Beginning of the Never-Ending-Travel Day

It is 3:54 in Las Vegas and I have officially packed my life into the two suitcases and one carry on that I arrived with. After weighing both bags with Kyle's handy dandy scale (nothing about it is handy, because you have to pick up the bags by the scale in order to weigh them...oye), my bags have both clocked in at a good 48 lbs. According to Kyle, the scale can be 2 lbs off so I think I will be safely within the 50 lb limit. My carry on has 4 pairs of shoes, a few scarves and a pair of jeans packed into the bottom, all in order to preserve the weight of my two checked bags. I have showered, gotten myself together for travel, and now have 9 or so hours to kill before the shuttle picks us up from the hotel for our flight. We leave Vegas at 10:30, and arrive just before 7am east coast time with a 4 hour layover before our second flight. I am going to try to defy the previous behavior of my body and force myself to sleep on the first flight, for if I do not, the following posts of my travel day will progressively get nastier and nastier. I am fully prepared to experience that wonderful state of exhaustion that comes around every so often, and allows your mind to completely loose control of your emotional function by exuding a sort of laughing and crying effect simultaneously. Due to the short amount of time that we have to install the shows of this cast while dry docked, we will start rehearsal runs upon arriving in Freeport. This, I can't wait to see. After almost 11 hours of travel, jet lag, and minimal sleep, they want to see a 'few' runs. Picture 13 drunk dancers with no control of their body parts. It should definitely make for a few good laughs. I will be taking pictures, and posting more as this endless travel continues. And were off...

In the Final Stretch

It is our last Saturday in Las Vegas, and we are on our second day of just running the shows beginning to end. Yesterday was the first time we have had a rehearsal that didn't involve learning something new, and although it was refreshing, our memories were a little rusty on some of the show pieces that we hadn't danced out in over a week. After being forgiven for making somewhat of a mess out of our second show's run ('Dance Around the World'), we redeemed ourselves with a solid run of our final show ('A Touch of Broadway'). This morning we will have some costume fittings before we start running things again, and Merrick's husband Marc is bringing the party band to watch our performance of 'Liverpool Knights' so they can see how they are supposed to play it for us.

As of the last time we saw Mike, we have tomorrow off. Rehearsals resume on Monday, with a half day on Tuesday and all of Wednesday off to get ourselves together before our flight that evening. 4 days till Miami.

Le Reve

Last night after rehearsal we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out and see a show called Le Reve. We hurried back to shower and get all dolled up by 6:30 so we could meet up with Merrick for a drink and some food beforehand. We met her at this restaurant called the Yard House. A few of us ordered some beers, and when asked if we would like the 'big ones' we agreed, thinking we would receive a 23 ounce or a even a mug. Our waiter brought out glasses full of beer the size of my femur. Needless to say it was the largest Stella Artois I have ever drank. After some appetizers and dinner, we headed to the Wynn for the show.

Le Reve is directed by Dragone, who used to direct some of the shows for Cirque, but left to pursue his own artistic vision. The show is set in a pool of water, some 30 feet deep at parts with rising and falling platforms, trees, and circles of fire. Performers were also dropping in from the ceiling on wires, benches, and harnesses. The show incorporated swimming, acrobatics, dancing, ballroom, and acting. The story revolved around a girl who wasn't so sure if she should let go and love the new man in her life when the old one was still on her mind. She then disappeared into a dream world to figure out this dilemma. Men were dropped from 80 some odd feet in the air, and every dancer dove into the water after completing their routines. Cameron went to school with one of the clowns, and after the show he met up with us and took us to see some of the backstage area. We took an elevator down a few flights to a hallway lined with the costumes we had all seen minutes before. Turning a corner we saw acrobats and dancers scurrying out of a dressing room in their street clothes to go home for the night. Along this hallway were over 80 head shots of all the performers in the show. We then went to a cafe type room with tables and soda machines where we talked to a few performers about the job and where they had been before. A few of them actually did cruise ships before coming to Vegas. Behind us was a list of who was performing what that night. Each night the performers would have to check with this list to find out what their role would be that night; for example if last night you were acrobat 15 partnering with arealist 20, tomorrow you will be swimming acrobat 7 partnering with dancer 3. We left the show, got our car, and went back to the hotel completely blown away by the whole experience. I can honestly say that it was one of the best things I have ever seen in my entire life.

