Line Dancing
Photo Credit: Elsa Viljoen

Elsa Viljoen is a talented line dancer who has represented South Africa on the world stage; she has qualified for the 2024 World Championship.

 

Mpumalanga, South Africa (08 March 2024) — Elsa Viljoen has loved line dancing for most of her life and, in 2004, worked toward qualifying as an instructor. For decades, she has taught people how to line dance and has even represented South Africa on the international stage. She has once again qualified to compete overseas.

In 2017 and 2018, Elsa competed in Pretoria and won the South African Line Dance Championship. She was then contacted by Roy Hoeben from The Netherlands in 2019, who was a judge at the championship. He is known in the industry as an international line dance superstar! Elsa explained that he is a choreographer, international judge and instructor. Mr Hoeben offered to train Elsa further, which meant she travelled all the way to the Netherlands and she continued to do the remainder of her training via Zoom when the pandemic started.

Elsa has had a successful career and has personally raised all the funds needed to compete on the international stage. She has spent February fundraising to attend the World Dance Masters in Blackpool, United Kingdom in July 2024.

A golf day hosted in Pilgrims Rest raised R2,000, and a high tea event in Nelspruit brought in R6,000, but she needed to raise a total of R30,000 for the international competition. Elsa shared that she likely won’t be able to attend the Worlds event due to financial constraints, so she has shifted her focus to the 2024 South African Championship in Bloemfontein in July. Then possibly heading to the Netherlands at the end of November 2024.

Her list of competition participations and wins are extensive!

  • 27 March 2020 – Pretoria (a Virtual Comp – due to the Pandemic) – Elsa earned 1st place in both the Silver- & Gold Divisions – 4 Line Dance styles and Gold in ProAm Country Couples – 7 styles
  • 22 May 2020 –  KZN (a Virtual Comp – due to the Pandemic) – 1st place in both the Silver- & Gold Divisions – 4 Line Dance styles and Gold in ProAm Country Couples – 7 styles
  • 28 August 2020 – Bloemfontein (1st live comp – Pandemic rules in place) – 1st place in both the Silver- & Gold Divisions – 4 Line Dance styles and Gold in ProAm Country Couples – 7 styles
  • 18 September 2020 – “Paarl” (a Virtual Comp – due to revised travelling rules) – 1st place in Silver Division – 4 Line Dance styles and Gold in ProAm Country Couples – in 7 styles

In both 2021 and 2022, Elsa competed in 9 dance styles each year, earning 1st place in six styles and second place in the three other styles.  6 x 1st placings and 3 x 2nd placings

She managed to fund a trip to De Rijper Eilanden in The Netherlands in 2023 and earned 1st place in three styles, ProAm (couple dancing) and a 1st place in Line Dance with three x styles.

1st place Tulip Challange Belgium 12 March 2023 Elsa and Pro dancer Roy Hoeben

“Due to my achievements at the abovementioned competition, I was sponsored to return to the Netherlands in June 2023.

June 2023 – in Mol, The Nederlands I won 2 x European Championships, representing South Africa and bringing home an overall winning and 1st placing in both ProAm and 3 x styles in Classic Line Dancing.”

Elsa’s love for Line Dance is evident and she adores being able to fly the flag high. While her fundraising efforts have been tougher than usual, she still plans to compete where and when she can afford to do so.

You can watch Elsa compete at the “Step-Up Competition” in Linden, Gauteng from the 22nd to the 24th of March 2024.

If you would like to support Elsa, you can reach out via email here.


Sources: GTG Interview
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About the Author

Tyler Leigh Vivier is a writer for Good Things Guy.

Her passion is to spread good news across South Africa with a big focus on environmental issues, animal welfare and social upliftment. Outside of Good Things Guy, she is an avid reader and lover of tea.

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