It may have been a cold, dreary weekend in the Illawarra but the region’s best dancers did their best to turn up the heat up inside UOW’s great hall on Sunday.
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Almost 200 couples took to the dance floor to compete in the South Coast Ballroom Spectacular, vying to be named overall champion across three different dance styles – Latin American, Modern and New Vogue.
With many of the female dancers donning intricate dresses that take upwards of 30 hours to sew together, couples competed in age groups ranging from under 10s right up to masters, and across ability groups from recreational (beginners and first timers) to open classes (for elite amateur).
Event organiser Margaret Reeve said the event was in its 60th year and had welcomed many amazing couples over the years who had gone on to compete internationally.
She said some couples would end up performing 12 dances before the day was out, across popular and well known styles including foxtrot, tango, waltz and quick step.
When asked what was the key to performing so many styles in one day, Ms Reeve said it took plenty of memory power.
“You have to have a good memory, good training, fitness and plenty of rehearsal time,” she said, adding some couples would have trained up to five days a week in the lead-up to the competition.
