shopping Cart" handle that is Sky Walker's and slightly larger. I have been reading a lot of reviews on her, some not so positive, but then I'm not a real critical person. The only thing I could fault Princess for is their room service did not start until 7 or 7:30 I forget which, and Alaska will have a lot of early mornings.

15 days to Hawaii and back will be wonderful, there is so much to see there. That is a lot of sea days, which means a lot of dancing which should please you. We did visit some special places in Hawaii last spring, as well as see a lot of whales off Maui. We plan to return in 09 to do a land based visit on Maui and probably the Big Island to celebrate our 10th.

 

GCurry: I just saw a price reduction on Infinity sailing for same week as your cruise... wonder if there was a price drop on your sailing you can take advantage of???

I haven't seen any drop for our Alaska cruise, but we got a very good price through an agent who specializes in Princess. You might have seen her mentioned on the boards as she died last year, but, her sister is now running the agency.

 

We've recently booked the Spirit on an 8 day to the Mex Riviera out of San Diego next Jan. and Carnival was cheaper then the other agents. I did get a military service discount for once which pleased me. This will be our first Carnival Cruise, something I never thought I would do. But, I've finally learned to never say never!!

 

We continue our 8 week group sessions at NASA, but are thinking of moving to her advanced class this next session. We are taking her intermediate this time as we didn't know where we fit in her instruction.

They are reasonable priced at less then $100 for the both of us.

 

I could probably benefit from a dance lecture or two Mummsie, and my little wife might bring up other subjects as well.

[smoothdancer]

Our QM sailing is over Memorial Day week-end. This is not a crossing, just a 4 day that does to one stop at Princess Cays and back, out of NY. It should be however a good introduction for us.

 

We sailed Carnival ages ago when our kids were young, and then moved on to other lines. Then about a year ago at the last minute with a good price we did a four day sailing on Carnvial... Ya know, we had a good time. The food, especially in the dining rooms is quite good on Carnival, and we did not run into any of the "run down drunks" you read about! The attire is more casual, you do see jeans and sneakers in the dining room and my husband was the exception wearing a tux on the formal night.... Still our table of eight was all couples in our age range and we had wonderful conversations at dinner. Overall, we had a nice cruise.

 

I dont put much weight into bad reviews. We really like to cruise and are pretty easy to please! We had a nice NCL cruise and if I had read and took to heart all of the reviews I would of missed out on a really fun vacation.