Ballroom Dance Lessons

[tropicalsunset]

this weekend is the dance camp at our studio... they have a dinner, show and dance sat night... but it was a little expensive since we just made final payment on our MEd Cruise and paid my sons tuition this week..

 

We've had a few weeks off from dance as our instructor was on vacation... and now she is going over what we have learned so far as our previous teachers kept class notes but never filled out the Bronze chart.. I think we are going to find that we are further along than we thought... whatever...

 

Smooth ... that gown sounds absolutely gorgeous... we will need a photo!!

 

for fun... a few weeks ago we went to a "singles" dance with friends of ours... I didnt' realize they attract such a large crowd.... lots of folks dancing on a nice ballroom floor... not a lot of room for dancing but it was a fun night out!! summers are pretty quiet up here in NW CT!!

 

I don't think we will be dancing too much on our med cruise... we have a cabin in the extreme front of the ship... we will hear the anchor and be able to see what the captain sees as we enter each port... so I'm looking forward to room service!! Early ams...lots of ports... late seating... maybe a dance or two and hit the rack!! :)

 

Anyone watching the latin american series on Travel channel...... It makes me want to go there even more and study the Tango and Salsa!!!:D

[mummsie]

Yahoo the dress is finished with 3 weeks to spare - must be a record. Here are a couple of bad photos taken last night with my mobile phone. :D Still have more stones to put on and finish the flyaway but other than that its done all but the shout.:D Mummsie

[GCurry]

It looks beautiful Mummsie somewhat revealing, but that's the nature of things I believe.

 

Your Med cruise is in Oct. Tropical? They have warm weather then?

Things are pretty quiet in Texas as well, we have a Hanger dance later this month, and club dances plus weekly Tango lessons, so we are staying busy enough.

[mummsie]

Hi Gene, No its not that revealing. The front is all skin coloured mesh - it just looks revealing :D Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

Holy moley.... Mummsie. What a talent you have. I do understand what you have said however... As much as it may look a bit "riskie" (is that a word), the skin tone fabric has the apperance that you are going....ummmm topless, but not so..... Anyway, fantastic job!!

 

Now Gene, when I saw your first post on Cunard I thought hold on to your hats boys, thoes very formal brits have no sense of humor.... and then whenever Slowfox said "ho-ho-ho".... Good lord man, you alone have broke through!!!! Love, love , love reading your posts!!

 

Me, at the home front I am having a major issue..... This started 2 nights ago.... About 3/4 through our lesson I thought for sure I was going to faint.... All of a sudden it just came over me, very dizzy, that feeling that you are not there... brushed it off....

 

Then tongiht again about 3/4 through the lesson again it was like I was going to faint.... The same in and out.....Our instructor is making us do non stop dance to replicate what a comp will be like.... If we stop she starts the music over again and we have to do it again.... She is pushng us very very hard.... At the end of the lesson as she was talking I was going in and out of conscience, like a feeling that I dont know where I am...So I leaned against Nick (big man, lots of places to lean) as she talked, just in case, so he could catch me if I buckled.....

 

We compete this Friday, dont know what to do...... Hey Gene, on Nicks idea, he thinks I need more protein so we went for a ribeye steak dinner after our lesson.... Pretty worried right now, going to bed and looking forward to one day of rest before the comp.....

[mummsie]

thanks Smooth. I feel pretty happy with it :D One of those dresses that makes you feel good.

I hope you get through your comp ok without passing out. Maybe just one of those viral things that pass. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Maybe you are just uptight about the teacher making you work overhard. Sometimes they have no idea.!!! This is the next comp we are entered in. http://www.megastars.com.au/

I too love Gene's posts over on the other board - they really have something stuck up their rears don't they !!!:D

Best of luck if you don't check in before Friday. - Mummsie

[princess_cruz]

Although the brits still wont accept American smooth dancing as a valid form of dance!

 

I will be working in the UK for the month of August, who knows what will happen to my dancing!

 

haha its true. i'm a brit and i dont see how it is a dance on its own. surely its just a variation of the foxtrot? mind you, the rumba is a variation of the cha cha...

anywho, i'm sure you'll wow them with your expertise at dancing and i promise you we wont teach you how to body-pop. (think beyoncé fist and booty shakin);)

[GCurry]

"And I'll substantiate the rumor that the English sense of humor is dryer then the Texas sand!" - London Homesick Blues

Yeah it's fun over there; here comes some rustic cowboy to kick the table over and shoot the lights out. However, one of the rustics teaching fields just happens to be literature and I've read all my life, so in reality, personality and a life in Texas aside, we share a lot of common knowledge, and certainly dancing is a serious hobby with Susan and I.

