Let The Dance Begin

Fleet-footed singer Connell Cruise has a new dance partner: his wife, Sarah!

- Shanaaz Prince

IT’S the start of a whole new journey – one that will hopefully see him and the love of his life foxtrotting and tangoing their way around professional ballroom dance floors of the world. This, Connell Cruise says, is his goal after his victorious stint in Dancing with the Stars SA left him well and truly bitten by the dancing bug.

The 30-year-old singer and his dance partner, Marcella Solimeo, won the debut season of the hit show after an epic three-round dance-off, and Connell is still pinching himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming.

“It’s surreal,” he says. “I keep looking at my Twitter and Instagram feeds just to believe it happened.”

Week after week the pair practised their moves for up to 12 hours a day, and Sunday after Sunday they waltzed and cha-cha’d their way into the hearts of the judges and voting public.

But Marcella wasn’t the only woman who helped him emerge victorious, Connell says. His wife and No 1 fan, Sarah Kingsburgh (29), wasn’t only behind him every step of the way, she helped him perfect those all-important steps too.

“I practised a lot of my moves after rehearsals at home with Sarah,” Connell says.

“Yeah, a lot of it happened in the kitchen,” Sarah adds.

As soon as the show was over, Connell booked a few days in a spa for him and Sarah and they’re now looking forward to making up for the time they spent apart because of his punishing dance schedule.

“We’re going to drink a lot of wine, sit around and relax,” he says. “We sacrificed a lot and I know it was tough for her. Now we’re sitting at the end of the four months with a trophy in our apartment and with so much love from South Africans. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.”