At rehearsal today we finished 'We Are the Champions'. This being the finale number of 'A Touch of Broadway' it calls for an epic finish. With some lifts I have never done, and some I have, this dance is very fast pace. Complete with lots of chest pumping, back bending, and hair flipping, it definitely pushes the envelope.

After doing a full run through of what we have of this show so far I have trouble holding my water bottle still while I try to drink from it. My feet crave the open air after being crammed into character shoes all day, and my neck goes numb after about 5 seconds of hair flipping in 'Be Italian'. On a good note, we have one more dance to learn tomorrow ('We Will Rock You'), and then we are finished learning choreography.

We leave Vegas one week from today to head for the ship, where we will install all of these shows. 7 days to go.

8 Days and counting

Yesterday we finished the new numbers from Nine; 'Cinema Italiano', and 'Be Italian'. The first is an all male dance, with Armani type suits and sunglasses to make our dancers look like models on the catwalk. Our boys do an amazing job in this one, and everyone melts a little when they break it down with the singer...and they don't even have to suits on yet. 'Be Italian' is all ladies. We are gypsies with tambourines and apparently nothing to loose. It's quick and technical, yet sultry and sloppy. So far this has been the most trying number I have learned. The speed picks up half way through for a very fast paced circle that involves tambourine coordination, and then it breaks into a very powerful ending with lots and lots of kicks and turns. I left rehearsal still shaking from the amount of adrenaline that pumped through all of my limbs. After taking a bath with epson salts and laying down for a lot of the evening, I woke up this morning with an overall feeling of fatigue. I will know the extent of the damage once I start to move around, but I anticipate more pain tomorrow.

We are in our final stretch, with 2 more numbers to learn today. Then we clean, clean, clean, and run everything as much as we can before we get on the ship. I have been told that there is a possibility that we will rehearse through Sunday, and be given Tuesday and Wednesday off before flying to Miami Wednesday night. As productive as this schedule may seem, a full 8 days of rehearsal is a lot to ask with all the the choreography and running that is rolling around in our noggins.

It's a Tuesday morning in Las Vegas, the temperature is going to reach 84, and today I miss Ashby coffee. The best coffee in the world.

Celine Dion, Live from Las Vegas

Merrick is the only other woman in our cast who is taller then me, coming in at a good 5'9''. Her husband Marc is the drummer for our party band, who will play on the pool deck and in one of our shows. Yesterday morning he left for Seattle for the weekend, so a few of us went over to her place for a good home cooked meal and some old fashioned sleep over fun. We went food shopping before going back to her house for the proper supplies, and then made a lovely dinner for 5. We ate a lovely caprice salad, spaghetti with a red pepper meat sauce and some sauteed broccoli. After being completely satisfied with our meal, we proceeded to watch the Celine Dion concert on dvd. Merrick's dvd player wasn't reading the dvd, so we tried switching a few around. This then lead to no sound coming out of the tv, so Cameron and Kyle fiddled with the chords for about half an hour before Merrick, Kate, and finally myself all tried our hands at finding a solution. An hour later we finally got sound to come out of the tv, and after a warranted celebratory dance, we got comfy to watch the concert.

This morning in rehearsal we completed the rest of the old choreography for 'A Touch of Broadway', and now only have the new dances to complete. We will be the first cast to dance the pieces from Nine, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, and Mamma Mia. We have completed two shows; 'Liverpool Knights' and 'Dance Around the World'. We have also finished the Bumper, which is Celine Dion's River Deep, Mountain High. It will be a quick introductory dance and song number that we do for all the passengers when they first get on the ship to entice them to come see our shows. The Bumper is so much fun to do, and the song is incredibly motivational.

