Ballroom Dance Lessons

[mummsie]

Hi GCurry, sounds like old Lance is a bit of a character. We could do with some of that here at the moment. We got lectured at training on Saturday - a lot of unhappy people at the studio because of it. It was a rougher than normal practice though - floorcraft seemed to be a non- issue. We got bumped more than once but one couple few into a rage and stormed out so the rest of us got a bollicking.!! Anyhow the studio is closed this Saturday because of a major comp about 2 hours drive west of Brisbane. Just about the whole studio is going except for Gary and I (I hurt my foot again yesterday). I tell ya - I can't take a trick.!!! Hopefully things will have calmed down by the following Saturday.

On a happier note, my son turns 21 on Friday. We are organising a party for him the following week as he will be attending the dance competition this weekend.

Smooth, have fun with rumba. Its one of my favourites as well although its hard to get the hip action going just right. !!! ;) - Mummsie

[GCurry]

Mummsie, I've never been bollicked, but I'll bet it hurts. Speaking of hurt what are you going to do about the foot? I finally gave up racquetball because a knee was wearing out, which moved me more to dancing for exercise. I would hate to think you might have to stop dancing.

 

Lisa141-how did it go in Pittsburgh, did you have fun at the showcase? Four studios at once should be interesting, or could break out in a brawl, "My couples can out dance your couples" sort of thing. I've noticed most studio professionals get along like cats in a sack.

 

That's a good idea with the mirror practice Smooth, we're so busy concentrating on the steps we forget about the arms, hands, and heads.

Ole Lance (character extrodinaire) reminds us with "Sir what are you doing with that arm, flagging down a taxi?" A life time of dancing has resulted in two hip replacements for him; the poor old curmudgeon has to walk with a walker/cane. That and my dancing have not improved his attitude!!

 

We are headed up to the Metroplex (Dallas/Ft. Worth) this Memorial weekend to attend the grandson's birthday party and visit some cruise friends. Other cruise friends out of Austin will use our house for a night before going out of Galveston on Carnival.

[tropicalsunset]

Wow, I think I saw the sun today but it's still windy and chilly... hoping for a nice holiday weekend... we are heading north to Maine...

 

We went to a dance at our local Elks lodge Sat night... It was a dinner - dance "Over the Hill" ... about 85 people were there many times we had the ballroom floor to ourselves... did a foxtrot to "beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin... lone dancers on the floor... ...many times there were just a handful on the dance floor... so it was great... I keep telling Dave I can't do a new dance step in a social situation until I get real comfortable with it... I can dance it in our basement and in class. and then oh well, maybe I should just stop drinking and dancing!!!!! :rolleyes: :D :D

 

 

Next week we are taking a break from the Salsa and doing the RRHOOOOOM-BA..... Katarina always has such ambitions for us for our 45 minute class!!

 

Mummsie: Happy Birthday to your son!!

Our "baby" is off to the SR. Prom on friday nite.... changed date this past weekend... so had to reorder the accessories!!

[Lisa141]

The showcase was a lot of fun but what a long day! I was more nervous than I expected to be! Our Waltz was very early (4th heat). It went pretty well. My husband was VERY nervous and started out with the wrong feet, but we got it together. It looked pretty decent for beginners. The judge was John McGraw. I'm not real up on dance people but I guess he is pretty big. Our Cha Cha was several hours later and did not go as well as the waltz. It did not look too bad but it felt terrible while we were doing it! The general dancing was a lot of fun and the costumes were amazing!!

We had a coaching sessions with Mr Mcgraw yesterday and it was very good. His biggest comment was of course on our dance frame. He gave us some tips to make it better, and helped us clean up the cha cha some. It was very beneficial.

We are still really enjoying the dancing and have signed up for more lessons and coaching sessions. I want to be able to do a routine by the next showcase in December!

The weather has finally improved up here. It is supposed to be up to 75 today! Of course we are heading south tomorrow to Charlotte NC for the Coca cola 600. Our one race a year. Should be fun!

Everyone have a great Memorial day weekend!

