Nine years, 55 countries. Half their time on land, half on cruise ships.

That’s the life rhythm of pianist Ivan Danylets and vocalist Arjana Vizulis Danylets. The two met 11 years ago while performing with a rock band on a cruise ship, and they’ve built a jazz career alternating between Brooklyn, N.Y., and cruise ship performances.

The couple formed a jazz duo in 2017 and started The Gingersnap Band in 2019 with other rotating members. On Saturday, the band will bring a jazz concert to The Allen Center in Newton, Arjana’s hometown.

Arjana and Ivan describe their music as eclectic—drawing from many genres and incorporating many improvisations.

“Sometimes we’ll take a rock song and we’ll make it into a jazz ballad, because we feel that song showcases the message in a way that resonates with us,” Ivan said in an interview from their cabin on the Royal Caribbean Star of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world. The band began their three-and-a-half-month cruise performance run at the end of July.

On their second album, “Caribbean Manhattan,” they adapted Bon Jovi’s rock classic “Livin’ on a Prayer” and the Jason Mraz pop hit “I’m Yours” into jazz-style arrangements, giving them fresh takes.

Arjana said they always try to add curiosity and playfulness into their music. “Both within the lyrics and the music itself—there are stories, and there are interpretations of those stories that are new for us every time we play.”

The couple released their debut album, “Us Now,” as a duo in 2017. “One day Arjana woke up and said, ‘Hey, how about next winter we fly to Puerto Rico and record an album for two months?’ And I said, OK,’” Ivan said.

“I think we both bring different ingredients that we care about to the music,” Arjana said. “An ingredient for me absolutely comes from my love of storytelling.”

Arjana studied musical theater at New York University. Before becoming an independent musician, she was on the road for a couple of years with a national tour of the musical “Hairspray.”

The storytelling in musical theater has always had a place in her heart, but she also loves “being able to be in the driver’s seat of our own music and interpret it the way that feels sensitive and organic.”

Growing up in Newton, Arjana was surrounded by music. Both of her parents, Andris and Becky Vizulis, played violin in Newton Symphony Orchestra. She grew up going to her parents’ rehearsals, learning violin at New England Conservatory Prep, and singing in chorus and music camps.

“I can see how privileged I was with my artistic education growing up in Newton,” Arjana said. “I see it as a golden childhood experience to build an artistic framework for me.”

Music has been a central part of Ivan’s life from an early age. Born and raised in Ukraine, he began taking piano lessons and music theory classes, and participating in choir and orchestra at the age of 8. He went on to study at the Kyiv Institute of Music in Ukraine and earned a master’s in jazz performance at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

“These classes in Ukraine were all government subsidized,” Ivan said. “Now I’m realizing it was actually very special, how much access to music and to music education I actually had back in Ukraine.”

Music has brought the two together across continents and carried them to stages around the world. From performing at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Osaka, Japan, to Bora Bora, Arjana and Ivan embrace a life that balances land and sea.

As a 42-year-old female musician, Arjana finally found the authentic artistic message she wanted to convey. 

“I feel very grateful and lucky and proud that I’m still kicking,” Arjana said. “It has been a journey and an evolution of what I feel like as an artist, and I want to get stronger with time, get funkier with time, and gain my own confidence and continue to grow. I want to try to encourage and hold the hands of other artists who are trying to find their footing in an industry that is incredibly difficult.”

Usman Salahuddin, The Gingersnap Band’s drummer, said working with Arjana and Ivan is easy and joyful. 

“They’re consummate pros,” he said. “They’ve been doing this for a long time, so they’ve really cultivated and sharpened a band-leading style that works.”

Salahuddin played one gig with the duo in Manhattan this spring and soon signed on to play with The Gingersnap Band on cruise ships. Saturday’s concert will be his first in the Boston area.

“I’m just excited to perform,” he said, “to bring this product that we’ve been sharpening, cultivating and developing night in and night out to the audience.”

Playing in Newton with a six-piece-band feels like a homecoming for Arjana. Her mother, Becky Vizulis, a teacher at Dover-Sherborn High School, died in March.

“It feels like coming home, doing what I am proud to be doing with my husband, and in kind of what feels like the beginning of a new chapter,” Arjana said.

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This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.