Ballroom dancing on cruises

[ilv4cruising]

Thank you everyone for the very helpful responses.  I truly appreciate the feedback.  This helps a lot.   I will continue with our plans :). 

 

thanks again

[koonard]

On 8/4/2020 at 2:36 AM, nybumpkin said:

I'll probably get some angry, indignant responses, but here goes:

 

DH and I love big band, swing, Latin, etc. We enjoy ballroom dancing and don't go to the disco or the casino. However, when we tried dancing in the Queens Room on QM2 we were completely intimidated. There were too many people whirling their way around the floor who simply expected you to get out of their way and had no patience with folks who just wanted an enjoyable, albeit less polished, dancing experience. We retreated to our seats and later found our home listening to jazz in the Chart Room.

 

Well the issue is a minefield ! We love dancing and go to evening dances and do Sequence Dance ( everyone on the floor do the same steps and go round in a circle ) which is great as everyone has their own space ... however it can't be used as a " lets join in and follow " as there are specific steps and routines and having a person in front of you banging into you and causing mayhem is not a fun option.  On QM2 we had someone hosting but although they explained to oversea passengers what Sequence dancing was , they ignored the advice and blocked the floor and made themselves a nuisance ... And .... generally the evening ballroom dance is not a place to practise your competition moves and to swirl, and kick up legs etc.. its supposed to be for ALL and don't be put off as you have paid for the experience so stand firm and don't let these selfish people intimidate you .. 

 

[cpc3639]

11 hours ago, koonard said:

Well the issue is a minefield ! We love dancing and go to evening dances and do Sequence Dance ( everyone on the floor do the same steps and go round in a circle ) which is great as everyone has their own space ... however it can't be used as a " lets join in and follow " as there are specific steps and routines and having a person in front of you banging into you and causing mayhem is not a fun option.  On QM2 we had someone hosting but although they explained to oversea passengers what Sequence dancing was , they ignored the advice and blocked the floor and made themselves a nuisance ... And .... generally the evening ballroom dance is not a place to practise your competition moves and to swirl, and kick up legs etc.. its supposed to be for ALL and don't be put off as you have paid for the experience so stand firm and don't let these selfish people intimidate you .. 

 

Well said Koonard. 

[ew101]

23 hours ago, koonard said:

And .... generally the evening ballroom dance is not a place to practise your competition moves and to swirl, and kick up legs etc.. its supposed to be for ALL and don't be put off as you have paid for the experience so stand firm and don't let these selfish people intimidate you .. 

 

Well said.  Everyone, regardless of ability wants to be on the floor during an evening dress up event.  I remember thanking the Hotel Director for keeping dancing alive.  He said "this is who we are" - which was very reassuring.  We are new to ballroom dancing and in years of lessons in our local club we have had run -ins with a few hardcore expert dancers.   On Cunard- there is a time and place for "we own the floor" styles- the afternoon recorded music dance sessions aboard and in your private lessons.  The dance groups need to be reminded they can have the dance floor to themselves -when it is otherwise unoccupied.  

 

The crowding may also be the result of other lines- like Holland America- taking up dance floors or the lovely dance floors on some (older) RCCL ships being deserted during dance events.  I don't blame the lines- we have had the dance floor and combo to ourselves more often than we will admit on the smaller HAL ships.  One hint -  being kind to beginners is a way to increase the popularity of any activity.  

 

Cunard could also put on or encourage (possibly informal) more public lessons - such as Sequence Dancing - which is lovely to watch but hard to find in the USA.  One magical moment we will never forget - we escaped to one of the lounges and taught the Internationally Ranked dance couple the USA Country Two Step. 

 

Wearing my Marketing Instructor hat - Cunard really "owns" dancing at sea- and can stir up even more brand loyalty by focusing on this.

Edited December 14, 2020 by ew101

[57eric]

On 8/6/2020 at 6:50 PM, DWhit said:

Interesting.  We live in the US, and they taught us in our ballroom lessons that for the travelling dances, the more experienced dancers go in circles around the edges, while the inexperienced couples should stay more in the middle, allowing the experienced couples to move easily around them.   But, I have always thought that is its more natural for the inexperienced couples to try to stay out on the edges.   Especially on a ship where many couples just want to have a special occasion dance, and do not want to get in anyone's way.  I know when we started ballroom dancing, we headed to the nearest corner.   

Totally agree.  I have always heard the same in the US.  If there's a problem (and I'm not totally convinced there is one), this has got to be a prime contributor. 

[BobBranst]

This subject has come up numerous times on Cruise Critic during the years we have been dancing on Cunard ships (usually QM2).  

 

We usualy avoid going to the Queens Room early in the evening on "Ball" nights since the dance floor is usually very crowded and occasionally with some  who do not know about ballroom Dance Floor Etiquette (the same for both International and American Smooth Style ballroom dance).  

 

We generally haven't observed any unusual dance floor problems if we wait until after 11pm on "Ball" nights or go on the regular band starting time on non-"Ball'  nights.   

 

If everyone were to take 5 minutes to look up  "Ballroom Dance Floor Etiquette" before getting on the dance floor...

