Monday – January 27, 2025
Never heard of Malambo? Neither had we. It originated as a form of competition between gauchos performed only by men and has evolved to much more than that. You’ll find several examples of this dance style at the end of the video/photo section for today.
We weren’t headed in a direction that would allow a time-lapse of today’s sunrise – but you can see the changes to the color of the clouds as the sun rises. Jan and I just made it in time to have breakfast in the dining room. They seated us at a table next to a window. Jan swears she saw a whale – I saw nothing. I stand corrected – she said we could look for whales – she didn’t actually see one.
Next activity of the day was World Cruise Games. Today’s challenge was to putt golf balls across the deck by the main pool and into dixie-type cups that were taped to the deck. The cups were assigned different point values. The balls could not be counted if they bounced out of a cup – they had to stay in the cup. I was able to get a golf ball in but it didn’t stay so no points. Earth won today with 75 points – our team Air was second with 25, Water had 20 and Fire had 0.
Kesley wanted to see the afternoon music presentation by the classical group (4 singers and 6 musicians). Today’s presentation was a salute to operettas. The theme was “All I Want Is More Champagne”. You’ll find several stills with the title of the original piece of music and a couple video clips you might have heard.
Following the music we went to dinner. Today was “elegant”. I thought about wearing my best t-shirt but Jan vetoed that idea. There are a couple photos of food for the night. Jan said the brie she had as a starter was “melty in your mouth good”. The onion soup I chose was less than I expected – no crouton and no cheese like French onion soup. We both had the same dessert but it couldn’t be “flamed” at the table. Those pesky cruise ship safety regulations!
I set up the camera hoping to get a sunset but again we were facing the wrong direction – more cloud color changes – but this tape-lapse does show stars beginning to appear near the end.
This evening’s entertainment was the Luxury Dance Company performing Malambo. There are several video clips showing some of the types of dancing they perform. One of the most entertaining segments was when they brought 2 men “volunteers” from the audience to dance with them. Neither spoke English or Spanish. I believe one was Chinese and the other Russian. The Russian really got into the show – he even let them knock a cigarette out of his mouth with the balls on ropes used in the dancing (I didn’t upload that video because the website didn’t like the length of that segment). You can find more about malambo on the Internet. Kelsey said she thinks we could do this type of dancing when we get home on our hardwood floors. We said “No!”. Watch the videos and you’ll see why.
4 responses to “Dance”
Question, where do the entertainers come from? Are they on the ship to, and cruising with you? Or do they get air dropped in? Lol I’m just wondering. Yes the soup looks bad! Like the dancers. 40’s this week here. And I just bought new snow boots.
The entertainers are all beamed down from the mother ship. Some remain on board for several days and then are thrown overboard. They are given life rafts. We haven’t asked but believe they are all dependents of Adam and Eve. We believe the major production group (4 singers and 8 dancers) that did the circus, rock and roll, The Beatles and Queen may be on board for the entire voyage. Other groups are picked up at ports we visit – like the Malamba dancers who boarded in Buenos Aires. There is no heliport on the ship so anyone here either got on board at a port or from a boat alongside. Were you interested in becoming part of the entertainment for the cruise? Can you still do that thing where you fill glasses with different amounts of water then run your finger around the rim to make musical notes? Thank you for asking – all questions will be answered thoroughly and accurately.
I did take tap dancing lessons, so maybe I could do a soft shoe routine. I can whistle and play the flute.
I actually like your answer to Sharon’s question. I did LOL. I don’t think I could do the fall ball in the cup either! Bravo for trying.