GEORGE NEWS - When people say George has got talent, you'd better believe it.

Even more so, since Engela Lange-Serfontein recently bagged a World Dance Masters (WDM) Championships title for line dancing in Blackpool, England.

More than 1 200 dancers from 25 countries competed in various categories from 31 July to 3 August in a global celebration of line dancing held at the historic Winter Gardens entertainment complex.

Lange-Serfontein, who only took up line dancing two years ago, is the newly crowned WDM Silver Starter world champion. 'Starter' indicates the level at which she competed and 'silver' refers to her age group (45-60). She only started competing this year - her first taste of competition being two provincial and one national competition to qualify for the worlds.

At provincial level, she took first place both times, and at nationals, she came second on count-out.

Lange-Serfontein's dance instructor at the Time 2 Dance dance club, Cecile Cilliers, also won a world title at the same competition in the newcomer open category back in 2013, two years after taking up the sport.

Cilliers explained most people are pleasantly surprised when they realise line dancing is more than just the honky-tonk "Achy Breaky Heart" style of dance often shown on TV, where people wearing cowboy boots paired with jeans, denim skirts, plaid shirts, cowboy hats and an overdose of fringe dance in rows in musky bars.

While all line dancing forms involve dancers arranged in lines and performing repetitive choreographed dance moves in unison, the style of dance can be anything ranging from two-step to cha-cha and even the waltz - as long as the formation and synchronisation are there. An added bonus for single people is that line dance usually doesn't require a partner. It also boasts a strong social element, is good exercise and, most importantly, at least according to those who participate in the sport, is fun.

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