Studio One was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday so we couldn't follow our normal Friday night routine and go there for the social dance. We used to think that going out on Friday night after working all week was a hassle. Now, we really miss it when we can't go. It's just a great way to finish off the week and change gears for the weekend. It gives us a chance to practice our dance steps and visit with friends.
So, this week we decided to go to Lioudmila's. We have some friends that go there for lessons and they highly recommended their social dances. It was easy to find as it is just off the Beltway and down Telegraph road to Roth Street. They have good parking and are located on the 2nd floor of an office building. The floor has a good setup for taking lessons. Imagine an "H" with the bottom closed. There is the top of the stairwell in the middle of the floor and across from it is the desk. It looks like they can have several lessons going at one time without getting in each other's way. They have a beautiful wood floor that is well maintained. There is plenty of room for the dance parties also. The gentleman we spoke to told us that they get between 50-80 dancers for their social dances. There appeared to be more than enough room. This being the Friday after Thanksgiving, we had the floor to ourselves for the better part of an hour. The Friday night dance starts at 8:00 PM and ends at 11:00. Other dancers started filtering in around 9:00.
We will definately be going back to their Saturday dance parties.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Cruisin'
W took a cruise last week; actually a 9 night cruise, from October 27th to November 5th. We left out of Baltimore on the Granduer of the Seas on a tour of the western Carribean. One of the first things we did was scope out the places to dance on board.
We did most of our dancing in the Centrum. This is an atrium in the middle of the ship that extends from the 4th deck all the way through the 10th deck to a skylight. There is a white marble staircase between the 4th and 5th decks. Built into the staircase are circular marble stages. These stages are large enough (barely) for a cha-cha or rhumba. The Metroline Quartet played lots of rhumbas with an occasional swing or cha-cha thrown in. Moving dances like a waltz were a challenge especially if more than one couple occupied a stage. We did get them to play a couple of tangos during the cruise.
Near the stern was the South Pacific Lounge which had a dance floor. A rock band called Riptide played there. They played classic rock and we did some swings and cha-chas. This lounge was also where they had their dance lessons. The first dance lesson we went to was country line dancing. The instructor was pretty good. It seems like a lot of people like country line dancing, because it got real crowded on the dance floor. The second lesson that we went to was an introduction to Swing. They had a couple of young ladies from the evening show trying to teach Swing. It showed that just because you know how to do a dance, it doesn't mean you know how to teach it.
We also went up to the Viking Crown Lounge which had a DJ in the evenings. He played modern music and disco tunes. This dance floor got real crowded in the evenings, but was pretty much deserted during the daytime. We took our IPOD and had a couple of good practice sessions up there.
At the poolside the Hot Spices played Carribean music. They had a beat that didn't fit with any of the dance styles we know and all of their songs had the same beat. It was like listening to the same song all week long. It got old pretty quickly and since they played directly over our stateroom, we couldn't get away from it.
The weather was very nice except for the second day out. That day we had 40 knot winds and 20 foot seas. Dancing was out of the question since it was the ship itself doing the rock and roll. It also showed a problem with having a skylight on a ship. They tend to leak. At least it was leaking at the top of the ship and not the bottom.
We did most of our dancing in the Centrum. This is an atrium in the middle of the ship that extends from the 4th deck all the way through the 10th deck to a skylight. There is a white marble staircase between the 4th and 5th decks. Built into the staircase are circular marble stages. These stages are large enough (barely) for a cha-cha or rhumba. The Metroline Quartet played lots of rhumbas with an occasional swing or cha-cha thrown in. Moving dances like a waltz were a challenge especially if more than one couple occupied a stage. We did get them to play a couple of tangos during the cruise.
Near the stern was the South Pacific Lounge which had a dance floor. A rock band called Riptide played there. They played classic rock and we did some swings and cha-chas. This lounge was also where they had their dance lessons. The first dance lesson we went to was country line dancing. The instructor was pretty good. It seems like a lot of people like country line dancing, because it got real crowded on the dance floor. The second lesson that we went to was an introduction to Swing. They had a couple of young ladies from the evening show trying to teach Swing. It showed that just because you know how to do a dance, it doesn't mean you know how to teach it.
We also went up to the Viking Crown Lounge which had a DJ in the evenings. He played modern music and disco tunes. This dance floor got real crowded in the evenings, but was pretty much deserted during the daytime. We took our IPOD and had a couple of good practice sessions up there.
At the poolside the Hot Spices played Carribean music. They had a beat that didn't fit with any of the dance styles we know and all of their songs had the same beat. It was like listening to the same song all week long. It got old pretty quickly and since they played directly over our stateroom, we couldn't get away from it.
The weather was very nice except for the second day out. That day we had 40 knot winds and 20 foot seas. Dancing was out of the question since it was the ship itself doing the rock and roll. It also showed a problem with having a skylight on a ship. They tend to leak. At least it was leaking at the top of the ship and not the bottom.
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