You’ve Never Danced Until You’ve Danced at Sea!

The 11th Annual Line Dance Cruise November 12 – 17, 2007
Dancin’ with Dee Dee, Mr Bill, Sylvia and DJ Reggie!

Sixty-seven tired but happy line dancers and fans arrived in Jacksonville on Saturday after dancing their way through the Eastern Caribbean for five days on the Carnival Celebration. Line dancing teachers Dee Dee Johnson-Maynard, Bill McGee and Sylvia Schell showed their versatility teaching new dances and reviewing old favorites all over the ship: under starry skies on deck, around cocktail tables in the Karaoke lounge, across the glassy, back-lighted Disco dance floor, and rockin’ and rollin’ to the eight foot swells on the big showroom stage. Many of the dancers, who came from all over Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, are veterans of this annual cruise which was first organized in 1996 by twenty-five of Dee Dee’s senior students. There was no DJ in those days, they had a country band providing the music! Lisa Johns Grose joined Dee Dee and her Cactus Moon Line Dancers in 1997; Bill McGee, whom Dee Dee met at an Orange Blossom Workshop, came onboard in 1998; and Sylvia Schell joined the team in 2006. Over the years the cruise has featured a number of popular guest teachers including Stella Cabeca, Dottie Wicks, Kathy Brown, Marilyn McNeal, Janice Graves, Jr. Willis, Chris Watson and my teacher Sandy Schoenberger. Of course, half the fun is dancing to the wonderful mixture of music played by our talented and charming DJ Reggie, himself a line dancing instructor as well. We really appreciated his sweet smile and patient willingness to play our favorites.
Some of the fabulous dances taught on the cruise by our instructors were:
Adios Amigo! Boom Boom Boom, Cypress Shuffle, It's All Good, My New Life, She's My Moon Hanger! (Bill McGee)
Honky Talk Walkin', Happy Little Cowboy, Hey Big Spender, Moootown, I Got My Game On! She's A Firecracker!
Sweet Nothings, Rebel Amor, Without Wings (Sylvia Schell)
How Long, The One For Me, My, My, My, Free For All
(Dee Dee Johnson-Maynard)
Of course, we all know that, “what happens on the cruise, stays on the cruise” but I have to give a “shout out” to some special folks:
**My “Carolina Girls”: Dancin’ Terry, Mary, Linda, Marti, Marie, Carole, Beverly, Bonnie, Glenda, Lorraine, Julia Ann, Pat and Gloria, those sweet talking, pink shirt wearing, pina colada drinking, bootie dancin’ party girls! Thanks for teaching me your dances and being so darn fun to hang out with! The next time you go cruisin’ call me!
**Julia Ann: A fabulous teacher from Hilton Head, SC, (“Cypress Shuffle” is her dance – very cute!) and a lovely lady I’m glad I met!
**Linda McGee: What a sweetheart and tres cool. You are definitely our den mother. Hope to party with you again.
**Dee Dee: “No thumbs in belt loops!!!” He’ll never forget!
**Sylvia: You are so lovely. Won’t you please move to Pinellas County?
**Bill: Sandy was right. You are one of a kind!
**Rosemary: Thanks for all the hard work that went into planning and escorting this cruise. We are a handful.

Be sure and check out the 6th annual Helping Hands Line Dance Workshop on February 2, 2008. This is a benefit for the Make-a-Wish Foundation sponsored by the Cactus Moon Dance Club. Dee Dee, Bill, and Sylvia will be some of the featured instructors. For more information please contact Lisa Johns-Grose at htmonalisa@aol.com or (772 489-4394) for more information.

Thank you, one and all. It was a blast!