Young dancer has a ball

By Rebecca Fraser
ENDEAVOUR Hills teenager Sherone Armel danced circles around competitors recently at a national dance competition despite being with her partner for only 10 weeks.
Ms Armel, 14, and partner Joel Anderson came first in the level four adult latin at the Australian DanceSport Championships at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne.
Ms Armel, a student at the Gleneagles campus of Eumemmerring Secondary College, has been dancing competitively for three years.
The pair, who practise at Bagheera’s, a Hallam dance spot, competed against dancers from Australia and New Zealand, sharing the dance floor with grade-amateurs as well as some of the top dancers in Australia and the world.
Ms Armel said she was delighted with their win.
“Everyone was so talented and we had no idea we would win.
“It was such a surprise because we are a new couple and had only been together 10 weeks.
“I had been with my previous partner for two and a half years but he outgrew me and got too tall because I am quite short.
“Then I had a six-month break before I found Joel.
“It is so funny because it is like being married or breaking up – you have to go around and tell people you’re not together anymore,” she said.
Ms Armel has now set her sights on dancing professionally in Europe following the “surprise” win.
“It (dancing) is something that keeps me busy and I love it.
“It gives you the freedom to express yourself and has definitely become popular since the TV shows (Strictly Ballroom, Dancing with the Stars).” Ms Armel loves the elaborate costumes and does not mind the three or four hours preparation that went into each competition.
“There is hair, makeup, nails, fake eyelashes, full extreme caked-on makeup and of course the tanning.
“It is all a bit of fun and all worth it at the end of it all,” she said.