Super mambo bros
DANCING DUO AFTER NATIONAL TITLE
A PASSION for dancing runs in the family for Geelong’s Rodda brothers, who are sashaying their way to the national stage.
But elite dancing success hasn’t been an easy road for Peter and Edward, who have both faced health and fitness barriers while pursuing their dancefloor dreams.
Edward, 20, was 148kg when he first started ballroom and Latin American dancing five years ago. He has since lost 60kg.
In the first nine months of his dance practice he lost 25kg, and the kilos kept falling off as he increased his dancing to six days a week.
And the week before his 17th birthday, Peter — now aged 18 — was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and a congenital heart valve that left him breathless and fatigued.
But 18 months later, with help from an exercise physiologist, he is now enjoying better health and continues to train in excess of 30 hours a week.
“It’s great to be able to create a memory with another person,” Peter said of dancing with a partner.
“It’s not the same reward when you’re by yourself, you’re not making an artwork in the same way.
“A lot of hard work goes into it.”
Edward said he began dancing to spend more time with his brother, who was his best friend.
He quit his job as a thirdyear mechanic apprentice and put on his dancing shoes.
“As soon as I started I enjoyed putting time and energy into something we could create together,” he said.
Edward will start a full-time career as a dance teacher next year.
Both brothers, who were homeschooled together, learnt to dance in Geelong but now train in Melbourne.
They will be competing on the national stage at the 2019 Interflora Australian DanceSport Championship in December.
More than 600 competitors will sweep across the dancefloor at the competition.