Day 89 ~ Dancing with the Cast!

April 21, 2018

I could have danced all night! ~ from My Fair Lady

Along with our usual sea day activities today, the six professional dancers on board paired up with passengers for a ballroom dance competition. The DH, as usual, was chosen to participate. (Whenever a performer needs a volunteer, he’s likely to be picked, even if he’s in the middle of the back row. He just has “good sport” written all over him.) His dancing partner was Natalie, the young lady responsible for keeping the dance troop in tip top shape.  

He and Natalie had about 45 minutes to rehearse three dances. First, the cha-cha. It’s been a long time since the DH and I took ballroom lessons, but it all came back to him. At least enough for him to remember a few patterns and how to signal them to his partner. In a contest like this, the men had the harder job because they actually had to lead instead of being dragged around the dance floor by their partner.

After the cha-cha, one of the other male passengers was eliminated along with his professional partner. The DH was still in the hunt! The next dance was the waltz. That used to be one of our favorites. In fact, we won the waltz competition on the Hawaiian cruise we took for our 25^th anniversary.

Get a load of that good waltz frame!

A female passenger and her pro partner were eliminated next. Whew! The DH was still dancing! But, as he confided to me later, 90 seconds of dancing is a much longer time than he thought! His young partner, however, wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

The third dance was the swing/jive/rock&roll—sort of anything goes. We used to love to spin and dip with the best of them, so this dance was right in the DH’s wheelhouse. Sure enough! The other remaining male passenger and his partner were eliminated and the three couples still standing advanced to the finals.

No one was able to prepare for the final round. They were each given an envelope with two dance styles they were supposed to mash together. The first couple was assigned Salsa & Irish Dancing. The last couple got Meringue & Bollywood. The DH and Natalie danced the Tango & Korean Pop (Gangnam style!)

I have some blackmail-worthy video I will post here once we get home.   

Anyway, the judges couldn’t pick a winner, so Meringue/Bollywood couple took first place by audience acclamation. (Probably because the pro dancer picked his partner up and swung her around until she almost passed out! Too bad we didn’t have Carrie Anne to point out that move was an illegal lift!) Nevertheless, I thought the DH was robbed, but I must admit to a little prejudice.

Tomorrow, our on-board dance instructors are doing a tango class. The DH wants to gear up with backpack Herkimer and see if there’s a way for us to do a modified tango together. The dance has several things going for it that might make it possible. It’s danced mostly in hold, so no underarm turns to get my cannula tangled up in. The tempo is slow, which works for me. And it’s perfectly acceptable to stop dead still and stare with fierce passion at our partner while we catch our breaths.

If we can only manage that without giggling, I’ll count it a win!