Ballroom Dance Lessons

[smoothdancer]

So you did not say, how was danicng on your 07 cruise?

 

Really though I dont think your much different from the rest of us. We all end up picking the dance sytle we want to work on. There are just to many different styles and I am of the opinion to be good at any of them you have to pick your passion. For me it is american smooth and international standard. It has been years since we have had a lesson in the latin or rhythm dances.

 

Our studio does showcases about 3 times a year. Most of the gals are dancing the showcase with thier instructor. Is this not an option for your daughter? Funny, I am completely at home on a competition floor but showcases make we way to nervous, I dont do them!

[swwake]

So you did not say, how was danicng on your 07 cruise?

We had alot of fun. There was a salsa/merengue club just outside the dining room, so we would go there before dinner and sometimes after. We didn't know merengue, but knew enough salsa to have fun with it at the time.

 

There was a "big band" in one of the lounges a couple of nights. We went over there and practiced some of our EC/Jitterbug. We were the only ones dancing so had the whole floor to ourselves. It was fun. We also went to the disco and were able to do a little of our EC to a couple of the songs there. I think people were suprised.

 

All in all, though we got a late start (only 1 month of lessons) we got what we wanted from it and had a great time. Next cruise, look out! We know alot more now.

 

We are going to Disney World this summer, and there is a "dance hall" at the Boardwalk (walking distance from our hotel). I have read the promos "come swing with us", so I am curious to find it if that's really the type of club it is. If so, we'll beef up on our EC and be ready to roll. There are also a few lounges around Disney with live music, so we're hoping to find a band in one or two of them. Of course, we will also visit Pleasure Island, where I'm sure the WC will come in handy. Not sure if there are any latin opportunities in Disney World, but it would be a surprise (based on location and clientele) if there were none.

 

Really though I dont think your much different from the rest of us. We all end up picking the dance sytle we want to work on. There are just to many different styles and I am of the opinion to be good at any of them you have to pick your passion. For me it is american smooth and international standard. It has been years since we have had a lesson in the latin or rhythm dances.

Yeah, right now we are really focusing on WC for our first showcase, and sprinkling some Salsa in there just because we love it. We are intimidated by the social salsa scene though. Those people do some crazy stuff!

 

Our studio does showcases about 3 times a year. Most of the gals are dancing the showcase with thier instructor. Is this not an option for your daughter? Funny, I am completely at home on a competition floor but showcases make we way to nervous, I dont do them!

We have two showcases a year. We just found out it is quite expensive, though, to participate. They require 30 privates, including 5 "coaching" (with both male and female instructors), we pay for the choreography (5 hours instructor time), and a showcase fee. We get a free DVD and one seat per person. We will probably buy a table for our family and friends in the end. So they get a ton of $$ from us! But some goes to charity, so that is good.

 

Many people dance with their instructors at our showcases too; however, Katie is uncomfortable dancing with either of the two male WC instructors at our studio. Don't know why, but she is 15 and I'm not wanting to push her with that. We will see what works out. She may come around with the male instructors. I need to ask one of them to start pulling her out for demo (they always do that to me) during the classes. Maybe she'll get more comfortable then.

 

Good luck as you continue your comps!!

[smoothdancer]

Hey, we are going to Disney this year too, in October. We are going to a Fred Astaire National Dance Competition and then staying on to play for the week. The last time we were at Disney (which was a few years ago) we did go to the Dance Hall on the Boardwalk, and absolutely there were some real serious swing/jitterbug dancers there, so do plan on going! Make sure though to check the band board outside of the dance hall as they do not do this every night. There are some very cool Latin clubs at Paradise Island where you could salsa along with the other rhythm dances, also a lively country dancing place where your WC would fit right in. You will have to let me know where you went and what you though when you return.

 

Right, that is the other reason we don’t do showcases. They are very expensive and I feel that what you spend so much time on has a short life, don’t get to use it much after the showcase….. Just not how I want to spend my dance dollars, still many at our studio love to do them.

[swwake]

good news about the Dance Hall. I am looking forward to that. We're not much for CW music, so may not frequent those places, but we can do the WC to many of the pop songs, and I think they have an 80's club where the WC will come in handy.

 

I will definitely let you know how it goes. We'll be there August 9-16 so look for me to get in touch with you after that.

 

And thanks for the info on the latin clubs.

[abbydancer2003]

We've been to Disneyworld lots of times, and haven't found much to dance to there. I don't think the Dance Hall has a lot of nights with swing music.

 

Also the Rock and Roll Beach Club at Pleasure Island is closing next week. The other two dance venues play disco and techno. A caution - I don't know if this matters to you, but they are very loud.

 

Your milage may vary, of course, but we did most our dancing to the street musicians at Epcot on the fly.

 

I hope you'll have better luck than we do. We're going in September, and so please, please report back because things change there a lot so if there's better dancing then there used to be, we'd love to know for our upcoming trip.