Tomorrow we will meet our other choreographer Andrea, and we will learn Jersey Boys, and Mamma Mia. We will also start to learn Groove and Sizzle. Groove is done in the night club, and Sizzle is performed on the pool deck. We have a week and a half of rehearsals left, and were almost done with most of the choreography.

After living in Vegas for over a week, I'm more then ready to get on that ship. Food shopping at Target, and eating lunches that don't need to be refrigerated, take out for dinner every night, and being limited to a ride that only a 25 year old can give us is less then awesome. I am told, however, that the rehearsal process is the worst part and that ship life can be a piece of cake. Well, I have put in my time, and I just about ready for that cake now.

Same old Saturday Night

Last Night we went to see Divas, a drag impersonation show at the Imperial Palace. One of our cast members, Merrick has a friend who dances in the show so he got us in for free. The show was very entertaining, and some of the impressions were spot on. Afterwards we went to Planet Hollywood to see Marc, Merrick's husband, play at the sports bar with a band. There we met up with some other cast members and spent a few hours listening to Marc play. After having my first taste of the night life on the strip I have to say that I'm not that impressed. Yes, there is a lot to do, and yes there are a lot of people dressed to the nines looking to have a good time, but I didn't see or experience anything that blew me away more then college life or the brown family throw downs. It's a good thing I still have the Mediterranean to look forward to, because Vegas is starting to get old.

Red sky at night

In 'Dance Around the World', the Spanish section begins with a tango of just two dancers. Lucky long legs over here gets to be tossed around by my fellow cast member Diego for this pas de duex. After our duet ends, I get passed to the other male dancers in our cast before deciding that I'm too good for all of them and strutting my way off to leave them to dance a matadorish section. I then come back on with Diego for some more impressive lifts and tosses to end the Spanish dance.

I am very grateful to have earned this spot, because I missed partnering so much, and as exciting as this was for me to be able to do this part all by myself, I was also asked today by Mike (our boss man) if I would like to assist Diego in teaching the ballroom dance classes that will be offered to our passengers each cruise. It is a very slight pay increase, and it is only an hour class every cruise, but I will also get to participate in a dancing with the stars type event called Everybody Dance. During our ballroom classes, Diego and I will choose a few passengers to dance with us during a specific themed party and we will perform with them for the other guests.

I called Grandpa Marty after rehearsal today to let him know that all those years of tossing me around the dance floor have finally come to good use, altho I would bet all of my earnings against any passenger that thinks they have more skill then Marty.

Today marks our official first week of rehearsals. We have almost 2 complete shows done, with 4 new dancers and 2 new singers, setting a record for the most dances learned by a cast in 1 week.

My feet are getting used to the torture and pain of character shoes all the time, after developing three spots that need constant bandaging to either protect or prevent blisters. We do full show run-throughs at least once a day, testing every drop of endurance each of us has, and no marathon training could have prepared me for such a stamina test. My stomach is getting used to eating out every night for dinner, and I am falling into something of a pattern during the days here.

As much as I may be getting into the flow of this months adventure, It has still only been a little over a week. On the way home our choreographer Nikki was talking about the show she is dancing in, in Arizona. Apparently she has seen some of the most beautiful red and pink sunsets there, and as she's telling everyone this I can't help but remember the sunsets in Ashby during the summertime. It's just a small town in Massachusetts, but I think Ashby's sunsets beat the desert's any day.

What would you do if I sang out of tune...

