We talked to the Australian winners of the Senior Latin event in Blackpool, Suppakorn Chuwoncwut and Zuzana Vasailes, and they were clearly overjoyed after winning the title. They now live in Australia, but originally Suppa is from Thailand and Zuzana is from Slovakia.
I would like, if I had such powers, to make the dancer never feel the muscle pains or back pains
Let me start with congratulation! Yesterday must have been a great day for you. Last year you were 5th.
[Suppakorn]: Yes, the dream finally came true.
How did you start dancing?
[Zuzana]: I first danced, as a teenager, back in Slovakia. I am originally from Slovakia, then I moved to Australia and started dancing again five years ago. So I did not dance for fifteen years really.
So you restarted dancing in the age of 30, and why?
[Zuzana]: Yes. Well, I restarted when I was 34 (laughing). Why? Because dancing was always my passion...
OK, I rephrase my question. Why at the age of 34 not 24?
[Zuzana]: I moved to Australia when I was 20, and it was quite tough for me to begin with. I went through the process of settling in, and it was very hard to find time for any sport or hobby when you had to work and look after yourself. When I was settled, and thought ”why not”. I was always into sports, started with ice skating, then body building, funnily enough, which doesn’t seem to be fitting with dancing (laughing).
[Suppakorn]: What do you mean?? You have a great body (laughing)!
[Zuzana]: Yes (laughing). So I am pretty much a natural!
Any partners before Suppakorn?
[Zuzana]: Yes, back in Slovakia. But not in Australia.
What about you, Suppakorn?
[Suppakorn]: I did a little bit of social dancing with my godmother, in Bangkok. But we did not really compete, not intensively.
You danced with your godmother?
[Suppakorn]: Well, yes, I was adopted, so… Anyway, I started really practicing with Suzana, 5 years ago. And now I am here (laughing)! She is really my trainer.
[Zuzana]: Yes, I should charge him! (laughing)
[Suppakorn]: Yes, I am very lucky to have met her. She is my best friend now. Not only a partner, but I am so lucky to have trained with her. I got a lot from her.
But you have coaches as well?
[Suppakorn]: Yes, yes of course, but she is my best coach (laughing). She taught me everything. I only did social dancing before.
[Zuzana]: And you did Ballroom when you came to Australia.
[Suppakorn]: Oh yes, I did a little Ballroom when I came to Sidney, but I thought, no, it was not my style. I met the beautiful lady, Suzana, and started dancing Latin then. And that’s the story.
Where do you go to lessons?
[Zuzana]: We go to Sidney.
What do you do apart from dancing?
[Zuzana]: I am a personal trainer, in fitness. Other than that, it is only dancing.
[Suppakorn]: I am a qualified chef, so I am cooking. I am working in a kitchen.
Does it mean that he is cooking for you?
[Suppakorn]: All the time. OK, sometimes. We don’t live together but spend a lot of time together…
[Zuzana]: I spend more time with him than with my husband!
So you are married?
[Zuzana]: No, I am joking, I am not married. My boyfriend then (laughing).
Do you have any private life then?
[Zuzana]: Dancing…. I am serious. It takes so much time and effort.
[Suppakorn]: It takes all the time if you want to get somewhere.
[Zuzana]: You don’t have much time to do anything else. So it is work and dancing.
Any special diet, any special food to keep in shape?
[Zuzana]: Nothing special other than low carbs, high protein diet. I am quite used to it, I did body building. The trick is to eat well and clean.
Good steak, but no chips?
[Zuzana]: Yes, exactly. Nothing magic about it (laughing).
How do you organise your travels, how do you plan competitions?
[Zuzana]: We usually compete in Australia. We came to Blackpool last year as well. We did Spain as well. Unfortunately it is quite expensive to travel.
[Suppakorn]: And we are far away from anything so any travel is expensive.
[Zuzana]: It is quite hard to find a sponsor, especially if you are over 35 (laughing). You are in the “old” category (laughing). It is tough even for the young dancers in Australia. There are not many sponsors for dancing. There are sponsors in football or other sports
[Suppakorn]: Golf…
I can imagine, the flights alone cost a lot of money
[Zuzana]: It is not as easy as being in Europe.
