Featured writer: Butterfly Jewel

“Dancing, dancing, dancing…she’s a dancing machine”. Boy, did I get a dance workout in as I was pulled up by dancers on the Crystal Nile Cruise on my vacation in Cairo, Egypt. Little did I know that what I thought was going to be a quiet evening cruising one of Africa‘s best treasures, the Nile River, that I was going to be dancing the night away as part of the entertainment! It was all in good fun with some awesome memories of that time, perhaps some of  the most exciting ones of all.

What a night! Once we arrived for the cruise, we had to wait a bit before boarding, but it was all good. Once on board, we were shown the dining hall and from there, went to the wonderful buffet awaiting us in preparation to fill our hungry tummies. Shortly, after starting our meals, the dancers and musicians made their entrances and began to entertain us. Only, I wasn’t going to just be entertained for long but soon become an entertainer!

This one dancer was so awesome with the crowd, getting us engaged and participating. Little did I know what he was about to do shortly!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/36803993]

To my surprise, shortly after, he was the one who pulled me up to dance. Was it the eye contact or audience participation which brought it on? I don’t know, but before I knew it, I was being ushered from my chair to center stage to do some belly dancing and tanoura (Egyptian folk dance) dancing.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/36802279]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/36803900]

After my solos, the crew of performers came back and decided to circle the room and woo the audience not once but several times, with me along with them! It was so much fun, but I was ready to drop on the floor. I mean I had not had a workout like that since I can remember with the sweat to prove it! Haha…I thought I’d try to sneak to my seat after several rounds, but before my bottom could even bend in anticipation of reuniting with its deserted seat, one of the dancers caught me by the arm with a no-no shake of the head and pulled me back to continue to entertain with the crew. This time, my neighbor was brought aboard to help entertain with us.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/36804075]

Oh, I was having so much fun til I couldn’t believe when it was over. It seemed like we had only just begun, but it was time to go after dancing the night away…

So that’s my Nile Crystal story, and I’m sticking to it!