Students, staff and Grahamstown residents alike were treated to a magnificent spectacle at this year’s Dancing with the Staff held on Wednesday at the Rhodes Theatre.
Modelled on the hit TV show Dancing with the Stars, what was originally organised as a Dean of Student’s anti-alcohol abuse event has transformed into an evening not to be missed.
Students, staff and Grahamstown residents alike were treated to a magnificent spectacle at this year’s Dancing with the Staff held on Wednesday at the Rhodes Theatre.
Modelled on the hit TV show Dancing with the Stars, what was originally organised as a Dean of Student’s anti-alcohol abuse event has transformed into an evening not to be missed.
This year the event was organised by the Rhodes University Ballroom and Latin Society in order to raise funds for the national championships taking place later in the year.
This year Dr Karen Bradshaw of the Computer Science department and her partner Chris Rafael earned the top honours and a quirky disco-ball trophy for their “stunningly beautiful, dreamlike” performance of the ballroom classic the waltz.
“I think we all deserved to win,” commented Bradshaw at the end of the evening, “and the dancers who gave up their time to teach us are all awesome.”
In second place was Margot Brooks, principle technical officer in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, who danced a cheeky cha-cha with her partner Leander Kruger.
Performed to Rhianna’s Please Don’t Stop the Music, the judges found it to be a technically good performance of the cheeky, carefree Latin dance.
The most entertaining dance of the evening was the rumba, performed by Dr Sirion Robertson and his partner Chelsea Geach.
“Old Father Time” had the crowd in hysterics during the viewing of their rehearsal video, but wowed them into silence with a spot on performance of the Cuban dance.
Dressed in a liquid gold mini dress with a gathered train, Geach oozed enough sensuality to carry them into third place. Guy Butler House Warden Jono Davy, and his parter Bianca Perry, gave an intensely seductive performance of the tango.
They came in fourth place and judges Peter Mann, Margot Beard, Garth Elzerman and Jason Joseph said that it was well danced and sexy, but that they would have liked to see Jono relax and enjoy himself a bit more.
Other performances included the quickstep, danced by Dean of Law Prof Jonathan Campbell and his partner Leanne van Rensburg; and the jive performed by Hannelie Calitz of the Psychology Department and Byron Rowe.
The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by both the audience and the dancers, and after Wednesday’s stellar performances this event is sure to become an annual highlight.