I taked to Jordan yesterday during my lunch break, and right before he hung up he told me that he was proud of me for doing what I'm doing. At first when people say that, or used to say that before I left I would just kind of shrug it off, but now when I think about it and take a moment to realize where I am I know that it is because of Jordan and Cassie and my parents and Kristine that I was able to leave. Sitting on my bed in Ashby and agreeing to jump on a plane to Las Vegas, and then to Miami, and then even further to Europe seemed like a no brainer. People told me it was brave of me to do so, but in fact it is not my own bravery that makes this trip easy for me, it's the faith that the people in my life have in me which allows to me believe in myself. I am able to leave and not look back because I know that at home my parents and little brother are excited for me to be able to dance everyday. And I was able to jump into this contract not knowing anyone because I know that Cassie still tells everyone she knows about me. I made friends on the first day because my friends at home are jumping up and down for me and my first professional job. I can look at the mountains surrounding this desert and relish in where I am and the difference in this side of the US because Jordan is in Ashby driving through the potholes that I miss everyday.

This is easy for me because of them, and I am reminded of it everyday when I look in the mirror at the studio. I dance for me, and I dance for them.

Dance Around the World

At 5:45 this morning the fire alarm went of in the hotel. My roommate apparently thought the world was ending and started yelling "oh my GOD! what's happening?!" and then proceeded into the hallway to wake everyone in our cast up by knocking on their doors. Poor girl just wanted to save our friends. All of us meandered into the hallway to stare at each other for a minute before registering what was going on. My mentality reverted back to my school days of filling out in a single line for the fire drill and meeting out in the parking lot, but luckily for me my fellow cast members weren't about to run outside in the early morning. One of the music advisors who happened to be staying in out hallway a few doors down hopped down to the lobby to see if there was a need for any real concern, besides the fact that we had all just been violently woken up. He then came back upstairs to inform us that it was indeed a false alarm and that we could go to bed, to bad the deafening alarm was still buzzing away. I tried to block out the sound with headphones, but this was unsuccessful. After screaming at the alarm a few times, my roommate tried to call the front desk just and reached no one. Just before she got together enough anger to storm down stairs to end the torture, the alarm stopped. Unfortunate for us we had to be up in a hour by the time this wee fiasco ended, due to our new rehearsal schedule. By the time I fell back asleep, my alarm went off. It's just a good thing everyone went through the same thing, because if you took a look at one of us during breakfast, you would have thought that we stayed up all night, 5 inches away from a television screen.

We started getting into more of the numbers for 'Dance Around the World', which has twice the dancing that our previous show has. We learned the dance for Italy, and the Can-Can for France. The Italy dance is just around 3 minutes so it's fast and fairly simple, with some bouncing and jumping around in character shoes that should prove to be amazing for my calves. The Can-Can however is a different story...It is super fast, with crazy kicks and jump splits. Yes, jump splits, as in jumping into a split from a split in the air. Though it is danced at hyper speed, I'm told we get to wear authentic can-can skirts with ruffles, and we are to dance with the skirts in hand most of the time. Call me crazy, but I have always wanted to do that, so it almost makes the pace worth it. I'll let you know if that is true when I actually get to put on the costume.

We ended today at 4, so we now have more time to ourselves in the evening. This means more boredom, and more time occupying the conference rooms in the hotel lobby for 'after-hours' rehearsals with our dance captain, Marina.

I don't mind running things again in the hotel, or even having more time to sit around and do nothing because our cast is getting closer and closer by the day. We have started to share the more serious stories about previous relationships and possibly emotional times over a drink or two, and the boundaries of personal privacy are swiftly becoming obsolete. I am learning about the drama that has gone down in the past on other contracts, and the areas that are sensitive to talk about and/or bring up in the group.

On the flip side, my cast is getting to know me. My roommate Kate and I have way too much in common in our lives. We are both the oldest of 3 with a younger sister thats 20 and a younger brother that's 15. Our brothers are both following the sport of our fathers, and both our fathers almost went pro in said sport. Both our sisters danced with us for a few years and then realized that it just wasn't for them, and both of our mothers were professional dancers. We have most of the same music, coincidentally put up the same picture as our laptop backgrounds...both white macbooks, and both of us were Wonder Woman for Halloween last year. It gets so bad that occasionally we say the same things. We even have matching water bottles, also by accident.