[smoothdancer]

Hey Lisa,

I am glad you had fun!!... In time the nerves go away and you feel quite at home on a performance dance floor... We had troubles the first time we performed the waltz too. I have that waltz song inbedded in my mind forever... Everytime I hear the song it reminds me of "the first time"!!

 

MCG asked about competition among the studios. I find in chain studios the competition is friendly, and you do make friends with other studio students the more you go.... Instructors and students from other studios cheer you on. I think this has a lot to do with that even though different owners they are all somehow connected with the franchise. I am glad to hear you signed up for more lessons... Oh oh, I think your hooked!

 

And about that posture thing... I dont know why it is so difficult just to stand up straight, but it is!! 10 years of dancing and we still spend a lot of time being coached on our posture and dance frames.

[mummsie]

Hi all, Well my son did pretty good at the competition on Saturday. They got into the finals for the levels 1-2 and 2-3 New Vogue and 1-2 Standard. He was happy. It was a large field so had to dance 3 rounds. He also danced with an individual in an individual event and his partner won her dance. Here if you don't have a partner, you can ask somebody to be your partner on the night - the person being judged wears the back number. That way everybody gets a chance to dance whether you have a partner or not :-) The girl in this case was his previous partner :-) Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

Pretty neat! Talent must run in your family. It must be great to watch you son dance, and then to do so well on top of it.

[RoofingPrincess]

I'm leaving in a few days, RCCL's Explorer, 9 nights

Can anyone give me any info on what the ballroom possibilities will be like?

One of the other members of our group is an old friend from the days (long ago) when I took ballroom lessons, and we're looking forward to doing some serious dancing.

[smoothdancer]

I can only help a little. All the RCCL cruises we have been on were short ones. I have found the longer the cruise the more ballroom dance opportunities there are....

 

Anyway, they do a nice captians party with a band and there is a good variety of ballroom music to dance too. I especially like that they do not do the party in the theatre, but around one of the larger club dance floors.

 

In addition, the do play a lot of latin music in the other bars and there was plenty of opportunity for us to do the latin/rhythm ballroom dances... Have a great time dancing on your cruise!

[mummsie]

hi Smooth, Yes I am very happy with how my son has turned out - considering he was such a mongeral kid :-) I didn't actually watch him this time as the comp was a 2 hour drive away and with fuel being so expensive here - equivalent to $6.50 US a gallon every body car pooled so no room for me. :( Next comp is local so if we are not dancing (I hope we are) I will go and watch him. Mummsie

[RoofingPrincess]

we figured there'd be a lot of latin, are hoping for a little smooth as well... he kept looking at me and saying "I wish you knew how to do quickstep"...

so I went and had one private lesson last week and am dying to try it out!

[smoothdancer]

Cool!.. Be careful with that Quickstep.. The floors are not that big!!

 

We take lessons in the Hartford area too.

[tropicalsunset]

Mummsie: Congrats to your son.

 

Princess: we went on The Grandeur last summer with our teens... the disco was hopping and they did have lessons on the swing!! we found that the dance floors were quite full but were able to dance a "tight hustle" and some swing and Cha cha... will be looking forward to how you find the Explorer as we will be on The Adventure of the Seas in October... Have fun!!!

 

Smooth: hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather... my coworkers and I took our bag lunches to a park today -- it was awesome...!!!

[clofty]

Hey Mummsie,

 

I wonder where the term 'mongeral' came from. It's not a word our US friends use, as far as I am aware.

 

We have just bought a new investment townhome in Cairns so when we come back we can offset some tax loss against income. I hear taxes have come down though.

 

We have booked an Alaska cruise but it's for 23 June 2007 Northbound as the later it gets the more expensive it gets and we have to lug our kids with us.

 

You know I booked a 3 day cruise for next week for hubby (and me) to Nassau because he is so stressed at work at the moment. Can you believe our 'poor' kids would rather go to a birthday party, but we can't leave them here. We have no family here to look after them and I couldn't ask friends or neighbours, it's just not right. I need to send them back home to reside with my sister in Sydney for a while so they can 'appreciate' what they have got over here.

 

We are also going on a cruise with the cub scout gang in September and they are all going w/o kids, and we were going to get good friends who have moved away to look after our two little uns (8 &11), but they may be moving too much further away.

