Together Bruce and Sharon have won a number of competitionsincluding being the first NSW winners of the Wintersun Traditional Open and inaugural winners of The
Best of The Best Rock ‘n’ Roll competition (2002).
Together they have also performed numerous times for a variety of events. Some highlights include TV appearances on Mornings with Kerri Ann, Disney Channel, Music Clip for The Louisville Sluggers, Musical Openings for “Shout-JO’K Story” in Victoria and Sydney, Leader Of The Pack in Sydney, commercials and corporate performances. |
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Sharon - Sharon Hanley was born and raised in Casino, NSW. In this small rural community, the highlight of the social calendar were the Country Hall dances.
Dancing became a big part of Sharon’s childhood, as she learnt ballroom dancing from the age of 7 until she was 15. After a 9 year break from dancing, in 1996 Sharon discovered the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll and Swing when she took her mother to a Sydney dance for the night. She started to compete and she has won or placed in many competitions with her partner. Sharon also had a love of the 40s/50s lifestyle and fashions, and was delighted to be able to blend it with her other passion, dancing. In 1999, she met and teamed up with Bruce Elder and together they have taken their dancing further, with many performances, competition wins and overseas training. Together they started Swingtime Australia in 2001, and in 2002 started Sydney’s most successful Swing classes. Sharon with her sister Teena, also produce a clothing label called Retro Spec’d. Sharon loves the whole culture that can be attached to Swing and Rock ‘n’ Roll dancing, as well as watching students developing new friendships through dancing. |
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Bruce – Bruce Elder was born in Auckland, New Zealand and moved to Australia with his family at the age of 5. His dancing career started in August 1990, when he was taken along to Rock ‘n’ Roll dance classes with his family.He took to dancing like a fish to water, and clearly had a natural ability with it. Over the next few years he trained and competed in many competitions moving from D grade to A grade. He also learned to dance Rockabilly, moving onto win numerous State and National Titles. In 1993, he was introduced to Lee Neilson, one of Australia’s most famous original Champion Swing Dancers from the 1940’s. The 72 year old wanted to train Bruce and his partner to pass on the original Swing dance from Sydney so as not to lose this important part of Australian dance history. This started the foundations of Bruce’s swing dancing.In 1999, Bruce partnered up with Sharon Hanleyand together have worked on developing theirs styles together. They were the first local teachers to train in and teach Hollywood /Smooth Style Lindyhop in Sydney. This has lead them to train with some of the worlds best teachers both locally and internationally. Bruce has won or placed in over 120 State, National and South Pacific Titles. Bruce’s teaching career started in 1992. In 2001, Bruce together with Sharon started Swingtime Australia. Bruce’s biggest joy out of teaching dance is seeing the difference that it can make to ones life!! |
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