Pub manager to cha-cha in gala performance

MORE at home pulling a beer than busting a move, manager at the Munster Arms Hotel Kirk Baine is nevertheless enjoying getting into character for his cha-cha in the Ballarat Foundation’s Dancing With Our Stars competition.

Baine is swapping the bar for the ballroom to help raise funds for the organisation’s work to tackle homelessness, food insecurity, mental health, gender inequality and violence, and to boost youth success.

Originally from Scotland, Baine moved to Australia with his family aged 10 and has been based in Ballarat for 16 years.

He said preparing to hit the dance floor for the glitzy gala night on Saturday 20 June is a great way to give back to the city he calls home.

“It was honestly just the fact that I could give back in general,” he said. “Ballarat has been my home for 16 years and I feel like I’ve been welcomed here with open arms.

“This was my opportunity to really give back and have a bit of fun along the way.

“My brother also did Dancing With Our Stars a couple of years ago so you could say there’s a bit of cheeky competition.

“The cha-cha is a super high energy Latin dance that has some sass.

“It’s definitely a challenge but a really great experience to see everybody come together to give back to Ballarat.

“It’s just such an awesome cause and each week it’s been getting a little bit better.

“The first few weeks I was sitting there like a deer in the headlights thinking, am I going to be able to get one foot in front of the other?

“I’m not a dancer. I’m far more comfortable pulling a beer.”

After many weeks of practice, Baine credits his dance partner Alicia Wang Sheludko and The Dance Studio instructor Shelley Ross with helping him not only learn to cha-cha, but to reconnect with his early love of performing.

“I feel that Latin character coming out of me every week,” he laughed.

“Drama and acting is something I absolutely loved.

“I started getting into drama when I was nine and did some commercials on TV and then hit the stage at high school.

“It has been so long since I stepped into that sort of thinking. I do think it’s something I’m going to circle back to.”

Everyone is encouraged to support their favourite star and get behind the cause with individual fundraising pages live and accepting donations at ballaratfoundation.org.au