 

Also trying to submit our green card application and that is the biggest hassle I've come across yet. So much paperwork and very expensive immigration solicitors that the employer just 'have' to hire to submit our case because DH's visa is employment based.

 

Anyway must go, just thought I'd put my two cents in about nothing as I haven't been dancing lately.

[smoothdancer]

It must be nice to be within driving distance from the pier.

 

The last 3 day cruise we went on our tablemates were from Boca Raton. The ship left on Friday, returned on Monday.... He left a few hours early from work on Friday, and Monday morning he was getting off the ship and going right to work.

[mummsie]

Hi Chris, Where in Cairns did you buy your townhouse? We were up there a couple of years ago - stayed out at Clifton Beach. Its nice up there but a bit hot for me :-) Taxes have come down slightly but not enough to make a huge difference. The government had such a huge surplus last budget, they had to give some back or face a revolt. Of course its more aimed at the high rollers. Us middle income earners didn't get too much. My son did ok though - he is a 2nd year apprentice electrical fitter so he will do quite well out of it.

Enjoy your cruise. Its not long until we go either - This time next month will be In Singapore just about ready to board. :-) Gayle

[clofty]

Mummsie, the Cairns place is in the CBD(Parramatta Park), but my sister-in-law has a rental place in Clifton Beach and it is a nice area. I would like also to get a place there maybe later. I'm glad your son has got some benefit. He is in a good field where there will always be a demand. My DH is an electrical engineer who has worked for Toshiba for 18 yrs installing and fixing medical equipment CTs, X-Ray machines, MRI's etc. He was in the middle income area whilst in Sydney. In Florida, he gets more money and it's goes a lot further as you know by the gas and car prices. But there are no meat pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, pavlova and no New Vogue:(

[mummsie]

Hi Chris, Don't blame you for moving from Sydney - not my most favourite place. :) We had our son's 21st birthday party last Saturday night and I made sausage rolls and pav :D Both were very nice. The kids all had a good time. No dancing although we had a couple of game cube disco mats set up in tandem that they were using. They all had fun. Nobody got drunk and a good time was had by all :) Gayle.

[GCurry]

But there are no meat pies, sausage rolls, lamingtons, pavlova and no New Vogue:(

I always knew Florida had some deficiencies, thank you for pointing them out. I fear you won't find them in Texas either. New Vogue I'm told is called round dancing here, but there is none in our area.

 

We've started a new series of lessons with Ole Lance, who was happy to see his favorite whipping boy show up for more punishment. His first class has about 10 new couples, which should keep his blood pressure up.

We helped with the newbies and then worked on the Tango the second hour with the good dancers. Lance is amazing with his knowledge of every step; "No,No,No, it's slow slow, quickquickquickquick, slowslow, tango closed."

 

You are right as usual Smooth, there's nothing like cruising out of where you live.

[smoothdancer]

I am beginning to relate to the "whipping boy" feeling!!

 

Our coach, that we have worked with for about 8 months now does nothing for my ego!. He is Russian, and they have a whole different mindset.... Nothing is sugarcoated, he is tough, nasty, and really has no conception of encouragement...According to him, we are horrible dancers, and it is first place or nothing. He explained to us once that in Russia, first place is a future , second place nothing... He has been in the USA since 2000, but still has the hard as nails approach... Sometimes it is hard to deal with.... Man oh man when we told him it is the love of dance we are after and not placements I though he would damn near die!!

 

We leave tommorrow for Baltimore for a comp... I was not sure that I could handle his sesson with us tonight and more of you are horrible... AHHH, he liked what he saw and as much as he had it in him, gave us a slight...very slight, your looking good!!

 

Me, I love Baltimore's inner harbor, and no mattter what, the seafood is great!! Dance good, we celebrate with dinner on the harbor, dance bad, we lick our wounds with dinner on the harbor..... All the same in the end!!

 

We are dancing rhythms this comp... OK the dances are not ready, but the rhythm costume is to die for!!!

