Strictly Sign-up

Sunday 20^th October

In the UK we have a TV programme called ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. In other countries it goes under the name of ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Cunard has its own version: ‘Strictly Cunard’. It is a dance competition that anyone can enter. You can dance with a spouse, a partner, a friend or one of the Gentlemen Dance Hosts.

On my past cruises I had always chosen not to enter. I was not prepared to put myself through the nerves associated with it. I can remember how nervous I used to get when dancing for my medals, and I was afraid of how much the adrenaline rush would drain me now, if I tried it. (Adrenaline can be a problem with M.E. / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as it does not always switch off when it should, and it drains the energy reserves.) However, this time I was prepared to rethink. I decided that I owe so much to Martin that if he wanted a partner for it then I would go in with him. We had an interesting conversation where a friend and I explained Strictly to him and he turned to me and said ‘I will partner you if you want to go in it’ and my reaction was ‘I have never agreed before but I’ll do it if you want me to’. After a few more such exchanges he said ‘All right then, we’ll do it.’ Later I found that another of the dancers (who had won Strictly on my November/December 2012 cruise) had asked him to accompany her.

This afternoon was the time when we needed to choose our dances and sign up. Before sign-up, Martin gave up an hour of his time to work with both Dorothy and me on various things. Dorothy will do a Slow Foxtrot, so they spent time refining steps and practising the end curtsey. I will do a Viennese Waltz. This can be rather repetitive so we spent time practising a beginning and also working on the fleckle and on increasing the sway as I danced. Of course, I’m not sure how much of that I’ll remember in 3 days’ time!

Four couples signed up for Strictly, and then we needed to choose our music. Evidently the Viennese Waltz is not danced much, as they did not have a track on their standard CDs. Eventually one was found upstairs in the sound booth. There were four couples altogether. Three are dancing ballroom and one is doing latin. There are two foxtrots (Dorothy and Gillian), which is a pity. I wish Dorothy and Martin were dancing a waltz for variety. There were jokes about ‘Let the battle begin’ and dropping caltrops or marbles on the dance floor for the couples following us, but I hope we can all keep it friendly and not get too nervous.

Later two more couples were persuaded to join in. One danced the Argentine Tango and the other did a cha cha. This provided more variety.

Here’s a photo of me with Martin, my dancing partner for the competition.