The Australia Times - Ballroom magazine. Volume 2, issue 7

THE

TIMES

BALLROOM

AUSTRALIA

Vol. 2 No. 7 July 2015

Pg 2

Pg 3

A Letter from the Editors

Welcome to The Australia Times “BALLROOM”, July 2015 Edition. This month we feature

an overiew of the 2015 D.A.N.C.E National Championship held on the last weekend of

June in Canberra. We have results from around the world as well as a great interview

with Felix & Christina Park about their rst experience of Blackpool. There’s much more

this month, remember, if you want to have your say, or have results or information you

think we should publish, send us an email at info@theaustraliatimes.com.au

Jason & Erin.

ON THE COVER

Professional couple Rohan & Melissa Prince VIC

Competing at the 2015 D.A.N.C.E Competition

PHOTO BY NITSIA LIONIS

www.lionisphotography.com.au

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from the Editors.............Pg 3

Dance Move Engage Comp.....Pg 4

D.A.N.C.E Overview................Pg 10

Aussies Around the World.....Pg 24

Tokyo 2020 Announcement..Pg 28

Our First Blackpool................Pg 32

Birth Announcement.............Pg 40

New Professional Couple.......Pg 41

Off The Floor..........................Pg 42

Want to be a contributor?

Please email us

info@theaustraliatimes.com.au

CONTRIBUTORS

Lyndall Grant

Felix & Christina Park

Michael & Lauren Hemera

Michael & Roslyn Cocks

PHOTOGRAPHERS, thank you!

Lyneham Forest

Nitsia Lionis

Camella Camenzuli

COMING NEXT MONTH

• Off The Floor Interview

• Balance Nourish Thrive

• Aussies Around the World

• Fashion Police

• and more!

Pg 4

Lyndall Grant reporting... “A SPECTATOR’S VIEW”

Today was the ofﬁcial beginning of the DME competitions. DME is a not for proﬁt organisation promoting

ﬁtness, health and dance in the Sydney suburbs. This organisation particularly focuses on the western suburbs

providing affordable dance classes to the young and beginning dancer. This is done through K-12 schools and

RSL clubs as well as private studio work and scholarship programs.

This competition contained Dance League events, team events and recreational events. It also contained Pro/

Am events to show the beginning dancers that dance is for all levels and all ages. Everyone enjoyed watching

the level attained by these competitors and their beautiful costuming, dancing and presentation were all well

appreciated by the audience.

There were several highlights for me. I loved the number of competitors on the ﬂoor who were dancing their

ﬁrst competition, the camaraderie of the youngsters and the enthusiasm and pride shown by competitors,

parents, teachers and spectators. I loved that even though the promotion of Dancesport was important, and

the technique and development assessed, that the aim was to promote a fun and healthy competition where

to compete was to win. The teachers worked hard leading and encouraging their students throughout the day.

I loved the inclusion of general dancing throughout the program and I loved watching the interaction of the

Byrnes’ family as Dad, Mum and the three girls prepared the competition and supported each other. The girls

helped to man the numbers’ table, entry and run various jobs throughout the day.

Parramatta RSL as a venue was good. It was nice to have such helpful staff on hand to help run the event.

The atmosphere was warm and inviting and especially good for the younger and recreational age group. The

dance ﬂoor was such that the less experienced age group did not feel threatened, but possibly the size of the

ﬂoor meant that the professionals were challenged in their standard events to ﬁt their routines in. At every

comp there is the challenge of ﬁtting routines into the various sizes of the ﬂoors. The food service downstairs

was certainly yummy, and it was nice to have nutritious options available, also at an affordable price. The

venue was a little hard to ﬁnd at ﬁrst, as we were unfamiliar with the area, but the organisers have said they

will include information on how to get to the club for the next competition.

21ST JUNE 2015

Dance Move Engage - Opening Competition

DonnaAlanNeale LynehamNicole

Pg 5

3RD PLACE SHOWCASE TEAM - BYRNES DANCE IMAGE DANCESPORT

Photo by Lyneham Forrest

21ST JUNE 2015

Dance Move Engage - Opening Competition

2ND PLACE SHOWCASE TEAM - MERIDIAN DANCE

Photo by Lyneham Forrest

1ST PLACE SHOWCASE TEAM - BYRNES DANCE IMAGE HIP HOP

Photo by Lyneham Forrest

DANCE MOVE ENGAGE OPENING COMPETITION

Pg 6

21ST JUNE 2015

Dance Move Engage - Opening Competition

It was great that Parramatta RSL have a car park opposite that was free if families had their tickets validated

at the front desk, also making the venue more affordable.

I personally, as a spectator and dancer, would like to thank the directors of DME. It was a great event NEALE,

NICOLE AND ALAN. The evaluating panels and associated groups always work hard throughout the day. The

music was wonderful. I enjoyed just sitting and listening to the music, as well as watching the competitors.

ADAM STONE did a great job as compere. He was calm, positive and happy guiding many of the youngsters

through their ﬁrst competition and encouraging crowd support.

I always think that anyone on a board and running a competition does an amazing job. It took me a long time as

a competitor to come to realise how many weeks and months before the actual competition that work begins.