[mummsie]

Good luck with the comp Smooth. I am sure it will all be good :D We had a lesson last night and worked on our Tango position. I tend to hang on with my left arm. I lock on and poor Gary can hardly move. He ends up with a crook shoulder. We did quite a bit of work on trying to improve that last night. Will be interesting to see if we remember it all by Saturday practice. Only 3 weeks until we cruise. I am getting very excited. Just hope the SS Gemini lives up to expectations :D Mummsie

[cruzinmecrazy]

The salsa sounds so fun, and anything Latin. It really looks like it would burn a lot of calories too!;) I just wonder how difficult they are to learn? Also I like the idea of dancing and not just watching others dance and have fun.

 

S&S, The Salsa is the most difficult of Latin dances for me. I am a white double left-footed, non-coordinated, ryhthumless, male, married to a Cuban born California cutie. She dances circles around me.....really...she dances circles around me. The salsa step is something I will practice often. The Merenge and rumba are a little easier step. Merenge is the box with a few little moves you can add to make it look latinish (non-word)

 

Enjoy, I know I am. But won't admit it to my wife until later. Can't let her think she can get away with bringing me to dance lessons and me not get something in return. I'll milk it for a few months then give in.

[GCurry]

I am beginning to relate to the "whipping boy" feeling!!

 

Our coach, that we have worked with for about 8 months now does nothing for my ego!. He is Russian, and they have a whole different mindset.... Nothing is sugarcoated, he is tough, nasty, and really has no conception of encouragement...According to him, we are horrible dancers, and it is first place or nothing. He explained to us once that in Russia, first place is a future , second place nothing... He has been in the USA since 2000, but still has the hard as nails approach... Sometimes it is hard to deal with.... Man oh man when we told him it is the love of dance we are after and not placements I though he would damn near die!!

We leave tomorrow for Baltimore for a comp... I was not sure that I could handle his sesson with us tonight and more of you are horrible... AHHH, he liked what he saw and as much as he had it in him, gave us a slight...very slight, your looking good!!

Me, I love Baltimore's inner harbor, and no mattter what, the seafood is great!! Dance good, we celebrate with dinner on the harbor, dance bad, we lick our wounds with dinner on the harbor..... All the same in the end!!

We are dancing rhythms this comp... OK the dances are not ready, but the rhythm costume is to die for!!!

I certainly can relate, sports wise, I've always been a fierce competitor and hate to lose. I think that's why these days, I don't put my self in a position that turns into a competition, I know how I get. I certainly don't have to worry about that in dance, and Ole Lance reinforces that thought. We love it, we learn, we don't practice enough, but it's a major hobby and good social occasions.

Ole Lance BTW, throws out complements like they were manhole covers!!

 

We love Baltimore as well, and have visited Inner harbor on more then one occasion. We have the same blue crabs here on the Texas coast, but nobody can match a Maryland Crab Cake. I've done my share of crab fishing which can be fun especially with kids, just don't step on the Sting Rays!!

 

Give us a report when you return Smooth.

[Lisa141]

S&S, The Salsa is the most difficult of Latin dances for me. I am a white double left-footed, non-coordinated, ryhthumless, male, married to a Cuban born California cutie. She dances circles around me.....really...she dances circles around me. The salsa step is something I will practice often. The Merenge and rumba are a little easier step. Merenge is the box with a few little moves you can add to make it look latinish (non-word)

 

Enjoy, I know I am. But won't admit it to my wife until later. Can't let her think she can get away with bringing me to dance lessons and me not get something in return. I'll milk it for a few months then give in.

 

Hey Steve I see you found the ballroom dancing thread, guess you are now as hooked as we are!;)

Don't worry about salsa. It really can be a hard dance depending on the song. I am glad you are enjoying it. Herb and I knew you would!

[tropicalsunset]

Mummsie: what are the Ports of call on the SS Gemini??

 

No dancing for me this weekend... flying solo... hubby golfing in the Catskills, NY.. the weekend looked very iffy going in but it looks like they had clouds with little rain this year.

 

Back to dance lessons on Monday... I'm sure he will be a little sore after his golf blitz!!! We are scheduled to do Rhumba and Hustle... I bet she gets us back on our Salsa... and I'm glad to see someone else is struggling with this... I still work on the triple reverse turn... I feel like the leaning tower trying to do that... so go back to POSTURE>>>>POSTURE!!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!