Machol Yam 2014 cruise

Well, here's some particulars first. In 2014, the Machol Yam Israeli dance workshop started with a marathon on the night of Wednesday, Feb 5th and was at sea between Feb 6th through Feb 10th. The workshop was aboard an already scheduled cruise back and forth nonstop to Cozemel (Cancun) from Miami aboard the Liberty Of The Seas, a cruise ship built in 2007 (commissioned in 2009) and operated by the Royal Caribbean cruise line. Within this cruise was the Israeli dance workshop, Machol Yam 2014. Our montage pictures here show the beauty of the island (and the beautiful lines of the cruise ships that visit and the beautiful lines of the tanned bikini clad visitors on the island) as found on the Internet.

This is the second occasion for Machol Yam. Another script on this web site followed the cruise/workshop in February 2012 and on the left you will see the {top|cruise2014/machol0.png}{middle|cruise2014/machol0a.png} of that script. Starting late in 2013 an internet site started to broadcast the news of this cruise/workshop and we've taken the liberty of showing you some of these screens in this montage.

While some details did change over the two year period, some things stayed the same. The locale was again the cruise ship, Liberty of the Seas, part of the Freedom class of ships that are a backbone of the Norwegian Caribbean International line. Not surprisingly, the cruise line has its own web site and, guess what, we've taken another liberty by showing here some of their screens.

One would assume that cruises featuring an Israeli dance workshop can't be all that unique around the world. There certainly are enough cruise lines with their ships plying the oceans and even on the most staid cruise, ballroom dancing is generally a feature of the evening entertainment. But, what about an Israeli dance workshop needing a large circular space (although generally within a squarish room or spacing) around a set of choreographers showing their (or other's) dances. This is apparantly not so easy to find at sea and a rather serious search on the net has come up with only one other recent Israeli dance cruise which we indicate here.

Perhaps it's because one would need a rather large ship to accommodate this. Maybe one needs a large room for the Israeli dancers while simultaneously having a ballroom for the enjoyment of the rest of the passengers. Of course, as the participants of the Machol Yam workshops have found over the years (We show appropriate pictures of facility usage from 2012), Israeli dancers can use stages (used by the ship for the evening performances) or covered up ice skating rinks assuming they are appropriately configured in terms of area.

Perhaps you choose one of the biggest cruise ships afloat to provide these facilities. The Liberty of the Seas is one such ship as it, and its two other sisters of the Freedom class, are currently the second largest components of the Norwegian lines' fleet. We have some pictures here of the ship and its construction which occurred at the Akers Ship Construction facilities in Finland. We also show the rotar/rudder components that move the ship through the sea. Changes in technology that combines jet turbine and rudders into movable nacelles have allowed for the enlargement of ships as they are constructed today. In addition, dredging technology has increased depth in harbors allowing these giant behemoths to dock at ports.

Of course, now that there is capacity per the resources of the ship, one has to look at the time. Israeli dance workshops really can't go past four to five days, generally a long weekend. The mind rebels on the continual teaching and dancing, sometimes up to 14 hours per day. Ten, Twelve to fourteen new dances taught in a weekend probably is the limit for the vast amount of attendees. If you are going to run an Israeli dance workshop, you might just need a large ship doing 4 to 5 day cruises. And, guess what! The Liberty Of the Seas spends a good amount of time plying the waves from Florida to Cozemel and back. We're sure that the Liberty Of The Seas is not the only large and amply accommodated cruise ship with such a schedule, but as you can see here it does these types of trips through the Fall and the Spring each year (schedule shown here for fall/winter 2014) and then summers in the Mediterranean.

So, you can see we have the makings of an Israeli dance cruise. All we need is the choreographers. In 2012, it was Gadi Bitton, Yaron Ben Simhon and Yaron Carmel. For the 2014 workshop, the workshop acquired the services of Oren Ashkenazi and Eran Bitton. Maor Ben Ami, who runs an Israeli dance session in Miami, was also on board for both cruise/workshops to lend his expertise. In addition, the singer Sagiv Cohen was enlisted for this cruise to add to the entertainment. Eran, who it is said is related to Gadi, created his own excitement as you will see shortly.

So all is now set for the cruise/workshop: ship, schedule and choreographers. Sometime late in 2013 the event is publicized. In the Philadelphia area several of our local dancers sign up. From left to right is Wendy, David, Jody, Ami, Ellen and Menachem caught (and cropped) while partaking in the events of the cruise.

Now, most of our scripts on this web site follow the chronology of the event. But, the Liberty of the Seas produced a surprise several days into the cruise thanks to Eran Bitton, the choreographer mentioned previously. With great "sleight of hand", not to mention the help of Sagiv Cohen, Eran was able to surprise his girl friend with a marriage proposal (accepted by the way) during a cocktail party aboard the ship for the Israeli dance participants. This montage consists of pictures this web site received of this happy event. The happy couple is pictured on the right and the other pictures were taken as the proposal was under way and are far from clear, but we're sure you get the idea. This successful proposal made the Liberty Of the Seas cruise into a real "Love Boat". Our editors speculated whether other cruises have had similar occurrences. Wasn't there another set of cruises associated with the term "Love Boat"?

In 1971, the Flagship Cruise line welcomed aboard a new cruise ship named the Sea Venture. In 1975, Flagship sold this ship to a subsidiary of the Penisular and Oriental (P&O) Ship Lines, the Princess Cruise Lines. The P&O is quite famous as it is considered the world's oldest cruise line. The Sea Venture was promptly renamed the Pacific Princess. A year later the ABC television network began running a television show which would last eight seasons. The show fictionalized year-around life aboard a cruise ship for the crew. This was "The Love Boat" and while most of its production was on the TV production sets and stages of dry Los Angeles, the show did use the Pacific Princess as the backdrop to the show. This montage highlights the crew and the ship. You can, if you like and have the time to waste as we do, look up all 247 episodes of the show which ran from 1976 through 1984.

