“What I always say is; If you've got two left feet it won't take long for us to make one of them right!” says Audrey Ferris of the Orange Social Dance Group.

Founded in 1985 by Audrey and fellow dancer Peter Fuller, the Orange Social Dance Group provides a weekly opportunity for beginner and experienced dancers to enjoy the sport they love.

“It is just the joy of being able to move to the music and if you've got a good partner it is really lovely,” says Audrey, as to why she loves dancing.

“And it is very good exercise — the best! Because it's not like riding a bike or whatever, it is much more enjoyable and then there's the people and the social part of it. Having friends around and having a chat. It is just a very social, nice thing to be doing.”

When the group first started, they were assisted by a professional teacher, but it is now Audrey and other members who have taken on that role.

“None of us are professional teachers. I’m the main one, but we all help each other,” said Audrey, who runs regular beginner classes throughout the year.

“Anybody is welcome. We started a new beginner’s class in February, but unfortunately we only had single ladies interested. We really need single men really badly, but they are few and far between,” she said.

“We are trying to work out how to clone some of our better male dancers.”

The group meets regularly every Thursday night, where they ballroom, latin and sequence dancing.

“Most of our members enjoy what is known as New Vouge dancing, which is sequence dancing where everybody does the same thing in a circle. We've got probably more than 70 dances on our repertoire; they are very pretty and it is all based on Ballroom or Latin steps,” said Audrey.

“So what we teach in the beginners class is a basic ballroom and Latin steps and then we teach them a routine for a New Vouge. We are only social dancers, so we are not expecting them to dance like Dancing with the Stars.”
COVID restrictions on dancing in licenced venues has meant the group had to move from their long-time home at the Orange City Bowling Club to the Orange Senior Citizens Centre.

COVID also meant the group was unable to celebrate their 35th anniversary last year.

“We would have had our 35th anniversary dance last October, but covid wrecked it and we haven't decided if we'll do another one at the end of this year. We might wait until the 40th now — if we are lucky enough!” said Audrey.

In a strange turn of events Audrey was recently given a newspaper clipping of their first birthday celebration, which was found under the floor of a brand-new member of the social dance group.

“Carol had just joined and been a couple of weeks. She found that by accident and lo and behold the same person was still hanging around!” said Audrey.

“It was very exciting to see that it had come out from under somebody's house and very sweet that Carol had actually noticed it and discovered it.”

If anyone is interested in joining the Orange Social Dance Group they should call Audrey on 63620068.