Silver Slipper -- December 2005 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 12/1/2005
Last Visited: 10/21/2007
After seven years of dancing together in ballroom competitions, Nanaimo's Kevin Fahy and Kimberley Beerman went head to head for the first time with new partners at the recent Grand Ball in Richmond.
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One event was of particular interest, the Under-21 Gold Latin, in which Fahy, Beerman and their new partners were the only dancers on the floor.
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Fahy signed up for his first ballroom class about ten years ago.He needed a dance unit for physical education as part of his grade 4 home schooling program.Irish dancing, his first choice, wasn't available so he reluctantly agreed to try ballroom."I didn't want to do it at first," said Fahy, "but when I heard about the competitions, I really got interested."
He met up with Beerman seven years ago at a Canada Day Dance Festival in Nanaimo.She had been taking jazz, tap and ballet lessons since age three and was to be part of a jazz demonstration at the festival.When her performance was cancelled, she decided to watch some of the other events.
After seeing the ballroom dance exhibition, she went up to the group's coach, Nelson Wong, and announced, "I really want to do this."Wong called Fahy over, had him stand beside Beerman and pronounced that the pair "looked good."
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Eight months later, Fahy and Beerman were competing as Juniors at the prestigious Snow Ball in Vancouver.