BALLROOM DANCING GROUP
Started in 1995, the Ballroom Dancing Group (BDG) has become very popular and classes are held on THursday evenings at CAV.
Lessons are taught by two professional dance teachers, Irina Borisevich and Craig Monely.
On Thursday nights, the more advanced members of BDG meet for two hours, split into two groups as follows:
7:30 pm – 8:15 pm – First Dance Teacher (A Grp-Irina, B Grp-Craig)
8:15 pm – 8:45 pm – Social dancing/revision/Announcements
8:45 pm – 9:30 pm – Second Dance Teacher (B Grp-Irina, A Grp-Craig)
BDG members wishing to refresh their ballroom dancing steps are also able to attend practice sessions on Monday mornings.
The BDG has a Formation Dance Team consisting of advanced and experienced BDG members who perform at various social functions. The dance team meets regularly for practice with the choreography being done by one of our BDG Dance Teachers. This group has performed at the our Gala Balls, the Mid-Year Dinner and at internal dance presentations. It has also provided support for the Karaoke subgroup with performances at its social functions.
The BDG runs monthly socials on the Fourth Sunday of every month. BDG members are given the opportunity to be the DJ for the night. This helps members to develop an understanding of appropriate music for the various dance styles.
Its all about the fun
Give yourself a chance to express yourself! Learn new dances and improve your balance, coordination and posture – all while having lots of fun!
“Dancing improves your spatial awareness, increases your heart rate and aerobic fitness. It is even thought to be good for staving off dementia.
But more importantly, its just fun. Dance introduces you to new people and our regular dance socials help you to make new friends. Its fun to see everyone learning new steps and then dancing in formation together. It has such an uplifting effect on your psyche! “
Elisabeth Tan
Debra Chan
Chairperson, Ballroom Dance Group
Jennifer Blum
Jennifer Blum is an examiner, judge and dance coach and has had many years of experience in teaching. She has also trained several Australian DanceSport Champions.
Her achievements include:
- 5x Australian DanceSport Champion (twice as Amateur and 3x as Professional). Of these, 4x were in New Vogue and once in
Modern. - 2x Runner up in Professional New Vogue
- Finalist in Latin Amateur
- She has won many more championship titles in Modern and New Vogue.
- Jennifer ran the Strictly Masters Championship for over-35 couples for 21 years and was the founder of this successful championship.
- Jennifer also appeared on the TV production of ‘Carson’s Law’ as the “Sensational Debonairs”, staring as a Professional Caberet Act with her
then partner Wayne Douglas. Jennifer and Wayne did many floor shows for functions and on Cruise Ships.
Craig Monley
Craig is a professional dancer who has been a regular on the TV series “Dancing with the Stars”,
which he won in Season 7 with Australian actress Birdie Carter and was runner up with Bec Hewitt in
2021.
His other credits together with his partner Sriani are:
- 2011 Australian amateur Latin Champions
- 8x Australian Finalist in both standard and Latin
- Twice semi-finalists (top 12) at the world’s largest and most prestigious competition, the British championship, Blackpool, England
- 3x selected for Australia’s international team, the world teams match, World Cup, Shenzhen China.
- 3x Australia’s no. 1 representative to the World championships
- Australia’s 2019 representative to the World Show Dance Championship
- Winners of JDC Japan open, WDC Korean open,Lion City championship Singapore.
- Finalists Japan international, Singapore open, Donnie Burns cup Hong Kong, New Zealand
open, and English championship.
BDG Covid Safe Guidelines
2024 BDG Lesson Fees and Contact
Fees:
CAV members – Beginners (Wednesday): 6 months $300; Yearly $500.
Advanced and Intermediate (Thursday): 6 months $300; Yearly $500.
Contact:
Chairperson, Debra Chan
2023 BDG Executive Committee
Committe Members : Linda Chan
Useful Youtube Videos
Our Favourite Dance Playlists
A Thursday class doing the Tango Terrific for their internal BDG presentation