The sponsors ArtSport Dance Shoes, Glamour Dance, Dancesport 383, Dance Fit International, Byrnes Dance

Image, Inspirations, Ros Ron Designs, Kitt Property Maintenance and Kitchens, Outside Change, Grant Barratt-

Thompson of Inspirations and Paul Green have all helped to keep this competition affordable.

The day ended with a Waltz and Quickstep demonstration by LYNEHAM AND TALYSA. The room was silent and

in awe as these two danced a magniﬁcent display to the most wonderful of music. With hard work, determination,

motivation and enthusiasm we saw where some of the youngsters participating today may go in the future.

I look forward to the comps on the 6th September and the 6th December.

Lyndall Grant

To see the results fo the Dance Move Engage Champions of the Future events, go to

http://dancesportlive.net/dsl/results/2015/dme_june/

WINSOME ABRAHMS & NIKITA BYRNES ON NUMBERS

Photo by Lyneham Forrest

Pg 7

21ST JUNE 2015

Dance Move Engage - Opening Competition

MICHAEL LIANG & MADISYN SCHWENKE

Junior Recreational - Photo by Lyneham Forrest

JUNIOR RECREATIONAL COMPETITORS

Photo by Lyneham Forrest

MOSES KHOURY & TAY LEUNG

Junior Dance League - Photo by Lyneham Forrest

LAUREN TAYLOR PARTNERED BY WILLIAM

Juvenile Recreational - Photo by Lyneham Forrest

DANCE MOVE ENGAGE OPENING COMPETITION

Pg 8

Pg 9

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Pg 10

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

CANBERRA 26th - 28th JUNE 2015

OVERVIEW

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DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

CANBERRA 26th - 28th JUNE 2015

OVERVIEW

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

The last weekend of June for the past 22 years the Australian dancing community has travelled to Canberra

for the weekend to what was formerly known as the NCDC (National Capital Dancesport Championship).

This year however saw DanceSport Australia take over the event to run the DanceSport Australia National

Championships with a new look set up and some different events on the running order it was set to be a very

interesting 3 days of competition.

Over the 3 days of competition we have some former World, British, Australian, New Zealand and State Champions

and ﬁnalists covering the Open events which will feature in a future edition of Outside CHANGE which includes

the following; Graham Thomas, Julie Patchett and Inga Haas (WA), Anna Longmore, Meagen Alderton, Laurie &

Dianne Peterson and Jason Beaman (VIC), Andrew Palmer (TAS), Brad Dawes and Sherrie-Lea McGrath (NSW),

Joanne Boden and Jody Rollason (QLD) and Doug Pouwhare and Viktoria Morgan (New Zealand). We are sure

there will be some great articles to read from these wonderful past champions of our industry.

ADELE HYLAND and the committee organising these National Championships need to be congratulated on

a wonderful job they did, yes, there have been some negatives from some however, the positives far

out way any negatives

that anyone could say. To try something different and not be afraid of it was

something that was very refreshing and unique in our industry, the 15 judges on the evening ﬁnals per style

was a great initiative and has received positive feedback from competitors, spectators and judges alike. The

inclusion of ﬂoor side tables around the whole ﬂoor was a huge improvement as it brought the audience closer

to the dancer making the very large room more intimate, the use of the marshalling area and the couples not

walking in front of the audience to get to the side waiting area was also a big plus for those watching, and the

magniﬁcent lighting that was displayed throughout the weekend was ﬁrst class giving a wonderful atmosphere

for the competitors and spectators alike.

Compere’s for the weekend did a great job in LARRY CLARKE, DIANNE & LAURIE PETERSON, CHRIS

SANDISON & JODY ROLLASON however, it would have been nice to have had a male and female voice in

the evening programmes. Music for the weekend was also of a very high standard and GEOFF PROCTOR

and MARTYN KIBEL need a round of applause for putting together a play list that is not easy to do over a 3

day programme.

Adjudicators for the championship were as follows:

STANDARD:

New South Wales: Melinda Hayes, Donna Shingler, Mary Barratt-Thompson, Penny de Kauwe

Victoria: Kym Smith, Kerry Clarke, Eamon McGrath

Queensland: Richard Perry, Diane Clare

South Australia: Stephen Pulbrook, Madeleine Zoanetti

Western Australia: Richard Morrisey, Julie Patchett, Debbie Godenzi, Judy Williams

Pg 12

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

NEW VOGUE:

New South Wales: Brad Dawes, Kerry Baumer, Peter Todd

Victoria: Norma Connelly-Ellis, Lecia Putland, Pamelia Courts, Jason Beaman

Queensland: Mark Wilson, Kylie Wall, Ross Heidke, Anthony Egan

Western Australia: Jan Reilly, Jason Thomas

Tasmania: Marilyne Jackson

Northern Territory: Stephen Farawell

LATIN:

New South Wales: Nicole Byrnes, Sherrie-Lea McGrath, Anthony Gauci, Penny de Kauwe

Victoria: Julie Jones, Brent Olifent, Adam Blakey

Queensland: Philip Nicholas, Gary Soderlund

South Australia: Rhett English

Western Australia: Geoff Stubbs, Julie Morrissey, Inga Haas, Peter Townsend

Tasmania: Andrew Palmer

The day commenced on Friday 26th June at midday for the adjudicators with an Adjudicators Workshop which

ran for just over 4 hours with DALLAS WILLIAMS, PETER TOWNSEND and ALAN SHINGLER conducting a

great workshop for the Professionals in attendance and it was something that we hope will continue to develop

and grow as it is a very important of our industry to have discussions on the future of our wonderful sport we

do. At the conclusion of the workshops at around 4.30pm it was then straight in to the competition at 6pm.

