One of the highlights of my recent transatlantic cruise was
dancing with professional dancer Beverly Durand from Los Angeles. She was one of the 4
professionals on the ship there to provide group and individual lessons to
cruise guests as well as contributing to the evening shows. She happened to be around during many
of the social dance events and was gracious enough to dance with me more than
my share. We danced a variety of
dances from salsa to quickstep to waltz to tango, and I also think a foxtrot
and rumba. And on the next-to-the-last
day at sea, without taking any lessons or attending any of the
group lessons, and armed only with rehearsing the choreography a couple of times, I
was able to lead Beverly in an American style waltz at the afternoon showcase
that highlighted the dance skills of about 20 want-to-be dancing guests.
I clearly have to credit my dance instructor, Yanna Samkova,
for providing me the skills to successfully lead Beverly without too much difficulty
(there were two little stumbles). Having the cruise ship sway to and fro did
not help my balance but I managed to hang on to the end, including a lift and
quick spin. Like Yanna, Beverly
was weightless making the lift very easy to accomplish.
The pictures were taken by a new friend Maury, on the 12 floor of the Crystal Serenity,
one of two cruise ships in the Crystal family. This is one of several dance venues with a decent size floor
and lots of seating, a large bar and a panoramic view of the world.
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