Ballroom Dance Lessons

[GCurry]

Lorraine, Thanks for the welcome! Our favorite, so far is the Rumba.

Welcome Keith/Rita, love to Rumba the music is beautiful and it's got more moves than Exlax. Through the happenstance of life long ago, I spent two weeks in Evansville at a tech school. It was winter with wet freezing rains, I was a young Texas lad from El Paso, I enjoyed your town and your people.

 

Alaska approves cruise tax

 

 

Alaskan voters have approved taxing each visiting cruise passenger $50 and further taxing the cruise lines.

Initial reports from the Alaska primary said Ballot Initiative 2 got more than 52 percent of the vote. The initiative requires further state government approval before its provisions can take effect.

The initiative's key features:

• Requires each Alaskan cruise passenger to pay a $50 tax.
  
• Taxes cruise lines' corporate earnings.
  
• Taxes gambling in Alaskan waters.
  
• Requires reporting of cruise line shore excursion profits.

The tab just went up Mummsie!

[smoothdancer]

This cruise tax is interesting. Perhaps not Alaska, but certainly some other ports where tourism is the main source of income, why would they mess with it and take the risk of loosing tourists...

 

When we did a short cruise to the Bahamas the taxi driver told us that there was plans to move the dock outside of the city, requiring a tender... I cant help but wonder if many of the passangers wont get off the ship then, or not as often. These 3 day cruises stop in Bahamas all the time and many of the passangers have been there before... Certainly they would loose some nightime revenue.

 

Then when we were in Bermuda the taxi driver told us that they were thinking of doing the same. He said that many resturant owners were not happy that the passangers would go back to the ship for lunch, and that the ships were blocking the breeze. On NCL they do have a dine a shore program, and you would think if more resturants joined into the program with NCL thier revenue would be up.

 

Who knows!

[mummsie]

Hi GCurry, I guess another $50 won't break us. I think Gary has just about worked out which one we are going on. It worked out a little cheaper than we first anticipated - only about $17K so what a bargain !!! :D Anyhow hopefully he will be booking it in the next few days. One of the problems is the airfares - the cheapest seats are gone apparently and they only release so many cheap ones per flight. Because Qantas has the market sewn up and won't let other carriers fly to Canada except for Air Canada from Australia our options are a lot less. We were going to go via SF but it would just make it too long a trip. As it is, its around 18hrs. :o

Well 4 weeks until my daughters wedding. We are sending them on a cruise for their honeymoon - around the Pacific. I hope they have a great time. Its an oldish ship - P&O Pacific Sun but its supposed to be ok.:) It will be Ben's first time out of Australia so that will be interesting. He has led a very sheltered life. My kids have been to the USA and NZ so have seen a bit of the world. :D Mummsie

[mummsie]

hi all, yahoo. All booked. We fly out of Brisbane on 2nd May at 7am and arrive in Vancouver at about 7am the same day seeing as we are flying back through time. Going to be a long horrible flight though. Got to fly Brisbane to Sydney, Sydney to Vanvouver with a 3 hour stopover in Hawaii. Almost 24 hours in the plane.!!! :eek: Dowside we have to pay $8,000 deposit by next week.!!! :eek: Don't any of you guys complain about costs for cruising in Alaska.!!! I guess it puts back buying a new car for a few months. :D We are going NCL on the Norwegian Sun I think Gary said. Anyhow now I really have to plan on what clothes I need to take as winter (all 2 weeks of it) is finished here and I will need to buy some warm clothes when the sales are on. Mummsie

[Keith Rita]

Hi mummsie and congrats on the booking! We cruised the NCL Sun for New Years. A very nice ship. We hope you enjoy. If you want to see some photos of the ship just click the link in our signature.

We fly out early a.m. tomorrow for our cruise.

[tropicalsunset]

Keith and Rita... enjoy your cruise... hope you have great weather and lots of opportunities to dance!!

 

Mummsie: congrats on your booking... Unbelievable the price... and I assume that does not include all the expensive excursions that are so wonderful in Alaska...!!!

 

Friends of ours have booked the Century Jan 22nd with us..so we have a good group going ... a 5 day... save your sanity winter break for us!!! We hope to fly in to Miami a couple days early to extend the vacation..

 

We were lucky to the the sole attendees to this weeks group foxtrot class .... always great to get a Private lesson for a group price!! and lots of work accomplished...