21 days until we fly to Miami to board the ship, and I am already falling in love with my cast. This gig can be tough at times, but it's perfect for me right now. I love that I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, and that I am completely at the mercy of someone else's' plans. I love waking up in the morning to dance, and knowing that I will be performing on a stage for paying costumers for 7 straight months. I love that I have no idea what Europe is going to be like, and that I am going to see more of the world then I would have ever dreamed I would be able to.

This thing gets more and more exciting every day. I'm tired, and I am stuffing choreography in my head like I'm stocking up for winter, but not once have I wished I was somewhere else.

Gimme some Pot Roast

I miss home cooking soo much. Between rehearsals we eat out every night, and lunch break is either a trip to Panera or a compilation of my purchases from Target (a microwavable soup, a granola bar, and a banana with peanut butter). I miss a well balanced meal and seltzer that dad pours every night, even though I don't ever drink it. I miss Cassina's ridiculously amazing concoctions involving potatoes and something french that she picked up at Chez. I miss my funky corn lunches and my tuna mix, or my veggie stir fry. I miss family dinners with Gregory and Jorda. I miss trying new recipes with mom that I've randomly found online, while trying an equally interesting cocktail. It hasn't even been a month and I am already sick of the food situation. It's a good thing that it will change when we get on the ship.

Today we officially finished the first show, and started the intro to the second. We have 3 shows to learn, with two mini shows and a 'bumper'. There is a lot of information and choreography to still be learned. I am enjoying the rehearsals everyday, and the fact that I am dancing hard more then I have since college, but it is still taking time to get used to. This way of life is very different from what I am used to.

Currently the living in a hotel room is getting old fast. We only have one vehicle, and technically one of our female singers- Natalie, is the only one that can drive us around anywhere. We make group trips to restaurants, otherwise you get dropped off on our way back form rehearsals and have to walk back to the hotel.

We also had weigh-ins today, which involved all of us individually getting on a scale and having our current weight written down and recorded. Apparently our boss man Mike has the ability to tell us how much weight we need to loose and so forth. Luckily he hasn't been present recently so we haven't had to go through that ordeal just yet. Mostly it is for the purpose of maintaining costume alterations, which I understand, but some of the girls are getting nuts about it.

On a happier note, it is getting nicer here. The past couple of days have been super windy, and finally the sun is starting to show its face a little more. Friday, I'm told is supposed to be in the 80's, and starting tomorrow we end rehearsals at 4. A second cast will be using the studio as well, and we will share rehearsal time with them, so we will rehearse 9-4, and they will take 4-9.

I wish I could take more pictures and videos of rehearsals, because a lot of it is really fun and I would love to be able to share it, but they are all so busy that a water break is my first priority when we get a second off. I'll try to snag some film here and there, but for now keep up with me as things get more hectic.

From Las Vegas, missing Massachusetts.

Easter Sunday

Today was our day off, being Easter and all, so after sleeping in a little we gathered ourselves and proceeded to make the ten minute drive to the Vegas strip for some shopping and an early dinner. I only purchased one item and kept the bill well under 30$, after playing a slot machine for the first and probably the last in my life. Needless to say, gambling just isn't in the cards for me. Out of the five of us that played the slots one at a time ,just so we could say we had done it, I lost the dollar that was lent to me for the game in the shortest amount of time. I think for today, I'm safe from the temptation of the casinos. We then walked down the strip for about a mile to have lunch at an italian restaurant across from the Wynn, in the fashion show area. After eating our early dinner and toasting to a Happy Easter we proceeded back to the parking garage, which was the longest mile I think I have walked in a long time. Being the second day since we began rehearsals my legs had finally begun to feel the pain of what I was making them do, and so by the time we headed back down the strip again my stems were screaming as I waddled all the way down the Vegas strip. Even as I sit down to type out this post I can just barely feel them relax a bit. So much for a day off to rest!