We asked ourselves, just how many proposals occurred during the 247 episodes of this show. We can report that there were four, with the first one occurring in season 6, episode 6. Twelve episodes later that season saw another proposal and seasons eight and nine saw one proposal apiece. Two of the four proposals involved Vicki, played by Jill Whelan, who played the Captain's daughter. We could watch her grow up on the ship. After a while, Vicki became the assistant cruise director and that position put her next to many young male actors. No doubt the show's producers responded to the many fans of the program by having would-be suitors for Jill Whelan's portrayal of Vicki. What's surprising is that the Machol Yam Israeli dance workshop apparently is somewhat more romantic than this television program named after the generic aspect of love. It only took two years (2012 and 2014), and 3 days for the Machol Yam workshop to accomplish it's first proposal as you have seen above. Pretty good for an Israeli dance workshop! Now, If you don't remember Jill Whelan's preformance as Vicki, perhaps this montage will stir your memory and we have also included pictures of the adult Ms Whelan.

We mentioned the other two proposals. One was done by the Captain (in the script this is Vicki's father) and the other by the ship's Doctor played respectively by Gavin MacLoad and Bernie Kopell. You may remember Gavin as a co-star on the original Mary Tyler Moore show and the top of this montage has pictures of MacLoad in character from both shows. Bernie Kopell is also well known for portraying Siegfried in Get Smart on a recurring basis. Of course, his main claim to fame in television is the ship's doctor on the Love Boat, Dr Adam Bricker. The bottom of this montage shows Kopell in his role as both characters.

Anyway, let's return to our own loveboat, the Liberty Of the Seas on its Cozumel cruise of February 2014 with its Israeli dance contingent. The boarding of the ship was in the afternoon of Thurday, February 6th, with the departure set for around 6PM in the afternoon. We think these pictures were taken during the passengers arrival up to the time of departure as they got accustomed to the ship and their cabins.

Cruise ships today are like floating Las Vegas gambling halls. There is a large promenade in the middle of the ship where the exits egress for all the passengers. Several dining rooms accommodate the patrons. On this ship there is a pool, a basketball court, an ice rink and a stage. The rink and the stage would host the Israeli dancers during the cruise.

And these pictures are of dancing under the stars. The participants tell this website that this is the skating rink when not covered up as it is in these pictures although one could confuse this with the basketball court. Anyway, as you can see, the dancing was just as enjoyable, perhaps more so, outside on the deck that holds the ice skating rink under the stars.

By Saturday the ship has arrived in Cozumel. In the previous cruise the Israeli dancers were on their own and had to make their own arrangements on land and sea, if they wanted to go scuba or snorkel diving. But this year, the dancers were in for an added treat. A beach party, with music for dancing, and choreographer(s) for teaching, was established within a stone's throw of the ship. These pictures were taken during this event on Saturday afternoon.

And, it was not just sunbathing and surfing that entertained the crowd. Among these pictures you can see Eran, with wireless mike, teaching a line dance in the sand. This website's motto is that Israeli dancers love to dance whether it is on concrete, wood, tile or sand and whether it is stable or swaying in the waves. Of course it is an added plus when the movements can be made in the foreground of your luxury liner.

Beaches and swimsuits lend themselves to pictures especially of those dealing with both. This montage shows some of these "selfies" (although taken by others) of the Israeli dance workshop participants. The last picture is a group shot of the workshop on the beach. And, while we have your attention: the editors have made no attempt to receive permission for these shots, many of which have been on facebook and other media. The policy of this website is to take down immediately any pictures objected to or questioned and one needs only to Email this site to accomplish this.

As anyone who has been on a cruise will tell you, food and drink are an integral part of the trip. Years ago, formality required suit and ties for men, dress, perhaps gowns, for women. Who sat at the captain's table would be a discussion item aboard most ships the next day. Today, while formal attire is accepted, things are a bit more informal. This montage shows our workshop participants at/or preparing for meals and bars. Our information was that everyone looked forward to the meals and that they were quite good which is important because Israeli dancers at workshops expend a lot of energy when dancing and need a constant recharging. In this case the recharging is delicious meals prepared for the participants.

After the beach party as we move into Saturday night, before dinner on this cruise, there was to be another big event, the cocktail party accompanied by Sagiv Cohen's singing. Cohen is a famous singer in Israel and some of his songs have been used in Israeli dance choreography. In additon to Sagiv, it was expected that the choreographers, perhaps even some of the dancers, would also join in. But, as you know already, there was to be the added excitement of a proposal and acceptance. Of course, the audience is not aware of this as they enter the room where the cocktail party is scheduled. This montage represents the activities before Eran proposes.

So, we think we've given you an idea of the February 6th Machol Yam cruise/workshop. This last montage, a set of stills taken from a video, used the talents of everyone in the workshop - Sagiv Cohen singing one of his hits in the middle of the circle as the choreographers and dancers whirred around him. The cruise ended as the ship docked in Florida on Monday morning. Then it was onto the plane for the flight home unless other activities were planned and we can tell you that a few of the stars of this script continued their adventures by visiting the Florida Keys and Key West. It's not known at this time whether this cruise/workshop will occur next year (2015) but if it does and we can get some of the Philadelphia dancers to contribute pictures, we'll cover this again.