Showtime!

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Greetings land-dwellers!

I am officially a man of the sea now. I live in my own cabin in the hull on the 4th deck, starboard side, midship, I work in the Stardust Theatre, forward, eat in the staff or crew mess, run topside around the track, and watch dolphins surf the waves off the bow. Boom, ship talk, it's like real talk, but with tropical water.

It's been seven days since I stepped on the ship, and this is the story thus far...

Wednesday:
I arrived on the ship after a few flights from Toronto through Atlanta to Miami the previous day and then one more to Belize in the morning. I went straight to Belize city to catch the tender boat and caught my first glimpse of the Jewel. It was docked five miles out from port, among three other mega sized cruise ships. What was impressive at first from a distance became a behemoth of a structure as the boat brought us closer. While on the tender boat, which was packed with passengers on the Jewel, I had a few motivational and pleasant chats with a few groups, asking about my position and wishing me luck.
Arriving in the early afternoon, I went straight to the personnel office to get my id, nametag and sign a few boarding forms before being guided right to the Stardust theatre to see the cast in rehearsals.
This was what I was anxiously awaiting as I had missed a few days already and was eager to join in and get the preparation going (not to mention to check to make sure I hadn't been replaced).
I walked in to see everyone on stage running through a routine with the band, and as soon as they saw me there was a fantastic welcome, complete with group hugs, high fives and chastising for taking so long to arrive. I felt a huge wave of relief and excitement wash over me, realizing I had finally arrived and this contract was officially underway. Everyone seemed great but before I knew it I was told to drop my stuff and get in there for marking and rehearsal stuff. I remembered most of the choreography, to everybody's relief, least of all my own, and we carried on with all the repetitions needed to mark, run and clean each number in the show. Just like at rehearsals in Tampa, the days are long, challenging and at times tedious, yet necessary and important in order to make our shows dazzle and amaze. Since it's my first time working as a performance artist, I benefit quite a lot from each run and find myself really growing and learning, making progress every day.


Thursday-Sunday:
I shared a passenger room with Rosh for the first week, before we moved to the current gymnasts crew rooms after starting performances on Sunday. As principle artists we get our own rooms, and have some perks in terms of access to areas of the ship and relief from duties outside of our own shows. This is really going to set in once we get into our regular schedule after install finishes in a few weeks. Ping pong tournaments, topside soccer games, karaoke nights, crew bar shenanigans, crew pool lounging, and food, food, and more food! The buffet it outstanding in terms of selection and abundance, with stations serving cuisine from around the world, and special nights like the 'chocoholic buffet', where all stations serve, you guessed it, chocolate in all it's possible forms. Don't worry, there's still a small side station of normal food for you weirdos that require nutrients and don't want to go into a two day coma. Did I mention there is a fondue station constantly flowing, a half dozen restaurants that are free for us, and 24/7 free room service. will we gain weight? Yes. But if we keep cranking weights and hitting the topside running track then it's hopefully going to turn into mega muscle. Operation inflate is in full effect and so far it's working in our favour, we just can't get lazy or else it could turn on us quickly!

So after getting accustomed to the ship and doing some full runs of the show with costumes and tech, we were set for our first small show on Sunday. We returned to New Orleans, which will be our home port every Sunday until the end of April, and got to get on land after going through immigration at 5:30am. We had time enough just to grab a cab to Target to pick up supplies and necessities for our new rooms, and steal a bit of sweet, sweet internet before hustling back for rehearsals. We caught a glimpse of some tailgating at the Superdome before the Saints beat the 'Niners in what you land-folk call Football. After our training schedule cools down we may be able to have more time to check something like that out when we get to port, which is something to look forward to. I got my trailmix and whiteboard and got back to start getting nervous for my first performance ever.

The first performance would be a quick bumper to the song 'Let's get loud' by the topside pool. We introduce the staff during the reprise and then get the crowd involved at the end when we bring them up to dance the electric slide with us. Unfortunately, since I missed the initial safety training I wasn't allowed to join in on the first show, and had to spend the afternoon in the learning centre. It was a bummer but they got me out in time for the 'Welcome Aboard' show that evening. We were to do two short bumpers for the show, 'Vacation' to open the show and then a 'Mama Mia' medley to close it 40mins later, after short acts from the Nickelodeon team (with giant Patrick, Sponge Bob, Dora, the Airbender dude and others), the magician and comedian. Our role as gymnasts is to do dance choreo in the back and then come in with some flips to accent the transitions or breaks in the music. Basically some variations of a step touch or step clap, and then a few tumbling passes, of course with a smile and while singing the lyrics. It took us a while to get all that to happen at the same time in our heads, but with repetition it's set and it's pretty easy to just have fun and give our full energy into rocking the choreo.