Thoughts on the infamous strip? It was pretty large and flooded with tourists, which I fully expected, but what I didn't expect was the how non-chelantly the poker tables and slot machines and other gambling venues were just everywhere. I knew that Vegas is all about gambling, but I expected it to be a little more glamourous, or epic, not the guy you just came out of the parking garage with whose wearing a fanny pack sitting at the black jack table. Maybe the scene changes at night to become what I have assumed Vegas is from the movies and TV shows I've seen, but I'll have to wait for another day off to figure that out.

Tomorrow we will finish our first show 'Liverpool Knights', and start on the more technical show 'Dancing Around the World'. There are 7 dance numbers in the first show, and we've been told it's more of a singing show then the second. I can only guess that this means more pain, brainpower, and skill are in my immediate future...oye.

p.s. if you'd like to see just what things look like on my end of things check out my flickr...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meganmb/

Waking up in Vegas

After taking a 1 hr flight from Manchester to Philadelphia, and a 5 and a half hr flight to Las Vegas (sitting next to two very friendly British gents ‘on holiday’) I met Mike Moloney where all the businessmen meet their expensive limo drivers by baggage claim. Mike and I chatted for a bit about the trip and the cast that I was about to join before finding my two 50lb bags, waving goodbye to my new British friends, and heading to the parking garage. Mike and I drove to the hotel where I met most of my cast, of which I joined for some dinner in my gross ‘I’ve been flying all day’ clothes while they all looked lovely and made up.
There are only four new dancers; two including me have never been on a cruise ship before, in our cast of 8 dancers and 4 singers. Everyone is incredibly friendly and welcoming to us newbies, trying to help us get as prepared as we can before boarding the ship. I found out that we will be joining our ship in Freeport, after flying to Miami on a red eye and hoping in a puddle jumper to Freeport. When I was told, it seemed like the travel plans were a burden and a pain, but I have never taken a red eye or a puddle jumper so along with most of this employment it just makes me more excited to try something I have never done before.
Day 1 of rehearsals started at 9am with a breakfast meeting in the lobby of our hotel. This meeting consisted of Mike showing up half an hour late and saying something like “Hey gang, were gonna have a good time. Today is going to be long, but lets have fun ok? Ok. Lets get started!” From there we headed to the Mike Moloney Entertainment facility about 20 mins away from our hotel. The facility has 2 offices, a music rehearsal room, a costume closet, and a large studio. We spent the hours of 10-1 learning the first dance of one of the rock ‘n’ roll based shows which revolved around boppy tunes and swingin dance moves (yes, it’s cheese- tastic). Though it isn’t technically challenging, it’s fast, so my endurance is definitely being put to the test. After our lunch break at Panera we headed back to the rehearsal to learn two more dances for the first show. We stopped rehearsal a little after 5 to finish up with some costume fitting before we left for the day. Heading straight to a sushi restaurant for dinner, I swiftly realize that my diet on this excursion is going to consist of bouncing from restaurant to restaurant. A few of my fellow cast members realized this also, so we made a trip to Target for some lunch snacks and to-go meals to save our tummys.
The numbers we have been rehearsing are all done in character shoes, so at the moment I can’t feel anything below my knees. After our lunch break all of the girls changed out of our heels and put on some jazz shoes, which made it better but not for long. The ‘after-lunch fatigue’ hit hard, and I’m told it happens everyday around 3pm. Fortunately this is when our cast bonded the most, due to the loopy state that our overloaded brains and over worked bodies slip into. There are now no strangers, and we’ve past the awkwardness of apologizing every time you bump into or touch a person by accident. Now it’s not only on purpose, but it turns into an event that leads to a joke, possibly one that will carry on throughout the whole gig. We call ourselves ‘Cent ten’…The Celebrity Century, of 2010. And coincidentally the initials of all of the ladies in our cast put together become ‘mmmkk’. These are just some examples of the stupid, yet incredibly entertaining moments that make up the minutes between learning choreography and ignoring my aching body.
But when all is said and done, I’m having a blast…and we’re not even out of the country yet : )