Smooth... a coworker of mine from our other office goes to AM in Canton ... she loves it and has invited us to join them at a Friday night dance.. it will be an opportunity for us to check out the school before our present contract runs out!!

 

Let me see... Is that Alaska tax.... tax deductible?????:confused: :confused:

[mummsie]

Thanks Keith and Rita.

Smooth - thats only the deposit!! the balance about $10k has to be paid the month before and thats not including any excursions :D Although part of the deposit is for the Rocky Mountain train tour. :)

We had a good lesson last night - had an hour on New Vogue. Our next comp is coming up in about 5 weeks so it would be nice to win our event in this comp which would elevate us up to Level 4 :D One week we do New Vogue and the next week we do half New Vogue and half standard. Being in Masters 2 we only have 4 dances maximum in the open events. Although this time dancing our grade and the Open New Vogue we have all different dances. We have 2 waltzes, 3 foxtrots, 1 tango and 1 march. Sometimes we are lucky and doubleup for at least one of the waltz and foxtrots. Foot is a lot better since I started taking Glucosamine a couple of weeks ago - its such a relief to not be in pain. I almost forget what its like. Now I just have to try my dress on and see how much I need to take it in. Have lost 12cm around my waist :D - Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

Tropical,

Just be careful with the pricing at AM..... I know each one is owned independently but thier prices can be steep.... We first started with AM and back then it was costing us close to $90.00 per 45 minute lesson, which is way over the market or what we currenty pay now, 10 years later.

 

When we left AM to go to another studio because we wanted to learn more technique and the AM studio that we were at was mostly social dancing... I was so shocked to find out that we were over paying as I thought that was just the way it was.

 

Still, we did enjoy our time at AM.

[mummsie]

I would hate to have a contract for dancing lessons. 99% of studios in OZ is pay as you go. We pay $53/hour for our lessons which is about average from what I hear around the traps from different people. Fancy having to pay in advance and if you are not happy you are stuck with it.!!! We didn't have our lesson this week as Gary had a work 'do' last night. We gave the lesson time to our daughter as her normal lesson time on a Tuesday night is shared with a group class and they don't get much floor. Only 3 weeks until their wedding. :D Mummsie

[smoothdancer]

Mummsie,

You can do both here in the states....

 

We have two coaches...

Our first, is a pro that dances in American Smooth(guess you dont know what this is!!), but she is incredible... Our cost is $80.00 for an hour, well worth it, we pay as we go. There is usually a waiting line to be a student of one of these coaches.... We got lucky!

 

Our second coach is in a franchised studio

Sure....You can pay as you go, but the more lessons that you purchase the less expensive it becomes.. This is big business here... We purchase our lessons at this studio in blocks... Then if you pay cash up front, another 10% discount... Most of the students cannot pay up front and they actually will finance it, yup, you pay a finance charge... You would be amazed as to how many people do this at someting like 18% interest..

 

We feel this way.. if we cannot pay cash then we cannot afford it.... I guess it is why I sent this post out to Tropical, you need to be careful. Before you pay this up front you need to be assured that you and your coach are on the same page and you have confidence in the relationship.... How many times did Tropical get shifted from instructor to instructor, and have to start all over again.... This is wrong.....

 

Still trying to sway Tropical over to considering dancing at a studio where I know she wont be taken advantage of... (my watchful eye) In the states it happens all the time, that is dancers not aware of "big business" tactics and taking advantage, playing on spur of the moment emotions....Man oh man it really "burns me" to see this happen.... It should not take a second mortgage to find some dance enjoyment...

 

AUGGG... what a soapbox I am on tonight....did I not go on long enough!!!

[tropicalsunset]

OOOPPPPPS!! I think I messed up ....Its FA in CAnton that my friend goes to... the most frustrating thing about changing instructors is you learn something one way or you learn a step and need to revisit that ... and the new instructor is not sure what you are referring to... :confused: :eek: .. with a son in College and Dave and I both working full time... we don't want to put the time and effort into comps and all... maybe someday... but for the forseeable future we just want to refine our technique socially ... and learn proper technique so we don't pick up too many bad habits on the way...:)

My hubby is not a big one for change so I am looking around to see what is out there... our contract is about 3/4 up so by the end of the year we will probably be making a decision.... maybe take a respite.. there are more opportunities for lessons outside of a formal studio that we are aware of .... we have to scope that out too... may be an option for practice for awhile until we have time and $$ to get back into it for real! in the end, I think my hubby will be most comfortable continuing where we are... my suggestions are not met with alot of enthusiasm at this point!!

