In one of my Yahoo Groups, I met a wonderful lady named Allanah.  She lives in Australia and one of her two daughters is making a career in Ballroom Dancing.  Since it is one of my favorite sports, she has graciously consented to let me make a page on my website which I will keep updated

as we go along.

Brandon Dowery (13) grade 9 (of Hungarian descent) from Kings Christian College and Amelia

Lloyd-Pratt (13) grade 10 from Somerset College, have been ballroom dance training for 4 short

years now and are wowing the judges in Australia and Interstate.

They started by training for and completing their medals exams and quickly were chosen to work

towards competing in local and national comps.  They train hard with a minimum of 4 days  per

week in the studio and as many hours self-training to achieve their goals.

They dance in all three styles of Standard (or Modern as some know it.. dances like waltz and

quickstep , Latin American (cha cha and jive) and  New Vogue (an Australian

and New Zealand phenomenon, Merrilyn, Charmaine, Evening Three Step.. whose dances

have footwork, alignments and basic hold prescribed, leaving scope for the dancers to add their own shaping and styling.. which makes them very expressive to dance and to watch.)

These last four years have seen their involvement and commitment in competitive sports,

including participation and promotion and have an ongoing relationship with TV, magazines and

newspapers both in Australia and Interstate bringing dancesport awareness to the public.  They

have won more than 100 competitions including securing sub juvenile champion NSW two years running .

Amelia and Brandon are frequently invited to perform in the wider community.  Included in

2008 were GC Hungarian Society, Brisbane Hungarian Association, Japanese Society of GC,

Multicultural Communities GC, & GC show.

Juvenile Pictures

2009 will be another busy year and will see Brandon and Amelia going from strength to strength in the junior field.  Their short term goals

will be both in their own state and then laterally Interstate Australia at a competitive level.  June will see the first representative championship in Canberra followed by one in Sydney in  October

and ending with the pinnacle in Melbourne  in December this year.

Unlike other sports, dancesport doesn't have a summer or winter season and in fact runs for

a grueling nine months with the other three being in preparation for the beginning of the

calendar in March.  They took a mere two weeks off dancing over December and are already

well into learning new choreography for junior competition.  Once in junior, they will have a

real chance over the next three years to represent Australia in Ballroom and Latin American,

but to reach this will require intensive training and dedication and hopefully sponsorship.

The commitment to their chosen sport is obvious.