 

Smooth, you and Mummsie both need some kind of sports medicine/trainer advice. I don't doubt that along with the competition there's some pretty serious dieting going on. That coupled with the high level of exercise has got to take it out of you. It could be as simple as Gatorade or some other sports drink as you work out, or a high protein diet. I couldn't begin to guess, and you shouldn't either.

 

I promise you we wont teach you how to body-pop. (think beyoncé fist and booty shakin)

Now you've got me, just what exactly is to body-pop? Does it require a chiropractor, or perhaps you'll need one later?

Hey, Beyonce is a Houston girl!!

[tropicalsunset]

Smooth: did you say where this comp is being held??? good luck ... hope the dizziness passes...

 

GCurry: someone on our board posted the temps for Oct.:

Average high temps in mid-October for our ports:

Rome – 71

Civitavecchia – 70

Mikonos – 74

Rhodes – 75

Santorini – 74

Istanbul – 67

Constanta – 62

Odessa – 58

Kusadasi – 73

Athens – 73

Naples – 71

 

 

Should be like fall in New England... and I plan to do alot of walking around -- provided we don't get alot of rain.. I will be happy!! :D

 

We have booked a dinner/ dance show in Instanbul the evening we are there... however.. we did find out a former waiter friend of ours from Turkey will be working on the ship and we are open to change our plans if the opportunity presents itself!!

 

Mummsie: that dress is gorgeous...!

[princess_cruz]

:D

"

 

Now you've got me, just what exactly is to body-pop? Does it require a chiropractor, or perhaps you'll need one later?

Hey, Beyonce is a Houston girl!!

 

haha. its hard to explain in writing what exactly a body-pop is. here goes...

have you seen the beyoncé video for crazyt in love? well, in that she does this sort of bent arms clenched fists brin ging them in and out of her decolletage area whilst sticking her but out simultaneously to each body "pop".n and that, my ear friend, is a body pop. honestly we couldnt get enough of that dance move over here.

mind you, when i was on the grand princess, the americans were teachin me this move called the "invisible ball"....now that was weird.

[smoothdancer]

Still cant picture this body pop. Must be an age thing as to why I am not getting it!

 

Well I suppose that some still do intense diets in dancing but over the past couple of years you see less and less ladies dieting to dangerous levels. (Perhaps dancing with the stars has helped this along) I for one am very glad to see this change of attitude. I for sure watch my calories and dont much indulge in the real good stuff!, but I would not say I am diet crazy, just careful. It turned out that my fainting feeling was due to a 24 hour bug coming on.... By the time we hit the dance floor I was feeling just fine. Tropical, the comp was somewhat local, Mass and we had a good time and happy with our dancing.....

[GCurry]

I think I'll leave those moves to the younger crowd Princess, I don't know that my medical covers body pops!

 

Well I suppose that some still do intense diets in dancing but over the past couple of years you see less and less ladies dieting to dangerous levels. (Perhaps dancing with the stars has helped this along)

Glad to hear it was nothing serious Smooth, how did you do in the comp?

We had a good dance last night, it was a light turnout, so there was plenty of room on the the floor.

 

Dancing With The Stars just came up on the Brits board, shocked and appalled of course, although from what I can tell, they started it in the first place!

[tropicalsunset]

Gene: Love the Avatar!! looks like you are in PARTY mode!!:D

 

We went out of town dancing last weekend... saw a band we haven''t seen in a while...we had a great time and they played a waltz at the end of the evening that Dave and I danced solo... we were totally in sync... and I thought--- this is really why I continue to take lessons...

 

Smooth ... have you ever been to Harbor Park in Middletown SAt evenings?? I understand they have a latin dancing competition... my friends want to enter us... HEHEHE... they were told pros are over there... I don't have the desire to make a fool of myself!!:rolleyes:

[smoothdancer]

No I have not gone although our FA dance instructor has been going and says it is a lot of fun. You should enter! From what he said it is more amatuars like us that are entering more so than pros.

[GCurry]

Gene: Love the Avatar!! looks like you are in PARTY mode!!

