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.