Smooth: I appreciate all your suggestions... I will file it all away and use it at the appropriate time!!! :D :D

 

We are looking forward to our sailing on the AOS in a couple weeks ... with my oldest son and a friend... I understand from the boards that there is a latin club onboard... I will check that out!!

[MsAbs]

I would love to take dance lessons. I just haven't had the money or time for it. For the past 6 years, I've been competing in bodybuilding competition, and the training takes up just about all my extra time. My gym membership runs out in November, and I've been considering taking a break and doing dance lessons instead.

 

My best friend and her husband teach ballroom dancing. I go every year to their dance showcase featuring their students. I always enjoy watching them float across the dance floor. I do good walking across the stage during a competition bare foot without tripping, so me dancing in those high heel shoes would be quite a sight! :eek:

[smoothdancer]

Tropical,

I know a little about the FA in Canton. It could be a good choice for you should you decide to continue... I should remind you that we are kind of the odd man out at FA... I think we are the only couple in the studio that travels to compete. FA's are mostly social studios, yet they do have some pretty exceptional instructors. What I like about FA is they will taylor a dance program to whatever you want it to be.

 

If not, around us at least, the Park & Rec offers quite a few ballroom group classes that are very affordable. Everyone that I have talked to that goes speaks pretty highly of the classes. Maybe there are some in your area.

 

LOL AB... Once you break in thoes shoes with dance heels it almost feels like you are barefoot! The bottoms are suede that helps keep you pretty well grounded to the floor.

[tropicalsunset]

I told you this is gonna be a challenge... asked my hubby if he would like to sign up for the lessons at the Elks on Sunday nights. very cheap...$100 for a series of 8 weeks.. NO GO...

more social as the class limit is 22 couples ...but only 12 have signed up so far.. and it starts next Sunday..

 

I will keep in mind the FA in Canton... when he gets frustrated enough...

 

Talk about shoes....last night a group of us were at the Elks... started trading shoes with a friend who is the same size as myself... wore one of hers platform and my sandal that is easy to dance in... was very strange... by the end of the night I traded with one of the guys and had one of mine and one western boot on... he was dancing in the pair of Platforms... several sizes too small... we did a slow dance together... and I have to say... he did great ... I have new understanding for men who dance and sweat in full leather!!! Still LOVE DSW!! got an awesome pair of red shoes with gold trim...very comfortable for dancing and HOT, HOt, HOt!!!!

 

check out this fun site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndeWl0Sy1dU&mode=related&search=

[smoothdancer]

Well, whatever you guys decide to do you sure do have to both be in agreement.

 

It has been close to a year now since we changed studios and it sounds easy but is not. You get use to being in a certain place and comfortable. It can be hard to make that change. For us we were both fustrated enough to change. We sometimes dont stop to think how much the people and place becomes so much a part of our daily lives....

 

You shoe story was very funny! Last night we had a dance lesson and I had some success... We have been dancing a throwaway over sway for some time now in our waltz...It is a very deep sway, almost a split for me... The down was fine, but the up was impossible.... Finally I got it!!...yea.. I hate when this happens, it is like an "oh", that was so easy, what took me so long to get it.

[CraftyDD]

DH decided at age 50 that he wanted to take lessons. The school district offers community education classes twice a year. 6 beginner and 6 intermediate lessons for $140. Then you can take private lessons $50/hr. So check out that option.

[Keith Rita]

Hi all, we are back from our cruise and we had a great time. We danced every evening before and after dinner. Now back to our weekly one hour private lessons tomorrow at 5:00. We are working on fox-trot steps--crisscross and crisscross w/grapevine.

Did anybody watch Dancing With The Stars last evening? Jerry Springer and Tucker Carlson--you have got to be kidding!

[smoothdancer]

Did you say your cruise was on Princess??? Tell us more about the dancing!

[Keith Rita]

Did you say your cruise was on Princess??? Tell us more about the dancing!

 

 

On the Caribbean Princess we hung out at the Wheelhouse bar that had three different bands/perfomers playing dance music in the evenings up to 1:00 AM. They played a lot of rumba, cha-cha, swing, waltz, fox-trot, tango, etc. Although the dance floor is not huge it was big enough for the number of folks dancing. It was only crowded on occasions. Other bars/clubs had music varying from disco to hip-hop.

