Harvey’s Lily Birch to set sail and perform on eighteen-deck cruise ship Wonder of the Seas.

Bionic bartenders, 18 decks, 30,000 horsepower and one of Harvey’s best dancers are preparing to set sail across the open seas on the biggest cruise ship in the world. Royal Caribbean’s latest ship the Wonder of the Seas has been officially crowned the biggest cruise ship in the world and one Harvey local will spend 11 months dancing on its stage. Harvey dancer Lily Birch, who has been performing for more than a decade, said she was excited to travel across the globe after having already explored most of Australia. “In 2019 I went over to Sydney for a big dance festival and got a scholarship to go to Dance Force, which is a school in NSW,” she said. “Now I am off to Cyprus (an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea) to then get on a cruise ship for 11 months.” The Wonder of the Seas is due to hit the open water in March and includes 14 bars and cafes, 21 eateries, water slides, swimming pools, an entire mini golf course and a zip line. Along with water-based performances, ice skating shows, music halls and a comedy club, the ship will host an array of performances that Birch said would cover a variety of dance styles. “I am in the theatre cast, a stage production. It’s an 11-month contract that starts in Miami, Florida, and then goes to Mexico, the Bahamas, France, Spain and Italy,” she said. “Choreographers come in and work with us to shape the shows because it is a new ship; choreographing and creating the show is on us (the performers).” From performing for the Harvey Senior Citizens to later volunteering and dancing for the annual Bunbury Christmas Parade, Birch said her new gig on the Wonder of the Seas would be a great stepping stone for her future career. “It’s a good way to save money. I probably want to either do the (United) States or do London and Paris; there’s big dance industries over there with lots of work,” she said. “There are so many different things (to do in dancing) and you always evolve and I’m always changing. I’ll want to do something one day and then I will want to do something better; there’s always something else that comes up.” Birch said her initial leaving date was moved from January 1 because of fears caused by the omicron variant. “I was initially going over to Miami and rehearsing there for a month, but they had to cancel that because they didn’t want us to get COVID,” she said. “The pandemic has definitely had a massive impact on the entertainment industry full stop, in Australia and everywhere. “I’m not really worried (about the impacts of COVID-19). I want to travel, so I guess it’s the risk that you take.”