Thanks Tropical, that was at Fanning Island near the Equator in the Pacific, a tropical atoll where the Melanesian natives celebrate ship day when NCL comes in with non-stop music and dancing. These people still live in palapa huts raise coconuts, seaweed and fish to survive. It's as primitive a place as I've seen in the world.

 

We are continuing our Bolero lessons every Wed. and start group classes again on the 28th.

 

Speaking of Latin competition, there is an event in Buenos Aires coming up to determine the Worlds best Tango Dancers, I think it will be televised at some point as I saw it announced on our local station.

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/17/entertainment/e150856D46.DTL

[mummsie]

hi all, Well we did very well at the comp on the weekend. We got 3rd place for our Level 4 New Vogue - probably the best we could have achieved on the day. The 1st and 2nd places were regular winners and its hard to get a breakthrough when they are entrenched like that. We won the Level 3 Modern and elevated with the win so we are now Level 4 in that as well. Have to get our tango routine going properly now. :D My kids also did well - Shannon and Ben (daughter and s-i-l) got 1st for the Level 2 New vogue with a very big field - around 34 couples and Kieran and Laura (son and dance partner) got a 4th in the same event. They were very disappointed as its their pet event but they just didn't dance as well as they should have - hopefully will make them work harder for Melbourne.!! :D Shannon & Ben elevated up to level 3 with their win so they are really chuffed and the good thing now is that Shannon and Kieran are no longer competing against each other in the same event.!!! :D Mummsie

[GCurry]

hi all, Well we did very well at the comp on the weekend. We got 3rd place for our Level 4 New Vogue - probably the best we could have achieved on the day. The 1st and 2nd places were regular winners and its hard to get a breakthrough when they are entrenched like that. We won the Level 3 Modern and elevated with the win so we are now Level 4 in that as well. Have to get our tango routine going properly now. :D My kids also did well - Shannon and Ben (daughter and s-i-l) got 1st for the Level 2 New vogue with a very big field - around 34 couples and Kieran and Laura (son and dance partner) got a 4th in the same event. They were very disappointed as its their pet event but they just didn't dance as well as they should have - hopefully will make them work harder for Melbourne.!! :D Shannon & Ben elevated up to level 3 with their win so they are really chuffed and the good thing now is that Shannon and Kieran are no longer competing against each other in the same event.!!! :D Mummsie

How wonderful that your whole family competes, and what a great support group for them to have at the competitions. Do you usually practice together as a family, have the same instructors etc??

That's tough when the same couples win every time, it makes you question how/why are they consistently better then you.

 

We are trying to reason with Hurricane season over here, we just missed one of the worst in thirty years when it went into Mexico. But, we did have a tropical storm Erin last week that submerged a lot of Houston.

Most of the storms are on the Atlantic side, but this year they are coming in our direction.

[mummsie]

hi all, been looking around and finally found some New Vogue on U-Tube - this was a segment from the New Zealand version of DWTS. The dancing isn't the top of the range and the actual dance starts over a minute in - they did a very long intro. Also for competition, we usually only do between 2 and 3 sequences - this goes on for about 6.!!! They must have been really pooped at the end because it was about 5 minutes of what is basically vienesse!! :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8bI3LCHLZc - enjoy Mummsie

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks - it actually looks a lot like American style Viennese waltz.

 

abby

who is getting ready for her Bronze 4 test in Viennese waltz - DVIDA syllabus.

[clofty]

Hi Mummsie,

 

Thanks for the link to the Swing waltz. It's our favourite dance. We also like the Twilight waltz and the Barclay - but we don't remember the Barclay Blues too well as we never really mastered correct techniquie with our Foxtrot whilst in Australia.

 

We have only ever danced socially and we still dance about once a month socially. Finally our friends have started lessons. It only took one cruise before they wanted to learn for the second cruise. I guess the women were tired of the men drinking and playing poker.

 

Thanks for the memories.

Cheers

 

Chris

[mummsie]

Hi Chris, Swing waltz isn't really our favourite - too much rise and fall in too short a span. My favourite is Lucille and Twilight in the waltzes at the moment. We however have Swing Waltz in the Australians in December so we are hard at work trying to get the arms going right. We have a lot of doubles this comp so that's going to be hard. Level 4 we have Twilight, Carousel, Tango Terrific and Swing with closed positions and the Open we have Twilight, Carousel, Tango Terrific and Barclay Blues with open lines. Very confusing when you have to learn the same dance 2 different ways.!!:D

 

Abby - you are sort of correct in saying is similar to Am style vienesse except everybody is doing the same steps at the same time and not freestyle as you do in vienesse. I have seen a tape of Am style dancing and I would find it very hard to judge with all those arms flailing everywhere. :D I love watching it but I would hate to dance it especially in a comp situation. :D With New Vogue dancing if you make a mistake on the comp floor it stands out like you wouldn't believe so its easy to judge who has correct footwork. Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

Thanks Mummsie.

