THE Fort Beaufort Dancing Stars dance group has once again made their hometown proud, after winning 17 trophies at a recent ballroom dance competition held in the Alfred Nzo Municipality in Matatiele.
The competition was hosted by Dancesport South Africa.
According to the group’s dance instructor, Regan Afrika, this was the fourth competition they had entered for this year.
“We are just growing from strength to strength,” Afrika told Komani-Karoo Express.
Afrika said that their nine dancers, most of them teenagers, were very excited when they left for Matatiele last Saturday morning, as some of them had never travelled that far.
“They were really on fire on the dancefloor last Saturday and made me feel extremely proud of them,” said Afrika.
“They had the big crowd in the civic centre on their feet.”
Afrika said that the competition was tough and a total of 12 dance clubs had participated.
Young Athenkosi Daniëls, together with his partner, Roshaan White, won first place in the ballroom section.
It was the first time that they had danced in the novice dress section. They also secured second place in the Latin section and won first prize in the jive section.
Samuel Minnie and Annelique Ruiters walked away with the honours in samba, cha-cha-chá, and the rumba section.
Afrika and his partner, Britney Ward, won first prize in the pre-champion section.
Two young dancers who recently joined the group also won first prize in their section.
The group will take part in the SA Championships to be held in Durban from December 13-14. According to Afrika, the group is working extremely hard to raise funds which are needed for transport and accommodation and said that the group will welcome any willing sponsors.
