Interview with Karen Hardy, former UK, International, World Masters and British National Championship winner, and Strictly Come Dancing star- By Simon Cruwys
When and where did you start dancing Karen?
I was born and raised in Bournemouth on the South Coast of England and started my dancing career at the age of 5. The two schools I joined were the Gayety School of Dancing and the Nice and Easy Dance Studio run by Lynette Boyce.
What made you take it up in the first place?
Basically my dancing career started every Saturday just as fun with my friends whilst my Mother was given free time to do her grocery shopping without her children. Very early on I enjoyed the fun of wearing make up and the different costumes I got to wear with all the shiny sequins and then I got addicted to winning medals.
Where has your competitive dancing taken you?
Travelling even to this present day has played a large role in my life. From a very young age my Mum would drive me all over the United Kingdom. It was a customary procedure to prepare everything for the weekend after school on a Friday, jump in the car on the Saturday or Sunday and be back to school for the Monday after having travelled several hundred miles over the weekend. At 18 I was dancing and representing America and became the East and West Coast Amateur Latin American Champion, this was my first overseas experience and it gave me the opportunity to fly to many cities within the US.
I then teamed up with a partner already established as a rising star of Latin American Dancing who regularly appeared in semi finals of all major championships. After six months together we appeared in our first amateur Latin American international final which opened up our opportunities to start travelling extensively throughout Europe, countries such as Germany, France, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and many, many more. After four years together, we were recognised as major Amateur finalists in World, European, International, British and United Kingdom events all over the world.
In August 1994 I teamed up with a highly respected South African dancer, Bryan Watson. Our partnership was an overnight success, which once again opened up the world even more to me and I soon found myself in many far away countries such as the Americas, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa, demonstrating, lecturing, teaching and of course competing in all major championships.
Were there any noticeable differences in these other countries in the way you were treated by the general press etc?
Yes, depending on which country we were in. In some countries we were treated like Hollywood superstars, we would be picked up by private limousines at the airport with police escorts, taken into five star hotels where we would have interviews with the media. For some world events we had a full press conference where there would be many people with their cameras representing, radio, television and newspapers, all wanting to capture our emotions after the event to broadcast to their country.
The greatest difference that you see in a lot of these countries is the television coverage and it seems that once you have this it brings in the general press interest.
Karen, why do you think the general public in some countries show a greater following to dance than others?
This is largely due to television coverage, for example in Spain every Saturday morning for one hour there is television coverage of dance to watch during children’s TV. This encourages children to want to get involved with the sport and their parents are very supportive and many even want to get involved with dance themselves. Also in some countries dance is part of their national curriculum, therefore from a very young age dance is established as part of their everyday life. This in turn takes away any stigma or history of it being ‘not a cool’ thing to do.
Finally I think it comes down to a cultural way of thinking where upon the country has taken it as a natural part of their lives, countries such as Japan, China and Russia. Whereas in the countries that you would expect it, such as the South Americas etc (hot Latin musically educated countries) there is less interest.
What are the most memorable occasions from your career so far?
There are many but I guess the biggest being our fight for the World Championships in South Africa, as it was the year that Donnie and Gaynor came out of retirement to compete against us for one more year. It was a vast audience, some 7000 people with huge banners saying ‘Watson for President’. We had friends and family fly in from all over the world to watch this event, there was huge media coverage, the stage and the set was truly the best any of us had ever seen before, or would ever compete at again. It was a day never to be forgotten.
Another memorable moment was my first ever dancing competition with Bryan, going out on that floor feeling the enthusiasm and support oozing from the audience and fans that had built up before we even danced our first competition.
One more memory has to be the dedication made to practicing. I always remember trying to get out of practicing after just returning from a six week trip to Japan. I literally had just got off the 12 hour flight and had cleared customs, when the dreaded ‘see you at 8.00pm’ would be heard from Bryan. I would open the door to my home after the taxi ride from the airport and remember the clock always saying 7.15pm.