 

One more thing - by going in August you will probably have a better selection of live music than we will because we go during the dead time.

[smoothdancer]

We too found that they dont play swing music every night at the dance hall, even during peak times, thus why we check put the "who is playing" board outside when we arrive. The time we did go however there were many locals there who really knew how to swing!

 

On second thought maybe the latin bars/resturant we danced at was not on Pleasure Island but Downtown Disney. Abby, do you know if they are still there? I cant remember the name. Because we are starting our vacation at a dance comp which always ends with a wonderful dinner dance I wont be disappointed if we dont get to dance. Often after a comp I have dance burn out for about a week anyway.

 

We will be there during Epcot's Wine and food festival. We have been to this before and it is great. I am really looking forward to it.

[swwake]

Also the Rock and Roll Beach Club at Pleasure Island is closing next week. The other two dance venues play disco and techno. A caution - I don't know if this matters to you, but they are very loud.

I read about the RRBC closing. This will be our first time to WDW in 10 years, so I was disappointed that we didn't get to experience that. :(

 

Your milage may vary, of course, but we did most our dancing to the street musicians at Epcot on the fly.

That is actually encouraging. Sounds like lots of spontaneous fun. And since we're at Beach Club, we can walk over to World Showcase whenever we want!

 

I hope you'll have better luck than we do. We're going in September, and so please, please report back because things change there a lot so if there's better dancing then there used to be, we'd love to know for our upcoming trip.

I will definitely report back. It's funny how we all cruised last year and we're doing WDW this year, huh?

 

One more thing - by going in August you will probably have a better selection of live music than we will because we go during the dead time.

Yeah, that might be true, but we lose the benefit you have of lesser crowds. But we had to go before DD goes back to school, so we didn't have much of a choice. We also know it will be HOT, but probably no hotter than Austin's 112 degrees. :)

 

We too found that they dont play swing music every night at the dance hall, even during peak times, thus why we check put the "who is playing" board outside when we arrive. The time we did go however there were many locals there who really knew how to swing!

Yeah, I'm planning to check the board the night we get there (we arrive on a Saturday at 4:30pm). I read that weekend nights are busier at Boardwalk.

 

On second thought maybe the latin bars/resturant we danced at was not on Pleasure Island but Downtown Disney. Abby, do you know if they are still there? I cant remember the name. Because we are starting our vacation at a dance comp which always ends with a wonderful dinner dance I wont be disappointed if we dont get to dance. Often after a comp I have dance burn out for about a week anyway.

You might be thinking of Bongos? The place owned by Gloria Estefan? That is in DTD, but Pleasure Island is connected, so it's all the same. Thanks!

 

We will be there during Epcot's Wine and food festival. We have been to this before and it is great. I am really looking forward to it.

Wow! That festival sounds really nice. I would love to go for that sometime.

[smoothdancer]

I love staying at the Beach Club, walking into Epcot my favorite.... We have not decided where we are going to stay yet, but looking at the prices, the Beach Club is within our reach.... Although I love to stay on the concerige floor which is more expensive. It is like the difference between a balcony cabin and a suite!

[abbydancer2003]

Smoothdancer - when are you going to Disneyworld? We'll be there at the beginning of Food and Wine (DH really loves it) - if we're there at the same time, maybe we can meet in person. (I like to think we're nice people.)

 

The Beach Club is our favorite resort - although we're staying at Saratogo Springs since it's our home resort (we are DVC members now).

 

I also took a look at the Disneyworld website and apparently Atlantic Dance Club now has DJs. I don't know if that's every night or just seasonal.

 

We don't have kids, so we are able to go during the offseason. Last year we were at Disneyland with my nieces during the high season and I still prefer the quiet times, even with the shorter hours and fewer entertainment options. That said, Disney does a good job with crowds - they have lots of entertainment and run everything at full capacity.

[smoothdancer]

We will be there End of October. The dance competition is the 22- 26th, and the final dinner dance on the 26th at the Hilton Walt Disney World Hotel and then we will stay on for another 5 days. It would be great to meet up with you if our time frames are the same. We, with no kids, also like the off season.

 

If you are going to be there at this time you might consider going to the dinner dance which is open to the public. This is a really great event... Here is a link

http://ndcfredastaire.com/scheduleofevents.html

[abbydancer2003]

We'll be there at the beginning of October. Oh, well, maybe our paths will cross in person sometime. We might start competing soon and may travel for that.

 

In our dance news on Thursday we're going to sign up to go to Ballroom Camp at BYU in Utah this summer. We'd planned to go with our teachers in 2002, but they had to cancel because they were just starting out as independent teachers. We decided to cancel too, because between signing up and the teachers canceling, my husband got laid off. (I was mostly unemployed at the time, doing some contract work occasionally for my former employer.) By the time camp would have happened, he had a contract job, so just as well that we didn't go, as I worked that week, too.

 

My teacher wouldn't go without a professional partner, and it took til this year for him to find someone to go with. But a new female teacher wants to go with him, so we're going with them. It should be fun.

