Now and then

24 Mar 2016

Many Probians led fascinating lives before they retired (and still do). Here, we chat with Ernie Pantling about his former life as a champion ballroom dancer.

Strictly ballroom

As a child, little Ernie Pantling was a shy lad, so his parents signed him up for ballroom dance classes in the hope that he would grow in confidence.

They got more than they bargained for. Not only was Ernie light on his feet, he eventually went on to compete in a few championships.

Ernie relates to something legendary Australian choreographer David Atkins once said. “At school, David had two options – he could either play rugby and get pummelled from one end of the field to the other, or he could learn how to dance and clasp beautiful young women,” he says.

When he was 12, Ernie won the junior British ballroom championship and appeared on television. When he left school, he became a professional dancer and competed regularly, before he was sent to the US to teach and adjudicate. As the years went on, he eventually moved from the UK to Australia.

During his career, Ernie danced with four partners, a couple of whom won several ballroom championships themselves.

“They were all pretty good. I never got romantically involved with any of them, though,” he admits. “It’s such a demanding profession. It’s hard work both physically and mentally and you’re in each other’s company all day and night. It would drive you nuts! So many people I knew who married their dance partners ended up in divorce.”

In 1967 in London, Ernie met his wife Maria, a dance instructor at a school where he taught and they got married.

One of the highlights of Ernie’s career was when he was living in San Francisco.

“My friends took me to a Latino club and at midnight, people from the Bay Area came in and danced, just like in West Side Story. I found out that I’d actually been set up and all of a sudden, the man on the microphone said ‘Now, el gringo (that’s what they called me) is going to dance!’ So I danced for them what I thought was Latin, but they all laughed!” recalls Ernie.

“They thought it was hysterical, but I eventually learnt how to dance from them. There are different styles of Latin dancing. In Britain, it’s very ‘pose-y’ with big movements and large steps, but the music in Latin America is very different. It requires a style that’s more subtle and a bit sexier.”

A life of adventure

Now, Ernie and Maria are members of the Mt Beauty Probus Club in Victoria. While Ernie may no longer compete as a dancer, he still occasionally kicks up his heels with his wife.

Last year, Mt Beauty held a music festival and asked Ernie to teach the locals how to salsa. He also took part in  a Dancing with the Stars-style fundraiser, where he danced the Argentinian tango with one of the local nurses. Indeed, dance has had an ‘immense’ impact on Ernie's life since he retired.

“When you dance, you’re constantly challenged and you’re often seeking out other challenges,” he explains. “Dancing really builds up your confidence. I like adventure and towards the end of my career, I was participating in outdoor adventures like skiing and white water rafting.”

Most recently, Ernie went gliding 6000 feet over Victoria’s high country with his instructor and fellow Probian, Ian Cohn.

“l marvelled at the journey of all those kilometres without manmade power, relying only on nature’s forces...seeing our world from an eagle’s perspective was thrilling,” he recalls.