A St. Albert couple has danced their way to a national championship.
Local ballroom dancers Marc Pinco, 20, and Victoria Metera, 17, competed last Saturday at the Canadian Closed Amateur Dancesport Championship in Halifax, N.S.
They took first place in eight dances, earning the title of Canadian champions in the pre-championship category. This now qualifies them to compete in the higher championship category.
Asked if the win was expected, Metera said it never is.
“We were hoping for it and danced extremely hard but it’s never expected,” she said.
To win in pre-championship, couples have to compete in two categories. In the ballroom category, pairs dance a waltz, tango, fox trot and a quickstep. In the Latin category, dancers perform a samba, cha cha, rumba and jive.
Dances are not only judged on technique but also on showmanship.
Pinco said every dance requires the couple to take on a new role: sometimes sensual, sometimes cool and sometimes angry.
“Our jive is one of our better dances because were are both very upbeat and playful,” Pinco said.
“Then there’s a dance like the tango, which is very aggressive, where we have to have a personality clash and decide that we have to be angry and aggressive and right after that we have to switch back out of it.”
The St. Albert couple started working together in November 2011.
Metera said dance partners have to be similar in body type, height and weight but also feel comfortable working together. That makes her and Pinco a good match.
“It’s difficult to find a male partner to begin with but someone who is on the same track as you are and really compatible, that’s even harder,” she said.
Pinco added that it helps when both partners portray a classic ballroom look.
“She is in shape and we portray what a man and a woman would be and that goes well in ballroom as well as our show is very good,” he said.
Now that they won the pre-championship, the couple will learn two more dances, the Viennese waltz and the Latin paso doble.
Then they can challenge dancers in the championship category at the Island Fantasy Ball in Nanaimo, B.C. on April 20.
