So Week Three has come and gone and the cast is lighter by two, we are all in this competition to win but it really is no fun saying goodbye to those who fall by the wayside.
Shugasmakx you will be missed, it was an honour to meet and get to know you, albeit for a very short time.
We are still in the competition and that is purely thanks to all of you - the voting public. I’ve always said that we can only do what we do with your support. If there were no viewers, theatre goers, radio listeners or audience members then there would be no “celebrities” - personally I’ve always hated that word.
The only thing that separates the “celebs” from the general public is what we do for a living. Our jobs just happen to take place in the public eye. I'm humbled by your support and consider myself privileged to be able to perform for you whether that be on stage, the big screen or television.
So last Thursday night I crossed the floor and came out on the wrong foot making the next move nigh on impossible for any normal person to continue - but at 120 kg’s and 6’5”(1.95m) I’m no normal person so I skipped the jump that Hayley had choreographed and then tried to get back on track with the rest of the routine.
The bull was loose in the china shop and the china had two choices, hang on for dear life or end up damaged, obviously she hung on for dear life trying to gain some sort of control over the panicked animal in case he ran totally wild and destroyed the entire shop. Bravo indeed!!
Granted the Quickstep was not our finest moment and we would have been in serious trouble were it not for you but we are still in full training - yes, 5 hours a day is the goal, we’d do more but our schedules and bodies don’t allow it – and I have been working extremely hard on my mindset. The more I believe that this dance thing is difficult, the more difficult it will be. So I am approaching this with more of a positive attitude.
Was it the best ever Quickstep? Hell no! Can it be improved on? You can bet your bottom dollar. It's still early days in the competition and I'm determined not to let my amazingly loyal supporters down again. In no way will I lie down and give up. It is not in my nature and I have already put in far too much effort to do that. And besides, previous contestants have hit "bottom scores" and later in the series gone on to win the title!
Anything can, and will, happen on live television - it has happened to the rest and now it’s happened to the best. Hayley and I have been working our feet to the bone and the one thing no-one can accuse us of is a lack of effort. We have not, nor will we ever, take the easy way out - there’s no way that you’ll find me doing the minimum while Hayley dances her butt off around me to make us look good.
This partnership decided from day one that we were going to push my boundaries, the whole idea behind the show is that a professional dancer is assigned to someone who has never danced before and teaches them how to dance – now, I am the one who has never danced before - just in case there was any confusion.
I'm one of those guys who stood at the side of the dance floor trying to bob his head in time to the music and if he did make it on to the dance floor just kind of tapped his foot and every now and then swayed his hips backwards and forwards - no sideways movement at all please, I’m South African, hell I didn’t even open the dance floor when I got married. Methinks that qualifies me as a contestant on SCD - wouldn’t you?
But now things have changed, I am rather pissed at myself for never having danced before because dancing is great fun – hold on a minute stupid, if you’d danced before you couldn’t be in this competition, oh yeah, true!
So no, I’m glad I never did this before but you’d be able to bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be doing it for a long time to come.
This week we will be jiving and boy have we got a couple of tricks up our sleeves, or rather down my legs - to be exact. Dave said last week that maybe my forte lies in Latin dancing - he may be right because our jive will definitely wake you up. Expect Garth and Hayley to be back with a WHAM!
Lots of love to you all
Garth
I would like to thank the following companies that are supporting me:
We have been doing most of our training at
Footnotes Dance Studio in Midrand and Vodaworld and Eco Park Virgin Active gyms. All three of these venues have treated us extremely well and have been very accommodating especially seeing that Hayley and I tend to train at weird times.
My clothing sponsor.
www.bonewear.co.za And my vehicle sponsor:
Mahindra.