[GCurry]

We are back to lessons with Ole Lance at our community college, they had a long summer break. Lance is his usual sweet self, but has a very small beginners class that might thin rapidly with his tender instruction.

We are demonstrating for his first class, which is good, as he can yell at me and take the heat off the newbies.

 

Of course the lessons are Tuesday night, so we are taping DWTS. Tucker going was no surprise as his was a minimal effort at best. Emmitt surprised us with his ability.

I've looked on their site, but haven't been able to tell how the music is selected. I know each couple is given a song, they can't just pick and choose, but who selects the music and why? I know they want to tie Ballroom to modern music, but really folks, some of the songs were a stretch.

 

KeithRita, glad you had a good cruise, we are on the Grand in Dec., and the Diamond in June, and are looking forward to dancing in the Wheelhouse again.

[abbydancer2003]

TV Guide had a Q&A about DWTS last season. I believe the music is chosen by the star, teacher and producers. The tempo is also adjusted for the star as well.

 

At least that's my faulty recollection.

 

We've sailed on both the Diamond and Sapphire recently, and we did most of our dancing in the wheelhouse, where they had bands that played a variety of ballroom tempos. In addition, there were a couple of evenings where there was a "ballroom dance date" around dinnertime in Club Fusion (I think it was 7:30 and 9:00 pm or something like that.) We went once - the floor was bigger than Wheelhouse, and not crowded. The challenge was doing Quickstep in rough seas.

 

Abby

[mummsie]

I agree. The wheelhouse on the Sapphire is nice. We only went to club fusion on the rock and roll night. Most of the time when we were on it was latin music - good fun though :)

DWTS series 5 is just about to start here - will be interesting to see who they this time around. Its always one of our highest rating problems on free to air TV -

Our lesson went well last night. Elizabeth was very positive for a change - we are working a lot on our CBMP at the moment. We will be dancing our first comp of the year in a few weeks - will be interesting to see how we go. I know from past years, the floor is quite small and so we really have to watch our quickstep and usually have to cut half of the runs out so we don't run off onto the carpet.!! :) Mummsie

[tropicalsunset]

GCurry: I think you secretly miss ol' Lance this summer!! don't ever let him know it tho" !!

 

I found some local community dance classes... and I am warming DAve up to them as an alternative... we are spoiled with the Private lessons tho' and having some control of what dances we are working on..

 

we have never sailed Princess... may have to put them on our list... Quickstep in rough seas... probably much like the Hustle and only to be attempted by the absolutely dedicated or CRAZY... I think we fall into the latter category... we wondered why the dance floor was sooooo empty!!!!! ooooooh la la!!!. my sweet!!! :eek: :D

 

DWTS: really, Jerry Springer???????!!! is this a contest for actors wanting time on Prime Time TV ... maybe a real desire to try something challenging should be somewhat of a requirement.. .. my dance instructor has used chairs on the dance floor as obstacles for us to dance around and avoid... don't think we were meant to work it into the dance routine! well, one thing with taping it... you can fast forward through the garbage.... :cool:

[smoothdancer]

We are going on the Golden Princess in December (Over X-mas). It sounds like we may have some dancing opportunity.

 

This will be a little different for us. We tend to pick the smaller ships, well not small I guess, but ships that carry around 1000 passangers. We have never been on shp this large. I hope we dont have that crowded feeling..

 

For some reason this one sailing was quite inexpensive for a holiday sailing, both kids wont be flying home this holiday, so we decided to give it a try.

 

Good luck with the comp Mummsie. We are on a comp breather right now. We wont compete again until March.

[mummsie]

Hi Smooth, I am sure you will enjoy the Golden. We have only been on two extremes of Princess - their baby and their almost biggest. Neither of them felt over crowded and most nights we had the dancefloor to ourselves. We are getting excited about our Alaska cruise in May - still undecided what sort of clothes to take. I feel the cold a lot but reports have said that May should be around 72F which would be still quite chilly for me but Gary loves the cold so he thinks just t shirts would be fine. He thinks I am being paranoid but I just know if I don't start preparing now I will be in trouble because I won't be able to buy anything suitable if I leave it too much longer. Now moving into summer so all the winter stuff is on sale. Big dillema :D

Practice went well on Saturday except we only did one quickstep. Gary's foot is playing up - if its not one thing its another.!!! Mummsie