Sure enough, we would be there every night at the ‘Semley’ studios where so many past and present champions have passed. Here there really are too many memories to even remember, some not so good, others have become memories that I now pass on to the students, of steps that had taken hours to perfect and finally a movement was accomplished. The sweating, muscle pulling, laughter and excitement and the curiosity of who would be practicing that night. My best memories here were practicing against Donnie and Gaynor every night. They had their corner and we had ours and every night was a competition night. You really had to be there to experience it.
What are your interests outside of the dancing world?
Now…rugby! Friends and shopping. Everything that I never had time to do when I competed. Rugby is a large part of my life now, where I have met some really amazing friends and lovers of their chosen sport. I can stand and shout and support my husband as he did me when I competed.
Tell me about your partner, haven’t you recently got married?
I sure have and what a memorable moment it was. Our wedding was held on a small island in Greece called Santorini where we were joined by 60 of our closest friends and family who all came together to make our dream come true. I met Conrad actually at the British Open Championships in May 1995 where Bryan and I had been celebrating on the Thursday night party when he whisked me off my feet dancing. The beginning of our relationship was very difficult, as a week after meeting him I had to go to Japan for six weeks. The shock came at the end of the six weeks when I went to pay for my telephone bill at the hotel and it came to £1000, I realised that I could have flown him out to be with me in person rather than calling him. I also realised not to use the hotel phone so much in the future!
Conrad comes from a dancing background where he was a New Zealand champion and his Mum has a very successful studio on the South Island of New Zealand. Owing to his success down there he decided to come to London to pursue his dancing career and see what the rest of the world of dancing was about.
Who would you say helped you most in your dancing career and for what reason?
This is a really great question to be asked and one that doesn’t come up nearly enough. It has to be largely down to my parents, my Mum had three jobs and my Father had two to be able to pay for my dancing career, which entailed large amounts of money on lessons, practising, dresses, shoes and travelling every weekend throughout the UK. I remember one competition that finished at 2.00am in Staffordshire and we had to drive home to Bournemouth through the night. Mum had to go to work, I had to go to school and we arrived home at 7.00am, showered and went back out again.
There really are not enough ‘thank yous’ that can be said to parents that would truly pay them back for all the love and dedication they give to any child pursuing an art, sport or any general interest. My mother spent hours sewing layer upon layer of net for my ballroom dresses and stone and sequining dresses to keep me in the best and newest dresses possible.
Other occasions I remember are when I had won a major international title and I would look out into the crowd as Bryan and I took our prize to see my parents crying because of sheer happiness, relief and knowing that all our efforts were worthwhile.
Thank you Mum and thank you Dad.
Do you feel that a correct diet and training outside of dance is necessary for today’s dancers?
Absolutely, owing to the demand of the choreography, the extensive overseas travelling that now has to be carried out and the sheer endurance of competitions, the dancer’s body of today has to be physically fit to enable them to withstand the training. To make this easier it has become essential that dancers include gym work, cardio training, Pilates, even yoga, to truly get to understand what their muscles can execute for their dancing.
What encouragement or advice do you give to your students leading up to major championships?
In general, all the students know that they have a continuous level of encouragement throughout the year. Leading up to a major event the most important advice that couples need is largely to do with their mental approach to their event. This is a time when levels of stress and demand can lead to very damaging effects to partnership and their potential to succeed at an event. The physical fitness and endurances of their work I leave up to them as if they are not dedicated to perfecting and practicing their chosen career I cannot do it for them.
What do you think an aspiring young dancer should do in order to try to reach the goals that you have achieved?
The secret to the success is practice - practice makes perfect, which is the most famous saying in the world, in any form of sport or art. I truly loved dancing so much that the training was not a chore and if you are dedicated and aspiring to be a champion then practice is just part of your life.
Have you ever taken amateur medal tests and how important do you think these are in relation to today’s competitive dancing?
I completed my medals up to Gold status and I feel that they were a very important part of my competitive career. Not only did they get me addicted to competitive dancing but it was here that I learned the basic fundamentals of dance from timing and poise, to footwork and dealing with the pressure of examination days. All these and more are critical to the success of a competitive dancer.