PETER TOWNSEND - LEADER OF THE DSA EDUCATION COMMITTEE Presenting at the DSA National Championship

Adjudicator Workshop. Photo from D.A.N.C.E Facebook page

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26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

DSA SPORTS DIRECTOR - DALLAS WILLIAMS Presenting at the DSA National Championship Adjudicator Workshop.

Photo from D.A.N.C.E Facebook page

DSA DIRECTOR - ALAN SHINGLER Presenting at the DSA National Championship Adjudicator Workshop.

Photo from D.A.N.C.E Facebook page

Pg 14

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

2015 MEDAL TALLY

STATE or COUNTRY 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL

VICTORIA 46 44 55 145

NEW SOUTH WALES 21 26 16 63

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 14 12 7 33

NEW ZEALAND 10 6 2 18

QUEENSLAND 9 8 5 22

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 3 2 3 8

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 1 5 6 12

TASMANIA 1 1 1 3

TOTALS : 105 104 95 304

2014 MEDAL TALLY

STATE or COUNTRY 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL

VICTORIA 39 43 31 113

NEW SOUTH WALES 36 25 21 82

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 12 10 5 27

QUEENSLAND 10 10 15 35

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5 2 3 10

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 2 2 2 6

TASMANIA 2 0 0 2

NEW ZEALAND 1 2 0 3

NORTHERN TERRITORY 0 1 1 2

TOTALS : 107 95 78 280

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26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

2015 MEDAL TALLY

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Day 1 saw the Pro/Am, Teacher/Student and Adult Open and Professional Open 10 Dance

Championships take place and we were set for some fantastic dancing especially in the hotly contested

Adult 10 Dance event. This event was a true competition between the defending champions Brodie Barden

& Lana Skrgic-de Fonseka from WA and last year’s runners up Andrew Nolo & Alexandra Vladimirov

from Victoria. It is always great to see these two fantastic 10 dance couples compete against each other

and with such contrasting styles it was deﬁnitely going to be a close race. The eventual winners by winning

8 of the 10 dances were Andrew & Alexandra. We were also lucky to actually have a Professional 10 Dance

Championship as well, we have struggled with in this country for some time to acquire more than one or two

Professional 10 Dance couples so this was event was a huge success with 4 couples taking the ﬂoor and the

eventual winners being David Klar & Lauren Andlovec from Queensland.

The Pro/Am and teacher/Student events were also very well supported and we must make mention of Darryl

Davenport from WA who looked after his ladies with great care demonstrating some beautiful dancing from

both himself and his ladies. To all the Professionals and teachers who had students competing,

congratulations on making the trip to Canberra and giving all of your students and experience they may not

always get. We have included some action shots from the Pro/Am events in this issue for you.

DARRYL DAVENPORT & SIU NG

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

DARRYL DAVENPORT & JOAN ZHONG

Camella Camenzuli - www.facebook.com/pages/Camella-Camen-

zuli-photography/366547216867119?fref=ts

Pg 16

ALEX SCHEMBRI & KAREN CONSTABLE

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

DEMITRI MEYERS & KARLA GERBES

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

NEALE BYRNES & WINSOME ABRAMS

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

ALEX SCHEMBRI & JASMINE CASCIO

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

NEALE BYRNES & NIKITA BYRNES

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

PAUL CRUDDAS & JENNY ZHU

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

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DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

LAURENCE MOLDAVSKY & KATE ARNOTT

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

STEVEN GRINBERGS & ANNIE MUNG

Camella Camenzuli - www.facebook.com/pages/Camella-Camen-

zuli-photography/366547216867119?fref=ts

NATALIA DANILOVA & DANIEL SLACHOV

Camella Camenzuli - www.facebook.com/pages/Camella-Camen-

zuli-photography/366547216867119?fref=ts

THABANG BALOYI & SEVANA MIELI

Nitsia Lionis - www.lionisphotography.com.au

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Pg 18

26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Day 2 commenced at 10am sharp with the feature events being the Junior Open Latin, Masters 1, 2

& 3 Open Latin, Youth Open Standard & New Vogue, Adult Open Standard & New Vogue, Professional

Latin, New Vogue and Standard Show dance events.

This day saw some standout performances with Matthew Potter & Veronika Rezepina (NSW) taking out

the Adult Open Standard Championship and it was great to see Matthew back home competing and feel this

is the best we have seen him dance having more use of the body which has really freed up his performance.

Veronika is such a stunning looking lady but feel she could look at her costuming for the future, a little

distracting from the performance. Another couple who danced for the ﬁrst time was Lyneham Forrest &

Talysa Trevallion (NSW), these two have a great look and must have been happy to have been included in

their National ﬁnal together on their ﬁrst outing.

Egor Kuznetsov & Rebecca Stanning (Victoria) were the only entries in the Professional Standard Show

Dance event and displayed some great dancing with good changes in rhythms and told a story from start to

ﬁnish. They are a new partnership and also made the ﬁnal of the Professional Standard the following evening,

they look very good together and have the potential to go on to much greater things.

