Perth dance couple are Scottish ballroom dance champions

Feb 5 2010 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH’S Jim and Laura Carroll are reigning supreme on the dance floor after being crowned Scottish Senior Ballroom Champions.

The national Dancesport Scotland title, secured in a hard-fought contest in Glasgow, was the couple’s biggest success in 20-plus years dancing together, which began under instructors Jack and Hannah Johnston at the Fair City’s General Accident Social Club.

From those early days, Laura and Jim stepped out to Dundee’s Star ballroom, taking lessons with Bob and Betty Bartie. They progressed to competing throughout the UK and in recent years their love of dance and hard work has proved a ticket for international travel.

They have been regular tournament finalists and in 1996 were winners of the prestigious annual ‘Champions of Tomorrow’ event held in Blackpool, going on to become Scottish international representatives.

Their debut on the international dance floor was in the 2003 IDSF World Senior Ballroom Championships in the Czech Republic.

Since then they have appeared at the World Senior Ballroom Championships in Antwerp, Frankfurt, Milan, Wetlzer, and were placed 35th in last year’s World Senior Ballroom Championships in Kingston, Canada.

They have regularly competed at the British Championships in Blackpool, finishing 12th last November.

And in this whirl of training and competing, Jim (51) and Laura (52) both have ‘day jobs’ – Laura is a partner in Cut Above Hairdressing Salon in Canal Street, Perth, and Jim is a lecturer at Perth College.

For the Scottish Seniors’ championship, for amateur dancers aged over 35, each couple had to impress the judges with five dances – waltz, tango, slow foxtrot, quickstep and Viennese waltz.

Jim said their favourite dance “depends which one we are working on”.

“The slow foxtrot is the one everyone aspires to do well,” he added. “Most demanding is the quickstep. It’s always the last dance so by then we’re getting tired and it requires a lot of mental concentration.”

Since the advent of BBC TV’s Strictly Come Dancing there has been a surge in popularity in ballroom dancing.

“A lot of dance schools and clubs are becoming very busy,” said Jim. “But while Strictly Come Dancing is good entertainment, it’s rather unrealistic in the expectations it raises for the viewer.

“The reality is when both partners are at a similar level. Then it’s a lot harder to get their level up.”

And much as Jim and Laura love competing, he cautioned that dancefloor honours did not come cheap: “It is an expensive hobby. The lessons, outfits and travel add up to quite an outlay, but we don’t do the things other people like to spend their money on.”

The pair have benefited in recent years by having top coach Dorothy Freeman behind them.

“She lives near Pitlochry and is a former world professional ballroom champion who taught the world’s best when she lived in London,” Jim explained.

“When she moved to Perthshire we asked her to help us. Her world-class coaching brought us on a huge amount.”

But the Carrolls have now come to a crossroads, explained Jim: “We are getting older and at some time we’re looking at going professional so we can do teaching, which we cannot do as amateurs.

“That will mean hanging up our competitive shoes, and we’ll miss the competitive element. But realistically there comes a time when we’ll have to something different.”