Did you do any competitions in Singapore or Hong Kong?
[Zuzana]: No… maybe we should
[Suppakorn]: We should go to my country, to Thailand, for competitions.
[Zuzana]: You are an Australian now (laughing)
[Suppakorn]: Oh yes! I am eight years in Australia now.
You don’t want to say anything about your private lives… but I will keep digging (laughing). What are your favourite movies?
[Zuzana]: I don’t remember the last time I was at the movies. Because we practised! We practise all the time.
[Suppakorn]: She wanted to do it today. And I was, like, are you serious??!!
[Zuzana]: OK, “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Not a typical girl movie. What about you?
[Suppakorn]: “Moulin Rouge” with Nicole Kidman. She is my favourite actress.
Do you have friends?
[Suppakorn]: Each other.
[Zuzana]: As I said, we do not have any time for anything other than work and dancing. I am not kidding.
Ok, are you saying that for all these years before you danced, you did not make any friends?
[Zuzana]: Yes, but as they are not related to our dancing…. All the previous relationships pretty much disappeared as it was very hard to maintain the friendship…
[Suppakorn]: That’s true. The life in Sidney is pretty busy, you have to work, then you do other things. So it is pretty hard to maintain contact with people who don’t do the same thing.
I am trying to find out what these “other things” are! (laughing)
[Suppakorn]: Dancing! (laughing)
[Zuzana]: Home, work, training, home, work, training. That’s it.
How does your boyfriend react to that?
[Zuzana]: He is very supportive of my dancing.
Has he come here to Blackpool with you?
[Zuzana]: No, unfortunately not. But he usually comes with us to every competition in Australia.
What is most important in dancing for you?
[Suppakorn]: I am very competitive!
So is winning most important?
[Zuzana]: No, it is not. It is a pinnacle, a beautiful thing, but it is not the reason that we are dancing. We are dancing because we love dancing.
[Suppakorn]: I, as a leader, as a male dancer, like that feeling that I can lead her to that beautiful music and enjoy that moment together and show her in a beautiful way. I like that relationship between two dancers at that time.
How would you describe each Latin dance in a shortest possible way?
[Zuzana]: Samba – hip action! Cha Cha...
[Suppakorn]: Cheeky Zuzana! (laughing)
[Zuzana]: He is talking about me. OK, let’s be serious. Rumba – flirting.
[Suppakorn]: Jive – tiring (laughing).
[Zuzana]: Death row (laughing)!
What do you like about your partner?
[Suppakorn]: I cannot say in one word! She’s beautiful inside and out. She’s got a great heart, she is very warm.
[Zuzana]: You made me cry! He is a beautiful person, gorgeous human being.
OK, this question is much more difficult. What do you dislike about your partner?
[Zuzana]: Oh, that’s easy (laughing)!
[Suppakorn]: You know, there are things the other people would call a bad thing. But I accept all about her. I accept the whole picture.
Come on! There must be something
[Suppakorn]: OK, she is too critical about herself which I cannot understand. She complains sometimes that she is too fat. And I say, come on, get a life! She is so pretty. Sometimes I cannot handle it (laughing). Why does she have to complain, she is pretty!
[Zuzana]: In dancing, he sometimes doesn’t try his hardest. When he tries hard, he is amazing. When he doesn’t, I get really upset. This is because I can see the potential…
Your biggest argument was about….?
[Zuzana]: We never argue. I am not kidding. I just yell and he says “OK, OK” (laughing).
So you argue, he doesn’t!
[Zuzana]: I get upset with him or with myself, when I feel we did not try our best. I get very frustrated.
[Suppakorn]: I see it that way, she is emotional about it because she cares. When she says: “Suppa, you’re too slow” or “Suppa, you’re too fast”, I am happy! When she is not complaining, I feel like I lost her (laughing). When she is complaining, I feel she is with me, and trying to make me a better dancer.
OK, I hope you are not going to kick a judge, like last year!
[Zuzana]: Oh yes, he slapped the judge (laughing).
[Suppakorn]: I wasn’t wearing my contact lenses! Now I am.
OK, it was an accident.
[Suppakorn]: I just did not realise I couldn’t see the distance. I was so sorry to him. Now I am wearing my contact lenses when dancing. He is safe (laughing).