Another event which attracted our attention was the Junior Open Latin with all of the ﬁnalists having something

to offer the judges, the new partnership of Tristen Chilman & Georgia Hunt (WA) in all 3 styles looked great.

They are well matched and deﬁnitely a couple to watch for the future. The Junior Open Latin ﬁnal was of a

very high standard and all couples should be congratulated on a wonderful performance.

Youth Open Standard was also a close competition between the top 3 couples and the eventual winners after a

bad start to the day was Mitchell Kirkby & Brieanna Pincer (WA), after being knocked out in the ﬁrst Waltz

of the day came back with some ﬁre in the belly to take out the title which they were closely followed by two

Victorian couples in Jordan Saisi & Stephanie Leyden who were 2nd and Mischa Kuzmovych & Sarlotte

Jaske who were 3rd. All 3 couples showing great dancing and making it a real competition.

Day 3, the nal day was just as prestigious with Juvenile Open all 3 styles, Junior Open Standard &

New Vogue, Youth Open Latin, Under 19’s 10 Dance, Masters 1, 2 & 3 Open Standard & New Vogue,

Professional Standard, Professional Latin Show dance and the Adult Open Latin.

The start of the evening programme saw the a Life membership from DanceSport Australia

given to some of our Professionals in the industry who have given so much to dancing in this country over

the many years they have been involved as coaches, dancers, on national governing body committees and

those were RAY & MARGARET REEVE, NEIL ROSENFELD, PETER SMITH and DON MCROBERT. All very

deserving of this prestigious award and congratulations go to all of them.

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26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

MATTHEW POTTER & VERONIKA REZEPINA (NSW) ADULT OPEN STANDARD CHAMPIONS

Nitisa Lionis : www.lionisphotography.com.au

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

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26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

I must make mention of the Youth Open Latin and how exciting it was to watch, we are not sure why this event

was not included in the evening programme however, what a great event. All couples showing a maturity in their

dancing that we haven’t seen for some time in the Youth section and all should be congratulated. This was a truly

National ﬁnal with couples from WA, Qld, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand competing for the title. Eventual

winners from WA with David Santalucia & Ruby Gherbaz who were closely followed Julian Caillon & Lily

Cornish form Tasmania. This result could have gone either way with both couples wanting to take out the win.

Daniel Moloney & Anna Edwards (Victoria) were the winners of the Masters 1 Open Standard and New

Vogue with a convincing win in both styles, we are not sure however how they picked up ﬁrst place markings

in the Viennese Waltz from some adjudicators when they danced this out of time? However, in the other dances

they showed some calm and controlled dancing throughout to be the 2015 champions.

The Adult Open caused a drama when the closed Australian Champions missed the ﬁrst

round

which was disappointing however, the ﬁnal was still a very entertaining one with all 6 couples putting

on a great show for the audience. Sigurdur Thor Sigurdsson & Annalisa Zoanetti (SA) winning this

event with ﬁrst place of every judge (that being 15) in every dance, showing their dominance in this style and

Annalisa showing more softness in places which was great to see. We were quite surprised with the omission

from the ﬁnal of Queenslands Justin & Amy Sharrock who certainly deserved a spot in this superb ﬁnal. We

really like the new look of Amy and thought they were a couple that would have challenged quite highly in the

ﬁnal round.

The other event that had everyone’s attention was the Professional Standard with our top two couples battling

it out for the win. The eventual winners were Steven Grinbergs & Rachelle Plaass winning Waltz, Viennese

Waltz and Foxtrot with runners up David Klar & Lauren Andlovec winning Tango & Quickstep. Both couples

putting in a ﬁrst class performance and result could have gone either way.

Overall the 2015 National Championships were a huge success and we must say congratulations to the DSA

event committee in ADELE HYLAND, DALLAS WILLIAMS, ALAN SHINGLER, DON MCROBERT, ANDREW

HOWLETT, STEVE EDWARDS and SHARON COURTS on what we thought was an excellent weekend of

dancing. We are all looking forward to what next year will bring with this event.

A full report on all the Open events will appear in our next edition of

Outside CHANGE, this will be an issue not to be missed.

To see the results from the 3 Days of competition, go to:

http://dancesportlive.net/dsl/results/2015/dsa_national/

http://dancesportlive.net/dsl/results/2015/dsa_national_sat/

http://dancesportlive.net/dsl/results/2015/dsa_national_sun/

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26TH - 28TH JUNE 2015 CANBERRA

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

ANDREW NOLO & ALEXANDRA VLADIMIROV (VIC) ADULT 10 DANCE CHAMPIONS

Nitisa Lionis : www.lionisphotography.com.au

DSA D.A.N.C.E NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Pg 22

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International

The most recent results of Australian Couples from

Competitions held around the World.

Pg 25

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Aussies Around the World

PARIS DANCE OPEN 2015

Paris, France Friday 29th May, 2015

Errol & Ami Williamson (Denmark) were successful

in making the ﬁnal of the WDSF Open Ten Dance

event and placing in 4th position.

GOLDEN SANDS OPEN 2015

Varna, Bulgaria Saturday 30th May, 2015

New Zealand couple of Fabio Coco & Nicole

Harrington placed in the semi ﬁnal round of the

WDSF International Open Latin out of a starting ﬁeld

of 28 couples.

