Lakeside resident wins Dancing with the Stars
She was overjoyed to win the competition.
![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2018/05/CornellCruise2_06636.jpg)
Lakeside resident Marcella Solimeo (24) danced her way to victory after recently winning the first season of Dancing with the Stars South Africa.
“I was completely shocked when I heard them call our names out,” Solimeo said.
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“You enter the competition wanting to win but you never know what the outcome would be.
“The fact that I had even made it into the finals was already such a big achievement for me, it was honestly a dream come true for us and to know that all our hard work paid off.”
Solimeo danced her heart out with dance partner, artist Connell Cruise.
“This dance show is where celebrities are paired with a professional dancer and have to learn a different dance being either Latin or ballroom styled dance each week,” Solimeo said.
“Connell Cruise is such a talented man and such a hard worker.
“He invested his whole heart and soul into learning and gave me all his hours in which we could work and rehearse and the way he embraced it all made it so worthwhile for me.”
Solimeo started dancing at the age of three but found her love for Latin when she was 13.
“I have been in major shows such as Burn the Floor in Florida, toured the UK with Strictly Come Dancing professionals Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis,” she said.
“And performed in many other corporate shows across SA and concerts such as Afrikaans is Groot and Classics is Groot.”
The star is currently in rehearsals for a few corporate functions coming up, as well as getting ready to perform and choreograph alongside her work colleagues from Tailormade Group for Classics is Groot happening in June.
“I am also training and teaching social and competitive couples for Latin and ballroom, as well as teaching wedding couples in assisting them for their first dance,” she said.
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