Thank you Karen
Simon Cruwys
Can a Dress Help You Dance Better?
BY MARIA CHITUL
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If you are like me, you don’t pose too many requirements on a normal evening gown. The only important thing is that it has to look good on you and maybe shouldn’t fall off while you’re walking from your car to the party and back. You’re happy as long as the dress survives past one or two special occasions. You won’t wear it more often than that, anyway.
With competition dress it’s completely different. You spend a large sum of money on the dress to start with. You will be taking it to every competition, putting it on and taking it off hastily, jumping, sweating and wiping your make up with it. And you will still expect to use it at least for one season and to look gorgeous in it whenever you get on the dance floor. Buying a ballroom dress is an important step and you don’t want to make mistakes here.
The problem finding the right ballroom dress is that not only does it have to look good on you while you are standing in front of the mirror, but it should also help you look great while you are actually dancing. It means that:
a) The dress shouldn’t impede your movements during the dance
b) it should emphasize all your good sides: your dancing technique, your beautiful figure, and, whenever possible:
c) it should conceal your bad sides, (if any) such as weak techniques or figure flaws.
Of course no dress in the world can substitute hard training. However, by knowing your technique flaws you can get a dress that will partly disguise them. As a result – you will improve the overall impression of your dancing performance. Try choosing the dress that does the opposite – and you’ll see the difference.
In this article I tried to summarise common technique flaws and my suggestions on how to conceal them with the help of a gown:
Weak hip movements.
Weak hip movementes is one of the usual problems among the dancers. This flaw can be easily solved by choosing an appropriate skirt. All you have to do is to say "no" to slinky skirts and choose fringe or flounce decorated skirts instead. An A-shaped skirt would create a nice waving impression around your hips/knees, improving the look of your hip movements. Another suggestion is to use some bright decorations on top, and thus drawing the audience’s attention from your bottom, however I’m not sure you can fool the judges with that!
Slouched spine.
This is mostly the problem of standard dances, as you constantly have to keep your spine right. If this is your problem then try to hide your spine with chiffon scarves attached to your neck or shoulder. You may even use several of those, so that instead of frowning at your slouched spine, the judges would see nice “wings” floating behind you.
For Latin dresses simply try to avoid gowns that expose mainly your back. In this case the attention is drawn to your spine automatically and this is not what you’d wish to do.
Weak frame.
Do you keep letting the hands and elbows down in standard? Again, the trick is the same. Try to conceal this lack of technique by getting your hands covered with layers of flimsy/floating fabric or wide sleeves.
Protruding bottom.
Another flaw that happens rather often in standard dances. In an effort of balancing your upper posture, smiling at the judges, and keeping in mind the dance steps you forget about the need to strain the bottom muscles and end up with your buttocks stuck out backwards. If you are still working on this - don’t choose the mermaid-like silhouettes, or any skirts made from one heavy layer of fabric (like satin). Such skirts will bring attention to your bottom automatically so even a small mistake gets visible. Instead opt for multi-layered floating skirts that would smooth your curves and conceal the problem.
And the last piece of advice for today: If this is your first performance and your first dress – don’t leave it in the box until the day of the competition. Even if you felt great when trying the dress on and you are now afraid to stain it – test it together with your partner. You might discover that dancing feels different now that you are wearing the dress and that some steps or movements need adjustment. For your first time – don’t choose skirts that are too long. If you don’t have enough experience you risk stepping on your own skirt during the competition. My suggestion is - choose a dress that has a skirt a bit above your ankles. For latin dresses – make sure you don’t wear long fringed or ripped skirts where you could get your hill entangled during the dance.
Summary: I believe that every girl can and should look best on her competition day. It’s a great experience and a huge incentive to move on. Even if you are not interested in professional dancing career, you should take competitions seriously - you will see the results for yourself. I hope that using the above suggestions, you can make the most of your assets and do your absolute best on this important day of your dancing life.
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