Do you take any lessons in Europe?
[Zuzana]: No, we have two coaches in Australia: Michael Miziner and Tony Gauci.
[Suppakorn]: Not just a coaches but a mentors as well.
Who is designing your dresses?
[Zuzana]: "Dance like dragonfly" by Olya Garber. She is my friend and ex-dancer. She does my dresses in Australia. We work together, with Tony as well, it is always a team work design.
Who does your choreography?
[Suppakorn]: Tony and Michael.
[Zuzana]: But we often discuss and try, try, try until we feel it suits us. Sometimes we change it. Again, it is team work.
[Suppakorn]: Or we tweak, adjust
[Zuzana]: We don’t give up straight away, we try to make it work for us.
[Suppakorn]: We tell Tony we are not comfortable with that routine and he tells us to practise (laughing). Then he may change it a little. What we have now we enjoy a lot. We are happy with that. We feel it is us.
If you could, what would you change in the dancesport?
[Zuzana]: I would change the politics. It is too much, too hard for everybody. I would like the judging to be changed as well, to be more target focused. I think some of it is already changing in WDSF. Musicality is judged separately, technique separately. I would prefer that, it would be more fair, because sometimes you see amazing couples being kicked out in the early rounds. In body building we have specific criteria which are judged separately, and I think it is easier to judge when they concentrate on specifics. Every sport is political, wherever you go, but it is easier to get the scores more real I would say.
[Suppakorn]: I would like, if I had such power, to make the dancer never feel the muscle pains or back pains (laughing)! I have an injury in my foot, and it is so painful when I am dancing. It is always hurting. I would take away the pain.
Who is making decisions of what competitions to go to?
[Suppakorn]: Our mentors. They advise us.
Who is booking the tickets, organising the travels?
[Suppakorn]: Who is the leader in our relationship, who is wearing the pants! (laughing)
And who is driving?
[Zuzana]: I am.
What do you use internet for in relation to dancing?
[Zuzana]: Everything, everywhere. Laptops, phones… For emails, social media, Instagram
[Suppakorn]: Same. I couldn’t sleep yesterday, so many people were pinging me on Facebook. It is there all the time. But as everybody was happy for us, I was happy as well.
Lots of friends?
[Zuzana]: Lots of Facebook friends, you know (laughing). Lots of dancers.
Any favourite websites?
[Zuzana]: I am not a type of person who is at the computer all day. I am not browsing too much, I am on old school (laughing). My job is pretty active, so no time for that. We look at DSI.tv website for videos.
[Suppakorn]: She is complaining, £30 for three months!
[Zuzana]: I am not complaining!
[Suppakorn]: YouTube as well, all the time.
[Zuzana]: Watching dancers, yes, from the links on Facebook. We are following lots of dancers.
Skype?
[Zuzana]: No, pretty much everything through FB messenger. Typing not talking.
Will you be coming to the International in October?
[Zuzana]: No, too expensive. We can afford once a year to Europe. We may go to China, it is easier to come to Asia for us.
Is it easy for you to take time off work to travel to competitions?
[Zuzana]: I have my own business, so yes. Dancing is our passion, so we work around that. I can always arrange time.
[Suppakorn]: Dancing is our passion, so when there is something important, we can make time.
What are your plans for the future?
[Zuzana]: Just enjoy, and keep dancing. Because of our age, we do not plan anything crazy, but we want to continue dancing as much as we can.
Any plans to turn professional?
[Zuzana]: Maybe open our own school… Not sure
[Suppakorn]: I would love to as well
So you are not planning to make a career in cooking?
[Suppakorn]: Not really, I don’t like cooking that much, I love dancing. I like cooking for some I care about. I am not into the busy kitchen, or restaurant... it is not for me.
Maybe combine the restaurant and dance studio?
[Suppakorn]: Yes, a lovely coffee shop in the studio, yes (laughing).
Will we see you again in Blackpool next year?
[Suppakorn]: Maybe! But if we were to choose between Blackpool and China, we would probably chose China.
[Zuzana]: It is closer. And it will be a new experience.
Thank you for talking to us, and good luck with your plans!