VIENNA DANCE CONCOURSE

Vienna, Austria Friday 5th June, 2015

The WDSF Senior II Latin took place in Vienna,

Austria with Australia being represented by Nigel &

Margaret Kukulka from Melbourne. 29 couples

started in the ﬁrst round and Nigel & Margaret placed

28th in a very strong ﬁeld of Senior II competitors.

They also competed in the Senior I Latin placing in

equal 28th.

Sunday 7th June saw another Senior II Latin

competition take place and Nigel & Margaret made it

through to the 2nd round of 24 couples placing 18th.

RIVIERA FESTIVAL 2015

England Friday 5th June, 2015

Queensland Masters 1 couple Shane & Karen

Buckley were successful in taking out the title in

the Open English Senior Ballroom Championship at

the Riviera Festival. They tied for 1st place in Waltz,

tied for 2nd place in Tango and won the remaining

3 dances. They also won the 4 Dance Ballroom

event making it a great day of competition for them

in the UK.

LOW COST RHYTHM DANCE TROPHY

Faenza, Italy Sunday 7th June, 2015

The very popular Low Cost competitions run in Italy

by the WDSF organisation are proving very popular

with not only Italians but many European couples as

well. These events attract many competitors with

large entries seen in many events.

87 couples took to the ﬂoor in the ﬁrst round of the

Over 16 Standard event with former Australian Ashli

Williamson & Bjorn Bitsch (Denmark) placing 2nd

with Ashli’s brother Earle Williamson & Charlotte

Rikke Christiansen (USA) making the semi ﬁnal

round and placing in 10th position.

In the Over 16 Latin event our newest Australian

couple, Alex Salvador & Alice Chiocchi would

have been pleased to make the semi ﬁnal round

and place 11th from a starting list of 69 couples.

WDSF GRAND SLAM

Hong Kong 20th & 21st June, 2015

The WDSF Grand slam took place in the famous

Queen Elizabeth in Wan Chai, Hong Kong with a

very large starting ﬁeld of couples. Australia was

International

The most recent results of Australian Couples from

Competitions held around the World.

Pg 26

represented on the adjudicating panel with Mr Tony

Gauci and Australia also had one couple entered

being, David Chandler & Wendy Brewer.

David and Wendy competed in the Adult Latin and

were unlucky not to have progressed past the ﬁrst

round. They ﬁnished equal 69th from 85 couples in

the ﬁrst round.

In the WDSF Grand Slam Standard we see two of the

Williamson family competing with Ashli Williamson

& Bjorn Bitsch (Denmark) making the ﬁnal and

receiving their best Grand Slam result to date ﬁnishing

3rd and brother Earle Williamson & Charlotte

Rikke Christiansen who now dance for the USA

made the 3rd round of 25 couples placing 25th.

YANKEE CLASSIC

Boston, USA Saturday 20th June, 2015

Nicole Prosser and her American partner Stanislav

Savich were successful in taking out the Professional

Rising Star Latin Championship winning all 5 dances.

They also ﬁnished in the runners up position in the

World Masters Professional Latin event, some great

results for Nicole & Stanislav.

WDC GERMAN OPEN

Mannheim, Germany 20th & 21st June, 2015

The WDC German Open has long been an event not

to be missed on the WDC circuit. On the adjudicating

panels were former Australians John Kimmins (USA)

and Greg Smith (Holland).

Australia had 1 couple competing and this was in

the Amateur Latin event and that was Miroslav

Randjelovic & Bethany Howard. Mirolsav &

Bethany competed against 47 couples in the Amateur

Latin and placed equal 23rd in the 2nd round.

MILLENNIUM DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIP

Tampa, USA Tuesday 23rd June, 2015

Stanislav Savich & Nicole Prosser placed 3rd in

the Professional Rising Star Latin Championship and

were also successful in making the semi ﬁnal round

in the Professional Latin event placing 10th.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Aussies Around the World

Pg 27

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Aussies Around the World

Pg 28

DANCESPORT NOT IN 2020 TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES

Pg 29

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic organising committee has

short listed 8 sports out of the 26 sports that were

vying for Olympic inclusion and being included in the

programme for the XXXII Olympic Games with one of those sports being

DanceSport.

The federations of the 8 sports that have been short listed now have the opportunity

to make a presentation at the beginning of August and to submit further information

to the Tokyo Olympic committee.

DanceSport along with 17 other sports did not make the cut and now will no

longer be considered for inclusion at the 2020 games.

The sports making the cut and who will put together a presentation to be accepted

at the 2020 games are as follows

WBSC - World Baseball Softball Confederation

WB - World Bowling

WKF - World Karate Federation

FIRS - International Roller Sports Federation

IFSC - International Federation of Sport Climbing

WSF - World Squash Federation

ISA - International Surng Association

IWUF - International Wushu Federation

There has been much debate whether or not DanceSport should be included in

the Olympic programme of events and this debate has been going on now for

many many years, will it ever be included? Should it be included?

At this stage we will never know, maybe it is now time for our major world

governing bodies to think hard about where our wonderful art of Ballroom Dancing

/ DanceSport is headed and look hard at the future to see what can be done to

make our own industry more cohesive and a much better place for all on the

world scene.

Pg 30

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OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL

Felix & Christina Park from NSW

Blackpool Dance Festival has got to be the world’s most prestigious ballroom dance

competition. Beautiful ﬂoor and music, amazing atmosphere, great dancers and

supportive audience. It is simply the best and Felix and I were lucky to experience

it this year and we would like to share this with you all.

