Merger On The Dance Floor

Members of Dorset’s business community are shaking a tail feather this December in a fundraising dance-off. Jeremy Miles met some of the brave competitors

- Jeremy Miles

LARGER than life Dorset property agent Maximillian Zeigfried De Kment laughs as he prepares to steer his majestic frame onto the dance floor.

“This could be interesting,” he tells me. “I suspect I’m pretty rubbish.” Then, with a glint in his eye, he adds: “But we’ll soon find out, won’t we?”

As one of the contestants in Bournemouth’s popular Business Come Dancing competition, Max - “Maximillian is what my mother called me when I was in trouble” - is hoping to prove that he really can throw some interesting shapes on the dance floor.

It’s not going to be easy. Max admits that dancing has never been his thing…well until now. “Dance was considered so uncool when I was at school. I just never got into it,” he confesses. “I was more interested in sport.”

Now, posing for pictures with Carrie- Anne Gill, the professional dance teacher who is going to whip him into shape on the dance floor, he tells me that he’s realising that there’s some serious hard work to do.

Max is one of group of intrepid local business people lining up for this annual charity dance-off organised by Pavilion Dance South West in Bournemouth. Now in its fourth year, Business Come Dancing invites members of the Dorset business community to strut their stuff in the style of TV’s Strictly Come Dancing and support a number of good local causes along the way. Each participant is paired with a professional dance tutor and given a specific routine to rehearse ahead of a glamorous gala evening at the Bournemouth Pavilion Ballroom on Thursday 14th December. The host at this grand finale is Dorset Magazine columnist and BBC Solent Radio broadcaster Steve Harris.