After pre-setting our costumes and getting our makeup 'did', we got into position behind the curtains and waited for our cue. The theatre was packed and we got a really good response during our first number. Everybody nailed their stuff, and I did a huge round off back tuck across the front at the beginning from all the adrenaline. All I can say is that is was rad, and super fun. We had a little break and then rocked the second number at the end, with me in my sleeveless banana bellbottomed giant collared onesy suit. A great show to start things off and a good sign for the next six months of performances. The whole cast was on a high after the first show. The focus soon turned to the next night, where we would have our first 45 minute show called 'Band on the Run', performed twice at 7:30 and 9:30 by our production cast of twelve people. This would be the time to showcase our team and do it big.



Monday-Wednesday:

Day two of the cruise had us out on a sea day, meaning all the restaurants, lounges and social spaces were packed with guests partying hard. This was a good sign for our show later that night and it got me super pumped to perform for over enthusiastic wahoo-ers. We spent the day doing various rehearsals and training sessions, and I was in the learning centre all morning doing safety stuff. I finished, studied a bit for the test, and took it in the afternoon. I still haven't got the results but I assumed I scored at least enough to allow me to perform that evening. With that out of the way the focus shifted towards mentally preparing for the show. With the main point hoist out of commission for months, our role has decreased a bit, and we don't get to do our two-man hoop act during 'Spirit in the Sky'. This means we had a bit more tumbling passes and could focus on nailing the dance choreography. The demand is much higher on the singers and dancers, whereas the circus show is the biggest challenge for Rosh and I, during which we perform our solo bungee and duo handbalancing acts on Fridays. We got into our rock costumes and preset our sailor costumes for the 'YMCA' portion later on. The theatre was jam packed again and the show started with us on the lifts in the back, ready to start headbanging and swinging our arms to 'Come Sail Away'. The first number went really well, even with the pant splitting lift by Leroy, who toughed it out and gave a special show to the crowd during the slow revolve, showing off his bare ass to everyone! It had everyone in stitches backstage, and made it hard to keep a straight face on stage. Hey, the show must go on, right? Well it did continue, and it was a huge success for everyone. The few nervous moments went by without a hitch. Rosh and I hit our shoulder stand during YMCA, we were all in sync with our dance choreo and we got a standing ovation after our final rock medley. The second show at 9:30 was even better, with our nerves a bit more calm, and our lengthy experience of one show really impacting our polished look. After each major show we head out to the entrances and do a little meet and greet with the passengers, and were happy to accept some praise, take some photos, shake hands and wish them back for our Cirque show four days later. Leroy got a few extra compliments from the ladies for his 'special backdoor performance'. Well deserved, I think!

We would normally have a light schedule from Tuesday to Thursday, but since it's install week we had our aerial coaches fly in from the Toronto Circus school to work with us and clean up our aerial routines. This meant a lot of time on the silks, the hoop, bungee and handbalancing work, in between run throughs of our full shows later at night. Hard work but amazing feedback from Laura and Nicole to make our routines look as clean as a whistle. We stopped at Montego Bay in Jamaica and Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, and at least got a glimpse of the scenery from the balcony on the ship. I'm really looking forward to getting to set foot on land at our destinations, since we have heard countless stories about the adventures to be had at each port, but that can wait since we have over five months left. By now I can safely say that it looks like I'll be staying onboard for the full contract! That's if we make it through all the birthday parties that tend to get a little rowdy around here. Rosh had his 27th on Tuesday and we had a little ice-fest in the crew bar that night, followed by a formal dinner at Tsar's Palace the next day, scoring a sweet reservation for ten at one of the nicer spots on the ship. I owe that sarcastic large child a whole lot for getting the job so we made sure to thank him with a nice dinner and a few extra sugary beverages. I don't know who's birthday is next but I can see this getting progressively more interesting/exciting as we continue.

Coming up is our show 'Le Cirque Bijou' on Friday, some potential contribution to our final show on Saturday night, and the completion of our first full week cruise performing all the shows that have been designed for the Norwegian Jewel production cast. A good milestone, since it's usually considered the toughest week of the entire contract. If that's the case, then this is going to be a winter to enjoy!

Until next time, keep your dance belts tight and your buffet belt loose,

Much love,

Sloan - current Lord of Catan a.k.a. 'BabyYawei'

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Comments

[Stephen Milo aka Biggest Bro]

Mega-Awesome Update
Slappy, As always, your update was both well written and a riot, I love hearing all about it. I found myself getting nervous along with you reading about your first performances, proud of you rocking it out! Keep those soccer skills honed on deck, the team is 2-0 without you at the moment having won 5-1 and 4-0 in our first two games but we will miss your skills in the upcoming tougher games. Much love, Biggest Bro