RETIRED nurse, Gail Schelbach loves frocking up and dancing to old time tunes, which are two things that are an integral part of country show balls.
On Saturday night, the Pine Mountain resident won the title of Matron of the Boonah Show Ball, as judges awarded her the title based on her elegant presentation.
Gail has spent the better half of a decade following the music and she’s not the only one.
“People come from all over following the band,” she said.
“They came from the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Brisbane to Saturday night’s event.”
They follow the musical notes of a certain chord; one that has the right beat so a dance can be properly executed.
They’ve found perfection recently in DJ Franki, a muso of an older age who plays at the dances and understands what’s wanted by the dancers.
“He plays a bit of everything really,” Gail said.
“It can be hard to find music that goes with a particular dance. It needs the right beat.
“We do some dances that need a faster and more upbeat tune for them.
“There’s one dance in particular they do where there’s dance on the outer edges of a dance floor and rock and roll on the inner.”
When ballroom dance fans find a musician that delivers the right experience, word spreads.
“You’d have to have a musical background to provide music for these kinds of events,” she said.
“There are musicians, then there’s musicians who play for dances.
“Over the course of a night they could play maybe 50 different dances. It’s a lot of work to set up and plan.”
This year Gail will have attended the Lowood Show Ball and Boonah Show Ball, and maybe Rosewood’s too.
“I’d usually go to the Rosewood Show Ball as well but it’s on the same day as Boonah Show this year so I might be too tired,” she said.
“When I first started doing this there were a lot of ladies entered into the [Matron of the Ball] category but it seems to be dropping back.
“It’s probably getting too expensive to keep up with the dresses.
“I don’t go to them expecting to win but it’s an honour when I do.”
