Sashes For Success
Hugh Lynn and Pamela Hotchin sixth - ranked Latin American dancers in the world 1964!
Two 21-year-old Aucklanders, Pamela Hotchin and Hugh Lynn-McAuley, wear the white sashes that proclaim them sixth – ranked Latin American dancers in the world!
They returned to Auckland yesterday from the world amateur ballroom championships in Sydney. The championships, held for the first time outside Europe, attracted dancers from England, West Germany, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and the U.S. as well as Australia and New Zealand.
“The dancers from well established ballroom countries were astonished to be beaten by New Zealanders,” said Pamela. “The West Germans didn’t even know where New Zealand was.”
She and Hugh danced in three elimination heats and then the final-all on the same night. “We were exhausted,” she said. “But it wasn’t, the dancing so much as the tension of waiting between heats.”
The two have been dancing together-first as tap dancers-since the age of five, and have been New Zealand amateur Latin American champions for the last three years.
For Pamela, who turned 21 during the five-day championships, the placing was a wonderful birthday present. But it will probably be the couple’s last major dancing success together.
Pamela, a typist, will leave for England in December. And Hugh, a health instructor, hopes to go to Japan.
None of the 20 other New Zealand couples who went to Sydney was placed in the world contest. But several were placed in the Australasian section of the championships, and others were successful in challenge contests held at some of the city’s luxurious football clubs.
Hugh Lynn - New Zealand 