Champion dance partnership retires

Jared Sim and Reeve Watson have won around 500 dancing titles over the last three years they have been dancing together. But all great partnerships have to come to an end as 18 year old Jared heads off next year to Otago to study Engineering Technology. Reeve, who is still only 14, will be looking for another partner but might need to search outside of Whanganui.

Reeve was only nine years old when, after watching ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ she was inspired to give dancing a go. Jared, likewise, was only nine when he first started dancing. He says, “I was introduced to dancing by my teacher at St Johns Hill School.”

They both ended up at Mark Glastonbury’s Dance Studio. Jared first partnered Reeve for her registration dances to allow her to dance competitively. He had previous dance partners winning “a good number of titles – in the hundreds from local competitions to lower North Island events.”

Over the three years dancing together, Jared and Reeve went from winning titles at Junior level through to Youth and Adult levels, when Jared became 16. They would attend competitions throughout the lower North Island every two to four weeks during the season. (Summer is the off season).

Looking back they say that “2019 was perhaps the highlight when we won 14 National Titles at the competitions in Porirua.” They would receive a Certificate, sometimes medals for both of them and trophies which they had to hand back for the next year.

Being a National Dance champion doesn’t come easily. Reeve explains, “We would go to the dance studio straight after school four days a week and again for two hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Both of them were involved in other sports. Jared did volleyball and Reeve did swimming. When the RCP interviewed them before school started, Reeve had just come from rowing training, having got there at 5.30am. Both have done gym work.

Perhaps because of their fitness levels, both have avoided serious injuries. Reeve says, “I have a couple of ankle sprains,” and Jared admits to a few “back and shoulder injuries” and having “dropped” Reeve a couple of times. If you think practising could get boring, Jared points out that “we learnt 26 different dances.” Reeve outlines some of them: “For ballroom there is the Tango, Quickstep and Viennese Waltz, for Latin there is the Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba and the Jive and for New Vogue there is the Barclay Blues, Carousel, Charmaine, Evening Three Step, Exclusia Scottish and the Gypsy Tap.” Jared and Reeve were strongest in New Vogue.

As for those dresses, Reeve explains that she has five to six main dresses but adds, “You can rent dresses from a person in Wellington who posts pictures on Instagram. Otherwise, dresses can cost anywhere from $200 to $2000.” It is much easier for Jared who wears a tailed suit and a white shirt and one other similar outfit for Latin dances.

As for the future, Jared plans to travel from Dunedin to Gore to dance and teach there, as “there is one of the better dance groups in New Zealand based there.” Reeve will be looking for another partner and hoping to continue winning titles.

Doug Davidson
River City Press 29/10/20