activities
by Sonia Golt
Curro & Ana Maria — close to four decades on the dance floor
Dance on if music be the food of love...
Having had the opportunity to train under the expert tuition of dance teachers of the caliber of those who took six local dance contestants, including me, onto our television screens for the Let’s Dance competition, I decided to find out more about their dancing careers.
The couples who showed us the steps and moves are all members of the Catholic Community Centre Sequence Dance Club — Norman and Ann Santos, Stephen and Gisella Triay and Michael and Margaret Vella whose patience and hard work deserves an Oscar. The couple behind the scenes who taught overall style and gracefulness was Ana Maria and Curro Morro. Ana Maria started dancing in 1973 and her husband Curro in 1971 — close to four decades on the dance floor. “In 1971 the late Bishop Rapallo asked some dancers to start a sequence dancing club at the
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Catholic Community Centre. A local couple together with some friends met up and decided to try it out. Gradually people heard about us and more couples started joining explains Ana Maria. In 1975, the instructors, Joe and Wendy Bonici, decided to leave Gibraltar for good. Curro attended dance classes in London during his four months working there and this was invaluable when the time came to become the instructors. We have been teaching for 35 years now.” The club has grown over the years, staging many successful events, bringing famous people
from abroad and organising special functions for members to show off their abilities as they glide across the polished floor of Central Hall where they practice. “We have brought World Champions on numerous occasions, which is delightful for all our members to see. Our annual events include a fancy dress dance, a Christmas ball, an end of season ball, anniversary ball, a series of fund raising party nights, red and white (pre-National Day) dance, barbecues, and dances at the fair pavilion, as well as our weekly Monday dances, when we teach a new dance every month. “We have 170 members and a regular attendance of 120-130 each Monday evening. In 2007, we had to leave the Catholic Community Centre premises as it was going to become a pastoral centre for the Christian community. It was a very sad occasion for us but we moved to Central Hall, thanks to the Ministry of Culture, and have been dancing here since. “New members are always welcome to come. They usually come along for a few weeks and when they are sure they enjoy this type of dancing, they join. The membership for a couple is £32 per year. We work free of charge for the community and so does our committee. Any profits from raffles and other events are used to invest in dance equipment, CDs and anything that enhances the quality of our club.” There is a lot of interest from single people wishing to join but this is not permitted. Why not? “We’ve had a few single ladies asking for help in trying to find partners for them to join. The problem is finding a man who is interested in ballroom dancing. Here in Gibraltar single women are more prone to enjoy most types of dancing. On the other hand, men find it hard to socialise in this field. They prefer to go to local pubs and bars with friends than to start dancing classes. Usually the women bring their partners to a dance lesson. Most of the club’s members joined because the wives encouraged them and not the other way round. We are open to suggestions and if there are single men out there who wish to join then we could find them a partner for the dance classes.” How did you get involved with the very popular GBC TV programme Let’s Dance? “In 2005 James Neish, the producer, asked us if we could help GBC with his very first programme of Let’s Dance. It was a great success and in 2006, another series followed.” The competition returned in 2009 and it has again proven very popular. What does dancing mean to each of you? Curro answered first: “I have always enjoyed dancing and being the leader/instructor of the CCC Sequence Dance Club has been a very rewarding experience of my life. The challenges I have come across have been awesome and I enjoy being able to pass on to other couples the knowledge I have so they can enjoy dancing as much as I do. “Dancing is an important part of my life. It is a hobby but teaching and running the club is a great responsibility and it gives us both a great sense of satisfaction when we see how successful our club has been over the years. We are backed by a hardworking committee who also love dancing and are prepared to work hard behind the scenes just for the love of dancing.” Ana Maria says “I was brought up in a very
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2009