Dancing on the Ruby

[little miss s]

My DH and I like to swing dance. When we went through the Panama Canal last year on the Island Princess, we were hoping to do a lot of dancing in the evening. It turned out that the crowd was a lot older than we anticipated (average age about 70) and the music was often very unfamiliar. We struck up a conversation with another couple and asked what dance they were doing. They told us they were doing the rumba.

 

We are going to Hawaii next year on the Ruby. I'm thinking the crowd and the music will be similar to Panama. We can probably learn 1-2 new dances before our cruise. What would be the best dance to learn that would give us the most flexibility for dancing on a cruise ship?

[skynight]

My DH and I like to swing dance. When we went through the Panama Canal last year on the Island Princess, we were hoping to do a lot of dancing in the evening. It turned out that the crowd was a lot older than we anticipated (average age about 70) and the music was often very unfamiliar. We struck up a conversation with another couple and asked what dance they were doing. They told us they were doing the rumba.

 

We are going to Hawaii next year on the Ruby. I'm thinking the crowd and the music will be similar to Panama. We can probably learn 1-2 new dances before our cruise. What would be the best dance to learn that would give us the most flexibility for dancing on a cruise ship?

Some common ballroom dances are rumba, cha-cha, fox trot, waltz. You also get some swing or maybe better described as 50's Rock & Roll. Of course you can do any dance you like when it fits the music.

There will most likely be some beginner ballroom dance sessions on the many sea days. During ship's parties there is lots of line dancing. There may also be line dance classes.

[soccerref]

My DH and I like to swing dance. When we went through the Panama Canal last year on the Island Princess, we were hoping to do a lot of dancing in the evening. It turned out that the crowd was a lot older than we anticipated (average age about 70) and the music was often very unfamiliar. We struck up a conversation with another couple and asked what dance they were doing. They told us they were doing the rumba.

 

We are going to Hawaii next year on the Ruby. I'm thinking the crowd and the music will be similar to Panama. We can probably learn 1-2 new dances before our cruise. What would be the best dance to learn that would give us the most flexibility for dancing on a cruise ship?

 

As keen dancers ourselves, I would suggest that learning a cha cha cha routine might be a good idea as a large amount of up-tempo music, both modern and more traditional, uses that rhythm. Another useful dance is a 'social foxtrot' which has a 4 beat rhythm and, again, is used a lot in all types of music.

 

Happy cruising and dancing.

 

P.S.

 

On our last Princess cruise, we found that there was not a lot of variety of styles of dance music being played so we had a quiet word with the CD and explained that we knew how to do a wide range of Latin and ballroom dances and wondered if there was any way to accommodate us and he was most obliging. The next night, in both the dance venues (Ocean Princess) there was a much wider variety of rhythms so we, and several other couples, were very happy.

[cr8tiv1]

The swing, foxtrot, cha-cha, and rhumba are all 4/4 time. Keeping that in mind, most of the steps are interchangeable. The ships seem to play more latin numbers than "ballroom" pieces. The best advice I can give you is to learn to dance in a small space. The dance floors are not very big. Imagine yourself in a 36 foot square. There have been couples who want to dance International Style with arms extended and traveling. Makes it very difficult for all the other dancers. And yes, the Ruby will have dance classes on board during the sea days.

[caribill]

The band or the DJ will usually be willing to playy at least some of the music you want to dance to.

 

Just ask.

[little miss s]

Thanks to everyone for all the input. I do remember a fair amount of Latin music on our last cruise, but I also remember a lot of Frank Sinatra era music. I think we'll start working on a social foxtrot and then try to squeeze in some rumba or cha cha if we can.

 

Cr8tiv1, your advice about small spaces is very good. Our instructor is always cautioning us to keep our movements small. The local swing dance venue in our area gets very packed and bumping into people is not uncommon.