That was interesting and it looks like fun. I agree with Abby, it does resembile our American Waltz...

 

By the way Abby, good luck on your VW testing. For us this is the most difficult of all the dances.. Just had a lesson in VW tonight with a little progress, Yea!

[GCurry]

Hi Chris, Swing waltz isn't really our favourite - too much rise and fall in too short a span. My favourite is Lucille and Twilight in the waltzes at the moment. We however have Swing Waltz in the Australians in December so we are hard at work trying to get the arms going right. We have a lot of doubles this comp so that's going to be hard. Level 4 we have Twilight, Carousel, Tango Terrific and Swing with closed positions and the Open we have Twilight, Carousel, Tango Terrific and Barclay Blues with open lines. Very confusing when you have to learn the same dance 2 different ways.!!

Thanks Mummsie, I had my wife watch it too, as we have never seen Sequence Dancing or Swing Waltz before. It was interesting as well that you have group competition on DWTS. The pros and some times the "Stars" will dance as a group as part of the entertainment, but never competitively.

 

Abby - you are sort of correct in saying is similar to Am style vienesse except everybody is doing the same steps at the same time and not freestyle as you do in vienesse. I have seen a tape of Am style dancing and I would find it very hard to judge with all those arms flailing everywhere. :D I love watching it but I would hate to dance it especially in a comp situation. :D With New Vogue dancing if you make a mistake on the comp floor it stands out like you wouldn't believe so its easy to judge who has correct footwork. Mummsie

After watching that video, I certainly see that if you miss a step it would really be glaring. I think lot of our individualism in dance is because of the instruction; different teachers teaching different steps and styles. They even use different terminology for the same step. One calls it an open break and another says it's the 5th step break. The old comps with a number of couples dancing would all be doing a waltz freestyle I suppose?

 

I remember Old Lance, National Dance Champion from Hell, saying he danced the waltz one time for an hour and a half without stopping as the other couples were eliminated. That was back in the 50s of course.

[princess_cruz]

i'm going to go back to the original question of this thread and have a bit of a teenage rant. ok, so i jus got back off the QE2 last sunday, and it was absolutely brill and all. but one thing, the balls and dancing. right, first of all, hardly anyone got dressed up, secondly it wasnt really a ball, just another night of old people trying to dance. thirdly, the dance classes were beginner and werent really accomodating for someone like me with abit more experince, so all i could do was watch. and finally, whenever i plucked up the courage to go and find someone to dance i.e. the male host dancers- they completely ignored me! i went up to one of them (tired of being ignored and partnerless) to ask THEM if they would like to dance. only, he pretended not to hear me and asked this other women roght in front of me to dance instead. so there i was, stood like a lemon in the middle of the ballroom having to smile quickly and run away. oh and another thing- do they only ask women to dance from the front row? cos i swear they never once vbentured further throughout the whole cruise. do women pre-book the privelege to dance with them? is it some sort of private club that i was not aware about, cos damn me if they ever once looked in my (or any other woman beyond the front row) direction.

ok rant over, any thoughts, people?

thanks

x

[mummsie]

i'm going to go back to the original question of this thread and have a bit of a teenage rant. ok, so i jus got back off the QE2 last sunday, and it was absolutely brill and all. but one thing, the balls and dancing. right, first of all, hardly anyone got dressed up, secondly it wasnt really a ball, just another night of old people trying to dance. thirdly, the dance classes were beginner and werent really accomodating for someone like me with abit more experince, so all i could do was watch.

thanks

x

Hi Abby, We did tell you in the beginning that the dance classes were purely begginner classes with the idea of getting people who haven't danced before comfortable enough to get up and have a go. I have never let that bother me and I always attend these classes as they are fun. Its nice to have a relaxing time instead of worrying about your frame and if your footwork and feet positions are correct. Its a holiday so we just chill out and go for the ride.

As for your other problem with the men dancers - I don't know as I haven't cruised on that line yet. We are waiting until we get old.!!! :D Mummsie