We arrived in London on the 15th of May, a week before Blackpool Dance Festival. I’ve got to say, 22 hours

of ﬂight (although we stopped in Korea overnight) does wear you out so much but we decided to enter a

competition, The Galaxy Imperial Championship at Gatwick, which was on the following day. It was a crazy idea

but we had to overcome the jet leg and more importantly we wanted to feel what dancing overseas is like and

get some sort of idea for Blackpool. The Venue was one hour train ride from London and when we got there

we were able to enter on the day. The venue itself was quite small but there were a lot of couples; people

warming up and practicing in the hallway, sleeping in the corner and ﬁxing makeup and the atmosphere was

intense. Although we’ve only danced one event, we knew what it’s like dancing overseas. Pure competition.

FELIX & CHRISTINA PARK

Photo courtesy of Felix & Christina, thank you.

Pg 34

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL - FELIX & CHRISTINA PARK

CHRISTINE WITH RAE-LI FORREST INSIDE WINTER GARDENS BALLROOM

Photo courtesy of Felix & Christina, thank you.

FELIX & CHRISTINA ON THE BLACKPOOL FLOOR INSIDE WINTER GARDENS BALLROOM

Photo courtesy of Felix & Christina, thank you.

Pg 35

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL

Felix & Christina Park from NSW

Everyone was very focused and determined which is obvious; they have travelled all the way to London to

dance and show what they’ve achieved and go even further.

So every day leading up to Blackpool, we went to Dance Options Studio in Cheam for practice. There were

morning and night practice sessions, the morning session was free for all types. They played music and all

Latin and Ballroom dancers practiced on the ﬂoor at the same time so you could go through your routines and

practice what you needed to work on whereas in the night practice, they put couples in heats and couples

danced 3 dances each. The ﬂoor isn’t big enough to ﬁt 20 couples but somehow you needed to manage to

dance. What we found was, because everyone was so determined, the atmosphere was even more intense,

100 or so couples sweating on the heated ﬂoor, some couples were discussing and some were arguing quite

aggressively. During the 5 days of practicing at Cheam, we focused on OUR dancing as we didn’t want to be

inﬂuenced by other couples dancing.

20th of May, Wednesday morning we left London to travel to Blackpool. You could rent a car and drive about

3 hours (depending on the trafﬁc) to Blackpool, or take a bus but we decided to take a train. The train was

full of dancers with their very big luggage. It was a very long 3 hour train ride and some people (including us)

actually had to stay behind for the next train because there was too much luggage and they couldn’t ﬁt us all

in, so we don’t personally recommend the train ride.

Our very ﬁrst Blackpool dance was on Day 1 of the competition which was the 1st Qualifying round of the

Amateur Ballroom Rising Star, there were about 8 heats in the event and we danced in heat 3. Strangely we

were pretty calm as we only thought about our dancing, however after our ﬁrst dance, Waltz, we were terriﬁed

and shocked. It was nothing like what we experienced and expected.

People often say “Go enjoy your ﬁrst Blackpool, it’s amazing”. Yes, it’s amazing but you cannot enjoy a thing

over there, it was like a war; the atmosphere on the actual dance ﬂoor was totally different. One thing we

were certain of after the dance was that we had to have a proper strategy for the next event, dancing just for

ourselves wasn’t enough, we had to compete against others too. After the event dancers gathered outside of

the venue waiting for the recalls which were later announced in the paper. From the second qualifying round

of events, recalls were announced just before the event so everyone had to be prepared and wait for their

numbers to be called out.

As the rounds and days continued, we witnessed some great dancing in both Latin and Ballroom and Youth,

Amateur and Professionals. Even just watching them really inspired and guided us how we are going to

pursue the future. Youth couples had so much energy and enthusiasm in their dancing, it was great to see

young couples producing good quality dancing that everyone can learn from. The Professionals were just

breathtaking, every movement was elegant and beautiful, we are certain that they inspired so many people on

that day and it deﬁnitely did to us and it was deﬁnitely different to what we’ve watched on videos online.

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL - FELIX & CHRISTINA PARK

Pg 36

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL - FELIX & CHRISTINA PARK

FELIX WITH ANNE GLEAVE IN LONDON

Photo courtesy of Felix & Christina, thank you.

Pg 37

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL

Felix & Christina Park from NSW

We also went to the Blackpool Congress watching the greatest dancers and teachers lecturing about their

secrets to the success. They all talked from different perspective but one thing in common was that we have

to be motivated and be clear with what we are trying to achieve. At the end of the day it is us who

will change the path.

Our journey did not end in Blackpool, when we returned to London from the competition and 2 weeks of

lessons with Richard and Anne Gleave which was one of the most inspirational moments. It wasn’t just a

series of dance lessons; it was a life lesson too. They shared their knowledge, experience, values and even

their personal stories with us; what inspired them, what made them become who they are now. It was just

amazing learning from two of the most successful ballroom dancers in the world.

In the end, this journey was the greatest moment of our lives. It was full of

learning, experience and inspiration. It deﬁnitely was an unforgettable moment

and we cherished every moments of it. If you haven’t been to Blackpool Dance

Festival yet, we highly recommend it. It is the place to be :) just enjoy it.

from left : JENNA TAMPALINE, MICHAEL TOMPKINS, XANTHE HADFIELD, FELIX, CHRISTINA & TYLER BLAH

Photo courtesy of Felix & Christina, thank you.

