Ballroom Dancing

Waitakere Danced to the tune of the “Odd Couple”

Over 160 people registered for the recent free ballroom dancing sessions, led by Beatrice Faumuina and Brian Jones. Te Waka ki Mua Move It Waitakere (Active Waitakere) is a plan for Waitakere that has been developed to get more people more active more often. The action plan looks at how to get our city to “Move It” in a number of different ways, from participating in sport, to walking during your lunch break, to gardening or dancing.

As part of their collaboration agreement with Waitakere City Council, Active Waitakere has a close working relationship with Waitakere’s Health and Wellbeing Ambassador, Beatrice Faumuina. Whilst working together in the promotion of physical activity initiatives within the region, a discussion around the lack of social dance options for the wider community took place. The idea to offer a Ballroom and Latin dance option was discussed, hence the “Odd Couple” from the 2006 Series of Dancing with the Stars, Beatrice and her dance partner Brian Jones were reunited.

The aim of this initiative, which was jointly delivered to the Waitakere community by Beatrice and Brian as well as the Active Waitakere team of Chade Julie, Community Broker and Rochelle Young, Active Waitakere Coordinator, was to get the wider community moving in a way that was fun, social as well as challenging. Much to the delight of the team all of these goals were met!

The Dance initiative started on 22 September 2009 and ran for 10 weeks finishing on 24 November 2009. The community’s response to this physical activity offering was overwhelming. It not only filled a gap where traditional means of physical activity has not covered all community requirements, it also allowed the community to engage with two of the most dynamic, hard working and fun loving personalities that have been involved in Dancing with the Stars.

Beatrice Faumuina is an important role model within the Waitakere community. She is often seen at many community events in her role as the Health and Wellbeing Ambassador as well as training and preparing for the upcoming Athletics season and the 2010 Commonwealth Games at her long standing training ground, The Trusts Stadium in Henderson. The Waitakere community embraced her close friend and nationally recognised dance instructor, Brian Jones, with open arms and admired his ability to deliver a professional class that was a fun and challenging introduction to social ballroom dance. He provided comic relief to all participants with the help of the odd oops from Chade Julie and Rochelle Young; both were new to Ballroom dance.

The classes were held at the Kelston Community Centre and attracted a wide and diverse range of people from young to the older population, including an 82 year old lady who has never danced before! It also attracted people from many different cultures. What made this initiative more unique was Active Waitakere secured funding for this pilot initiative, hence, it was offered free to the community to partake, however, numbers were limited due to the venue size and participants must have registered for this initiative with the Active Waitakere team.

The success of this project has, to say the least, been overwhelming for both the Active Waitakere collaboration and the community. We got on average 60 people per class and had over 400 enquiries about this class or further classes in the new year. The Active Waitakere team, Beatrice and Brian are currently working on creating a pathway for further participation, to keep this community excited about dance and help them take the next step in building their dancing skill set. We would like to engage with existing dance schools within the region to help provide this, as yet we have not found a partner to work with us but are keen to hear from anyone interested.

Active Waitakere is currently seeking funding to continue this initiative, providing social Ballroom and Latin dance skills to the community, delivered by the wonderful duo – The Odd Couple. We are hoping to have further events in 2010, however, next time they may not be free but our challenge is to deliver these at a no or low cost to the community. This has been a new and exciting opportunity for Active Waitakere and one we are keen to continue...

Success is best measured by participants feedback and in the words of some of the participants..

“We have been to a couple of beginner classes before but this one is different. Brian and Beatrice make it so much fun and easy to learn. It is a joy to learn to dance”

“Great social event, good way to exercise and have fun at the same time”

“Thank you, this has given an outlet to learn something different not only physically but culturally. It has been a great experience to mingle with so many new people. Also learning from the best people is an awesome experience. I thank you all for this exciting and fantastic opportunity.”

“The time spent together every week relaxing and having fun is magical, Watch out dance floor here we come!!”

“This has been a rewarding challenge, thanks”

“We enjoy the dancing, it is something different from the norm. Don’t want to miss any classes, even though we have to travel across town. Love it!!”

“A very professionally presented class with a great sense of humour. Also a great mix of technical and practical dance teaching methods. Much enjoyed.”

“Beatrice and Brian have the pulling power. We have enjoyed meeting and dancing socially, thank you. You are our role models.”

Ballroom Dancing Poster