This is the 3rd time Melbourne will host the WDSF with over 50 countries confirmed to participate and Australian DanceSport celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
Event Director, Margaret Lonsdale has achieved a great deal for the sport and shown such commitment and dedication for so many years. A professional dancer is the same as any elite athlete, facing many pressures and demands physically, emotionally and financially. Margaret has lived through this and now does all she can to assist the many dancers she has worked with in her time. Margaret is known for helping change and lifting the profile of DanceSport in Australia and her passion has not waned in the 40 years she has been involved. This year also sees Carmelo Pizzino as the Ambassador and the behind the scenes interviewer for the broadcast on Network 7.
The couples representing Australia in the WDSF World DanceSport Championship Standard are Antonio Micheli / Katerina Maximova and Michael Glikman / Milana Deitch. We had a chance to catch up with Antonio Micheli and Milana Deitch to chat about the upcoming competition …
What do you look forward to most when competing at WDSF?
Milana: “Michael and I are most looking forward to dancing in front of family and friends. It is a very special moment and we feel very honoured and empowered to be dancing for the most important people in our lives.Having our team behind us  gives us an enormous amount of support and boost in our performance. You have several steps in your dancing career and we feel that the world championships will definitely be very memorable for both of us.”
Antonio: “We are looking forward to competing at this world championship very much because its on home turf and we look forward to a warm audience, it will be nice to have the extra support.”
How long have you trained for this event?
Milana: “On the subject of training for the World championships Michael  and I put in a lot of preparation and new thoughts and ideas for this event.We have worked very hard for this competition, usually training 6 days a week, 3-6 hours a day.”
Antonio: “For this world championship we have been preparing for about 2 months.”
What advice do you have to upcoming dancers keen to enter this level of competition?
Milana: “The one piece of advice that we would give to any young and upcoming dancer to assist and aspire to this level of competition is to work hard and demand more from yourselves. Whatever obstacles are thrown at you, keep pushing through them and stay persistent.”
Antonio: “The Australian dancing society have great pathways withing the WDSF so it’s great for young athletes to take up the sport. It would be great to see more young dancers entering the international circuit.”
‘Festival Of Dance’ – the Australian DanceSport Championships will be held from Thursday 29 November to Sunday 2nd December (and featuring the WDSF World DanceSport Championship Standard 2012) at Hisense Arena, Melbourne.