OUR FIRST BLACKPOOL - FELIX & CHRISTINA PARK

PRIZE

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

ANd ThE wINNERS

ARE ...

DOUBLE PASS TO AUSTRALIAN DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nathan Kirkby

DOUBLE PASS TO PREMIERE DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Angela Schumann

DOUBLE PASS TO SOUTHERN CROSS DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ingrid De Moiser

LIFE TIME OUTSIDE CHANGE SUBSCRIPTION

Steven Grinbergs

12 MONTH OUTSIDE CHANGE SUBSCRIPTION

Julie Longden • Shynea Clarke

Rebecca Beardsley • Ashley Hyunh

Jayne Dawson • Gayle Ward

3 MONTH OUTSIDE CHANGE SUBSCRIPTION

Sandy Rae • Iris Taylor • Luna Choi

Katie-Marie Wilson • Michael O’Reilly • Kathy Leet

Yan Li • Darren Day • Corinna Buchan

Glen Strauss • Maria Adriani • Michael Gunasekera

Bev Smallman • Kevin Morellini • Justin Sharrock

Congratulations to all who won in our 1st Birthday Competition, and thank

you to everyone who entered, we had an overwhleming response.

Please make sure you check your email for details on how to claim your

prize. If you have any queries please email info@outsidechange.com

Pg 40

Birth Announcement

On the 27th June at 7:27 am former Australian Champions NURIA

SANTALUCIA and her husband MIRCO SCIOLAN became proud parents

of a little girl CHLOè MARIE SCIOLAN. Weighing in at 3.3pounds and 52

inches long. Mum Nuria and baby Chloè are both very happy and healthy.

Congratulations to both Nuria & Mirco on the safe arrival of Chloe from all of

us at TAT Ballroom and the Australia dancing community.

Pg 41

New Professional Couple

MICHAEL HEMERA and LAUREN HEMERA are excited to announce that they

have turned Professional.

“We look forward to an exciting new chapter in our Dancing career. Our rst

Professional competition will be at The International Championships in

October. We thank all our Australian coaches who have helped us grow and

mature as dancers over the years, we will always be eternally grateful to you.”

IMAGES SUPPLIED BY MICHAEL & LAUREN HEMERA, Thank you.

Pg 42

OFF THE FLOOR INTERVIEW

with Michael & Roslyn Cocks

FROM VICTORIA

Dancing together at the 2014 Australian DanceSport Championships

Image courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

Pg 43

OFF THE FLOOR INTERVIEW

with Michael & Roslyn Cocks

FROM VICTORIA

THE QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS

WANTED TO ASK!

Thank you both so much for taking the time to do this interview for us at TAT

Ballroom. We understand your schedules are very busy and it is very much

appreciated that you have taken the time to complete this interview.

Firstly, When, Where and Why did you both starting dancing?

Back in 1988 Michael & I were both working at Frankston Hospital where Mornington “Ausborne Dance

Academy” studio owners Greg & Vicki Moody had their baby. Michael’s brother was getting married that year

so after Vicki inspired a group of nurses to start lessons we decided to join in thinking a “term” of lessons

would be enough for us to satisfactorily join in the bridal waltz. Socially it sounded like fun too.

How many dance partners have you both had?

We’ve only ever danced together. Being in a relationship has meant that we have enjoyed progressing from

absolute beginners to accomplished dancers together. We have weathered the typical dancers arguments,

disappointments & successes together which will make for some great stories in future years. We can’t

imagine ever dancing with anyone but each other.

Do you remember your rst competition and where it was?

That’s easy! A pearl of advice Greg Moody gave us when we ﬁrst started competing was to keep a record of

comps & results. He said not only is it good to look back on but it shows the steady improvement in results over

the years. Reﬂecting on the book... our ﬁrst comp was DMA Championships on 24th June 1990.

We danced non registered novice Quickstep, Merrilyn & Cha Cha. We made the semi ﬁnal. We danced 5 comps

that year. We registered in 1991 & danced 16 comps (all in Victoria) of which many of those no longer exist.

We clearly recall that year winning the Victorians dancing Samba at the former “Glass House”. The ﬁlming of

some of the scenes for Strictly Ballroom were done that day & the trophy we won was very impressive due to

the sponsorship from Strictly Ballroom.

16 comps in one year sounds like a lot but ballroom dancing had lit our ﬁre & the taste of steady improvement

& success lured us to in 1992 dancing X20 comps, 1993 X 21 & 1994 X 16. So it went on, dancing had

become all consuming

How many hours of lessons do you have a week and how many hours of practice per lesson is involved?

Over the years one lesson per week turned into two, then three, one for each style. Practice increased from a

quick few minutes in our kitchen before a lesson to average 16 hrs a week. We ﬁtted in having a family and

now juggle family, work & dancing with doing less dancing than we would like but keeping the balance. We

now dance 2 styles with 2 lessons per week and no amount of practice hours is ever enough!

Pg 44

AT THEIR FIRST COMPETITION - 1990

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

1991

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

1991

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

AT THEIR FIRST COMPETITION - 1990

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

OFF THE FLOOR INTERVIEW

Pg 45

OFF THE FLOOR INTERVIEW

THE QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS

WANTED TO ASK!