[smoothdancer]

oh well! Anyway, if you start to compete and travel I am sure our paths will cross.

 

I have heard great things about that Dance Camp.... For us we have to pick where are dance travel budget will take us, and it is usually to competitions. Although we often combine our competition travel with a vacation. A few years back the National USADance comp was in your area, San Jose and we went onto Napa Valley and then ended our vacation in SF... That was a great trip!

[swwake]

awww....I just read this about Atlantic Dance Hall at Disney's Boardwalk:

 

"The Atlantic Dance Hall is a gorgeous art deco club on Disney’s Boardwalk. I originally fell in love with this place several years back when they played swing music. A local swing dance club would liven up the place on weekends. They wore great clothes from the 1940s and were a lot of fun to watch. Now they have 1980s DJ dance music. Most times that I’ve stopped in recently the place has been fairly deserted. It’s too bad because it really is a beautiful club. I’d love to have a big old party there someday… maybe a fiftieth birthday bash… you’ll all be invited!" Courtesy allears.net

[CruiseDreaming]

Well it's been a very long time since I posted here. My husband and I have now been taking ballroom dance lessons for over a year. We have been in one dance expo, 2 recitals and 1 dance competition. We danced in a World Promotions Inc. competition in December. We really love it and we are hoping we can do a local competition this May (if we can afford it, which we probably can't--oh well.) I simply can't wait to go on our cruise. After only a few months dancing we had our cruise last year and people started calling us the dancing couple--it was great. Only 82 days until I get to dance with my DH on a cruise ship again.

 

Kerrie:)

[njjjoy]

I'm talking ballroom dancing at the local park & rec without DH (prefers playing tennis instead). It is so much fun and not to mention all the calories you burn. Just finished learning the waltz last week and next week it will be salsa. So far I've learned the fox trot, cha-cha, tango, jitterbug and merenge.

 

Hope our upcoming cruise will have lots of ballroom dancers.

 

Joy

RC/AOS - 6/15/08

[swwake]

I'm talking ballroom dancing at the local park & rec without DH (prefers playing tennis instead). It is so much fun and not to mention all the calories you burn. Just finished learning the waltz last week and next week it will be salsa. So far I've learned the fox trot, cha-cha, tango, jitterbug and merenge.

 

Hope our upcoming cruise will have lots of ballroom dancers.

 

Joy

RC/AOS - 6/15/08

That is awesome! Isn't it fun? I love salsa - it's one of my faves. If you can teach your DH just a little tiny bit, it won't matter if there are lots of other ballroom dancers on the cruise. Sometimes it's just as much fun to have the dancefloor all to yourselves.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[njjjoy]

Dancing has always been a passion of mine and thankfully DH can easily pick up the steps on the rare occassions that I teach him. But in all honestly, I have a bad habit of trying to lead =(.

 

Looking forward to next week --- re-learning salsa. By the way, we have a dance studio in town (DWTS Cheryl Burke recently took ownership) which hold a Salsa dancing night every 2nd Sunday of each month. I've really planning of going next month.

[njjjoy]

I love Ballroom Dancing, specially rumba...

 

Tuesday we learned the rumba and I love the dance (slow, quick, quick). Can't wait until next Tuesday, bcause we learn more steps!!!

:)

Joy

[JenaMH]

Checking in as another fellow dancer!

 

I taught with Fred Astaire studios for around 9 months before deciding I enjoy it more as a hobby than a career. :) I currently dance on a country western line dance team, but my primary love is West Coast swing. (and I'll give another nod to Rumba with the rest of y'all too!)

 

I'm new to CC, but it looks to be a great community on here! :)

[mummsie]

Checking in as another fellow dancer!

 

I taught with Fred Astaire studios for around 9 months before deciding I enjoy it more as a hobby than a career. :) I currently dance on a country western line dance team, but my primary love is West Coast swing. (and I'll give another nod to Rumba with the rest of y'all too!)

 

I'm new to CC, but it looks to be a great community on here! :)

Hi Jenna, just checking in this site - we have moved to a different thread now http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=748144

[Dezi]

There are groups of ballroom dancers that go on cruises. They are Dancers at Sea, and Lets Dance Cruises...They are well organized and a wonderful way to travel, make new friends, and enjoy ballroom dancing too!! It is a great experience!!

[CraftyDD]

It's unbelievable that this thread is still going strong. Go dancers!!

[swwake]

We took lessons in EC Swing, Jitterbug and Salsa before our cruise in 2007, and it was just enough for us to be able to really have a good time both with the band and in the Latin club.

 

In June 2008, we actually did a West Coast Swing routine to a medley of Maroon 5 songs in our dance studio's showcase and had so much fun!

 

We have kinda gotten away from dance, but still have some credit at the studio that we need to be sure to use to brush up on our skills before the next cruise!

 

I love the opportunity to dance on the cruises.