Lift Off – At Sea – [10/31/2014]

Oh them. They’re the dance people […] they shouldn’t be showin’ off with each other, that’s not gonna sell lessons. ~  Dirty Dancing

Truth is, we are not supposed to dance with the dance hosts. I mean we’re really not, they are there to dance with the passengers, and to keep the guests entertained the same as we are. I am usually #1 in respecting this rule. A dance host asks me to dance, I will – usually – say no.

But then…there are the few times when I don’t realize who I am dancing with.

We just started a 42 day cruise, no one knows anyone yet. We haven’t even had dance hosts so far this season, they are only brought on for the long cruises. And usually, they come in a certain pattern: there are a small number of solo gentleman who’s are hired specifically to dance with the ladies on board, and there is usually a pair of older professional dancers who are hired to head up that program and to dance with each other as simple demos etc.

Thing is, they didn’t send us a pair. They sent us one. And he’s young ,and he’s …really really good.

I swear, I swear to goddess I didn’t know who I was dancing with. He was just a guy who said he could lead swing, who asked me to dance.

So you default to triple steps then

Er…yeah

Here, try it this way

And suddenly, I’m moving, like not thinking about my feet, doing things I thought I’d forgotten how to do. I haven’t danced like this in at least four years, if ever. And the whole room disappears, and to hell with the fact that I now realise that this must be the ballroom host who’s onboard – whom our EM pretty much warned us was supposed to be off limits. Because this guy…can lead like almost no one I have ever danced with before. And there’s that magic split second where the lead you’re dancing with realizes that yes, he is in fact dancing with a dancer, not just someone who thinks she is – and your feet leave the ground. And this isn’t an uncontrolled “I’m picking you up because I think I know how” this is a “”you clearly know how to do this”, arms up feet back figure skate aerial.

You know the backflip?

The one where you go over the arm? Yes, but it’s been a long time since I’ve done it properly

That a real skirt?

Nope

Okay…trust me

And, while still dancing (and this is a fast song keep in mind), he calls over to the actual cast dancer who is watching from the sidelines “Kal, watch this!”

And it turns out I do know how to land that aerial without stumbling after all.

So I return, somewhat breathing heavier than I intended, to the table, and my glass of wine – over which my supervisor is watching me suspiciously, and I grin somewhat sheepishly – and one of the others at the tables pipes up with

Are you sure you’re not a dancer?

To which the cast member responds:

No she IS, she totally is

I just never get to dance.

And the chances that it’ll happen again are slim, this entire thing did lead into a big discussion about whom was allowed to dance with whom (and no worries, no one is in trouble! Supervisor even said I was allowed to dance with him, that she wasn’t really sure what to even do with him since he was here without a a partner which was going to make things challenging – but that I had to be…careful… which is fair – he has a job to do, I have a job to do, and when do I ever go out anyway??)

But just for one shiney shiney?

I totally got to fly.