Who are your current coaches?

Jason Beaman (Marshere Ferntree Gully) coaches us in both Standard & New Vogue. In fact Jason has

been coaching us for over 20 years

. It’s been a longstanding fabulous relationship with him ﬁrstly

teaching us latin at Ausborne when he ﬁrst turned pro at aged 19.

At Marshere we also enjoy on occasion guest lessons with other Marshere coaches plus many of Australia’s

ﬁnest coaches when they are visiting the studio. We have found these very complimentary to the ongoing

coaching that Jason provides.

Who or what Inspires you or has inspired you over the years?

Whilst we “plonked” around in our early days we recall seeing a couple whirling around the studio. Seeing us gaping

& awestruck Greg stated “you could do that!”. I scoffed in disbelief. So there was our early inspiration, followed by

seeing the glitz of costuming & then being alongside the determination of others. Improvement however gradual

has inspired us along competitively but the level of enjoyment is no different to when we ﬁrst began.

We have adored many dancers who have visually demonstrated what can be achieved but Inspiration &

motivation for us mostly comes from within with a desire. However this desire has been “fed” & “nurtured” with

the enthusiasm & belief in us that we’ve received from coaches.

Who makes your outts?

For many years I made both my own ballroom and Latin costumes. Plus Michael’s too.

However with the increasing pressure of producing “winning” costumes I handed over to the design & sewing

skills of Brent Olifent & Jenni Pedersen. Non sewers really cannot imagine how difﬁcult the task of producing

a unique dress for each individual is. I appreciate that Brent has always taken such care to select color, fabric

& design predicting a “look” that might be best for me that particular year. For me it’s worth every cent!

What is your favourite competition and why?

So what constitutes a favorite? Best venue? Best organised? Best results? Fondest memories for whatever

reason? We both vote the “Aussies”. There is no doubt that there is always the thrill of competing for a high

ranking, the ﬂoor is big & a nice surface to dance on and the weekend culminates with being in the audience

watching Australia’s (& internationals) ﬁnest strutting their stuff.

You have equalled the most wins ever for the Masters 1 Open New Vogue and were UNDEFEATED

FOR 6 YEARS IN A ROW at the Australian Championships, which is equal best to only one other

Masters 1 couple in David Rogers & Suzanne Harvey. Has this been the highlight of your career so

far, or have there been others?

There have been so many highlights dotted throughout our 27 years of dancing. Winning is of course a stand

Pg 46

THE QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS

WANTED TO ASK!

out. We’ve won Victorian Championships in all three styles, we’ve won graded Australian Championships in

all 3 styles & even in our eyes incredibly maintained being the open Masters Champions New Vogue title 6

years running. However there have been great experiences travelling to enjoy competing in Blackpool, Taiwan,

interstate & as part of the Melbourne Formation team to Singapore. We look back on so many fun times we’ve

had as part of Ausborne, Bagheeras & Marshere. We enjoy the people we’ve met & those we catch up with at

comps. We appreciate the support & camaraderie of family, friends & fellow dancers. Dancing for us just hasn’t

been about perfecting a few steps, it’s been an all round life experience full of many highlights.

What do you think is your biggest asset as a couple?

Persistance!

You have had many rivals over the years that you have competed against, can you tell us who the

mains one have been and what you think their assets are as dancers?

When we danced adult we consistently came second to Brad & Melinda. They were always one placing ahead

of us until ﬁnally after several years we crept up past them. They were practising hard & were tall & elegant.

Then in the masters section there was Steve Winzar and Helen Angwin displaying grace & ﬁtness, David &

Leanne Amos who had lovely softness & musicality, Peter McGiver & Karen Bartlett who are always produce a

polished performance, the youthful Dean Anderson & Danni Devine, Daniel Moloney with his classic ballroom

look & Anna who is such a strong lady dancer.

What are your careers outside of dancing?

Michael Is a GP. Ros trained as a nurse/midwife but now runs a Middle Eastern belly dancing school.

What would you change about Ballroom Dancing/DanceSport if you could?

Many of the changes we would have made to make Dancesport more accessible are now already happening.

We can see dance sport being proactive in recruiting young dancers. Cheaper comps making it more ﬁnancially

accessible for the beginners are creeping back taking advantage of less expensive & less glamorous venues

yet making sure the comp vibe is still strong with compere hype, stage set up, lighting etc.

There is less division within the studios with an increasing acceptance that couples are afﬁliated with more

than one studio or coach. Some couples even have more than one coach in each style. Dancers are attending

practice sessions in not just their own studios too. With the intermingling we see a pushing up the competitive

spirit which we believe is good for Dancesport.

From everyone at TAT Ballroom, thank you both for your time.

Pg 47

THE QUESTIONS YOU ALWAYS

WANTED TO ASK!

DANCING AT THE SOUTHERN CROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS - 1993

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

1994

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

1992

Photo courtesy of Michael & Roslyn, thank you.

OFF THE FLOOR INTERVIEW

Pg 48

SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2015

Pullman Melbourne Albert Park, 65 Queens Road, Melbourne

Doors Open 7.30am • Competition commences 8.30am

CONTACT FAY STUDD

E: faystudd.ads2@bigpond.com or M : 0422 954 002