Fire behind the tango with Marzanne van den Berg
The ballroom dancer comes to life on the dance and she tells us why that it is.
When the lights dim on the ballroom floor and the spotlight shines on one a figure in a red dress swaying sultrily, it only means Marzanne van den Berg is readying to captivate you with a chassé to the left.
Though she has been competitive for the past nine years, the dance floor has been a second home to her for the past 12 years, when she started doing Latin and ballroom dancing socially. For her, dance sport is a wonderful combination of art and sport.
“It is physically intense and good exercise. It is also good exercise for your brain, because you are constantly learning and thinking. But it also gives you the chance to tell stories and share emotions through using your body.”
She added that anyone watching a beautiful dance is moved, as it is not something you just see but something you feel.
“Dancing simply makes me happy. You know how people say, ‘Find the thing that makes you happy and do that’, for me, that’s dancing. When I am moving to beautiful music, the world and all my troubles disappear and all that matters is my body, the music, the audience and the story I am telling.”
Though training does come with the frustrations of not being able to grasp a step as quickly as she may want and is tough as she can get tired and sore, and at times face injury, there is still little for her that beats that moment when the world disappears and it’s just her and the music.
Van den Berg does standard ballroom which consists of the waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep. She also does international Latin where she does the cha-cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive. This means she has to be proficient in 10 different techniques with their own, unique character and story that she has to embody come time to perform. She can be found training at KD Adams Dance Academy with dance partner Kallie Adams.
It’s the power she yields within the paso doble, the fieriness and passion found in the tango and the emotion of the rumba that makes these dances land in her top three. Dance has changed Van den Berg’s life drastically. Now, she no longer sits on the sofa watching TV to relax – instead she finds this relaxation through dance. Along with this she is healthier, fitter, and stronger.
She has taken part in many local competitions and holds a few South African and Gauteng titles. “In 2019 I had the opportunity to compete in the Empire Dance Championships in New York City, USA. It was an incredible experience to see the massive scale of the competition and how smoothly it was run. It gave me the chance to dance against many more competitors than I ever have in South Africa. The standard of dancing was also very high, so it was inspiring to see.”
There are still goals she aims to see the fruition of, such as achieving more success in international competitions. The plan is to travel to Blackpool Dance Festival next year. This festival is touted as the Wimbledon of the dance world; it is also one of the oldest and most iconic competitions in the world.
Dance has taught her to respect her body for what it can accomplish. “As women, we are often very negative about our bodies if we think they don’t look good – dance has helped me overcome that.” It has also shown her she is a good actress, something she never knew about herself.
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