Let’s do the Thames Water Waltz says dance champion Michael

At work Michael O’Leary is a Lanes Group customer champion. But when the lights go down, and the glitter ball starts to spin, he sheds the PPE and takes on the cha-cha-cha – to become a dance champion.

Michael is a customer service ambassador for the Lanes Group Utilities Division, helping to make sure the wastewater maintenance service it delivers for Thames Water always merits top marks.

After work, though, it is a quickstep into his other passion, ballroom and Latin dancing. He and his dance partner, Cheryl Davies, are the current advanced ballroom dancing champions in the UK Closed Championships.

Now they are training hard with an ambition to compete in the Open World Championships in Disneyland Paris in December.

Had it not been for a near-death experience, though, things could have been very different.

Michael, aged 28, who lives in Slough, Berkshire, and works at the Lanes Group Utilities HQ in the town, has been Ballroom and Latin dancing, on and off, since he was 16.

On his 17th birthday he won a Rumba dance competition in which another competitor was being partnered by Anton du Beke, of Strictly Come Dancing fame. In his mid-20s, he gave up competing to concentrate on his work career.

Then, in October 2013, while working for a different company, he was in a major motorway collision which resulted in his car rolling off the carriageway. He escaped with nothing more than a bloody nose.

Michael said: “I was very lucky to be alive. It made me realise I really should do what I loved most, and that was to dance. When I advertised for a dance partner, Cheryl responded and we clicked straight away.”

Michael had received offers from as far away as France – good male dance partners are in short supply – but thankfully Cheryl, aged 31, lived just down the road in Reading.

“Cheryl has since been transferred to work in Middlesbrough, but she comes back at weekends,” said Michael. “We dance for up to 18 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, training and competing, and we train separately during the week.

“We’re lucky that we’ve bonded as dancers. Some couples may be better than us technically, but just don’t have the same chemistry. I think we’ve got a particularly strong dancing relationship which gives us something special.”

To challenge themselves still further, they are ten dancers. They are among the minority of dancers who complete in all ten ballroom and Latin dance competitions, and are trained by Richard Still, a world championship ten dance professional.

Their passion for dance also costs them a lot of cash. Michael’s gem-stoned shirts cost up to £600. His latest suit cost £1,300, and dance lessons are £40 per hour. For Cheryl to buy one of her dresses new costs £4,000.

But, Michael does not regret the time and expense, and his dancing also helps him at work.

He said: “I had put on a bit of weight since giving up dance, but since October have lost two and a half stone. I have much more energy, and feel positive about what I’m doing with my life, which really helps at work.

“My colleagues are fascinated by my dancing, and are very supportive. I’ve even had some ask me for lessons, which is fine, because I’ve taught everyone from six-year-olds to a lady who was 88 to dance.

“Dancing is about challenging yourself and setting goals. At Lanes Group we’re doing that all the time to always try to deliver excellent customer service. You could call it the Thames Water Waltz!”