[mcloaked]

There are clearly different views about what constitutes dancing in the Queens Room - the music varies though for the most part there are the traditional 10 International Dances, though not very often is there Paso Doble music, particularly if the orchestra is playing. The five ballroom International Dances are a regular feature across most evenings, and in Latin the cha cha, rumba, jive and samba (a little less) feature regularly too.  For the most part people seem to be able to get along when those dances are played and know that good experienced dancers will move around the room to find the spaces between other less experienced dancers on the floor, though when it is very crowded, such as mid-evening on ball nights, that is less easy, and makes it difficult for both beginners and more experienced dancers. On a land-based large floor the accepted etiquette is that less experienced dancers should stick to the outside 'lane' and allow the experienced dancers to 'overtake' on the inner section if and when space allows - and that way everyone can keep dancing.  One issue can arise when two difference styles of dancing for the same nominal dance are happening at the same time for the faster dances - one example is the Viennese Waltz - where the International standard gives a general pattern where couples flow around the room anticlockwise, but some dancers dance American Smooth, which allows 'opening out' which means the couple separate and form a wall across the line of dance - which then blocks all those flowing around the room. One answer is for the compere to announce two successive Viennese Waltzes - one for International Standard and the other for American Smooth Viennese - and then the two would no longer conflict.  Another example is when a single couple decides to dance modern jive in the middle of the floor which then often blocks everyone else from flowing around the room - as there is a somewhat random movement of the jive couple leaving varying small spaces near the edges and often no space for regular ballroom dancers to overtake using the standard etiquette. 

 

Of course there are regular sprinkles of salsa, or Argentine Tango, and occasionally the orchestra plays a piece of music that does not have a rhythm that corresponds to any of the standard dances, and it suitable for non-dancers to slow shuffle romantically along with their partner. There are always ballroom and Latin beginner classes around the middle of the day on sea days, and it is a good opportunity for anyone who wants to get started to learn how to get the basics going. Then it just takes a little courage in the evening to get on the floor even if other more experienced dancers are also there. The best experienced dancers will be kind and considerate to beginners, but of course will also want to have some times when they can stretch out a bit more - not because they want to 'show off' but because the feeling you get when in full flow is something you can't experience any other way than on the dance floor with your partner.  The ballroom is reasonable as size goes but often much smaller than dance floors at land based venues - so it takes more skill to dance on a smaller floor - and the top dancers will not be dancing fixed sets of figures form learned choreography sets, but will dance adaptively and change the figures they do as they move so as to fit in with the others on the floor.

 

When it comes to Sequence Dancing, which is generally a British, and also Australian kind of dancing, where couples learn fixed sequences of figures, with often 16 bars of music, that then repeats through the whole piece of music, with everyone starting the same initial figure at exactly the same time, then the only way is to learn each of those dances separately. The most popular and common ones number around a dozen or so and are played repeatedly - making it easy since you only need to remember the steps for set of 16 bars, and any man can then dance with any lady who also knows that set of figures.  The sequence dance enthusiasts learn several new dances a month, and there are several thousand of those, the number of which keeps growing. However most of the new dances only last a few months before people stop doing them, and the goal seems to be to learn new sets of figures as a way of progressing.  However when one of the new dances gets requested it is often the case that only two or three couples get on the floor as nobody else knows them.  Sometimes it is only a single couple - so generally for the sequence dances they stick with the dozen or so most popular and common ones.  These days on many evenings there is a half hour to 45 minutes for doing some sequence dancing, but unless people from other countries have an interest in learning those (which can be done from youtube because they are fixed relatively limited sets of figures for each dance), it is more usually the case that couples from any country will know the International Dances, but much less often know the British Sequence dances.

 

So all in all the ongoing tradition of the ballroom and Latin International Standard will likely attract the largest number of dance couples on board Cunard.  There are of course nightly opportunities for those who don't know these dances to move on the floor doing disco dancing, and I believe that is every night - either in the smaller dance floor of the Yacht Club on QV/QE or the disco venue room adjacent to the Queens Room on QM2.  In addition some evenings are set aside for disco party nights in the Queens Room, and on those occasions it is not possible for ballroom dancers to sensibly do much ballroom dancing in the smaller dance venues because the dance floor is too small there.

[BklynBoy8]

We ery much enjoy dancing and watching those in the Queens Room during the evening sessions.

 

Also dancing during tea time which they call Tea Dancing is fun and elegant while socializing with fellow passengers.

 

If one wants that private dancing time, they do use canned music before the Queens Room lives up with the evening programme.

 

There is something special about sailing on the Queen and the After 6 activities all evening long.

 

Oh don't forget the G32 Disco with it's lively crowd around 1030 on with Disco and House Band like Vibz..

[mcloaked]

Yes we love the afternoon Tea Dances too - though we always find it a shame that it is only 1 per week at the most, and then they don't decide until the day before whether or not they will have one - partly because they wait until they know if the weather will be smooth enough that ship will be steady enough to make dancing and trays of hot tea being carried at high speed around the room at the same time safe! Perhaps we are just greedy but two Afternoon Tea Dances per week would be even better!