Wednesday 2nd October
On
sea days there is a 45-minute dancing class from 12:15. Despite my good
intentions to just watch (and rest), I often end up on the floor. Wednesday’s
lesson was the tango, and the women up my end of the floor could not see the
teacher and did not have a clue in which direction to turn. Seeing it was all
steps I’d learnt on previous cruises, I thought I’d better stand there as a
role model. That worked well. (The day before I’d danced the cha cha as a man
to help out, but I didn’t know the tango well enough to try that.)
Then,
of course, there’s dancing in the evening. Cunard provides Gentleman Hosts to
dance with the single ladies. These can vary in standard but on this cruise we
have a good bunch. So far there are three, with one more expected after Lisbon.
Gary (who I know from a previous cruise) has a smooth dancing style and is
always happy to show us new steps. He cruises for about 5 months each year and
is well-known to many of us on the ship. Jeff also cruises frequently. He has a
very relaxed style and approach and is fun to dance with. Martin
(French-Canadian) is very serious about his dancing and tries to get his
partners dancing to his standard rather than him dancing down to their
standard. This resulted in a disastrous rumba with me! However, I had a superb
Viennese Waltz with him on the first night and again tonight (with a clap from
all the watching couples when it ended). In the Waltz he tried to lead me into
steps that I haven’t done for nearly 25 years: double reverse spins, wings,
weaves and fallaways. This is going to be a learning experience. I found that
if I concentrate on relaxing (isn’t that a contradiction?) then I follow him
better.
There
are two evening dance sessions. If the main ballroom is in use, like this
night, then the dancers have recorded music up in the nightclub for the first
session. It’s hot and any turbulence in the sea is exaggerated on Deck 10! That
session goes from 7:45 to 8:30. Some dancers then dash to watch the show.
Straight after that at 9:15 until midnight is the main dance session, with a
band, in the ballroom. Some evenings there’s a ball (the Black and White Ball
tonight) and then the professionals perform a dance for us.
The
dancing crowd is very friendly and we soon get talking to each other.
Here are our Dance Hosts.
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