CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Dancesport Association,  floated recently with Mrs Rakhee Gupta Bhandari as its president and G.S. Sethi as secretary-general, has roped in the country's top dancing couple, Shannon Benjamin and Dr Preeti Gupta, for a five-day workshop from June 2 to 6 at Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24, here.

The   workshop will be followed by the first Chandigarh State Dancesport Championship for which the All-India Dancesport Federation has given its sanction.

Giving this information Rakhee Bhandari said the dancing duo had been representing India in Latin American and Standard Ballroom dance competitions in international dancesport championships.

 In the Asian Indoor Games organised by the Olympic Council of  Asia at Macau in November last year, Priti and Shannon made the quarter-final grade in Grade A Latin which saw keen competition among dancers from 18 Asian countries. The dancing couple were sponsored for the championship by Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.

 The craze for the dancesport is such that the experts could be available for only five days as they are tied for the next workshop at Mumbai from June 7.The workshop will be restrictricted to 50 couples on a first come first serve basis.The last date for entries with Rajiv Garg, Dance World, SCO 12, second floor, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh, (mobile 9876042751)  is May 25.

 The 2005 World Games saw 85 countries participating in the dancesport championship with officials of the International Olympic Committee watching the event, giving the hope that this event will very soon become an Olympic event.

  Benjamin and Preeti will hold the workshop for four and a half hours everyday, with three batches of 90 minutes each. Seeing the craze for dancesport the association has decided to hold such workshops  on a regular basis.

 Rock-n-roll was added to the dancesport at the last World Games. The other dance forms include tango, waltz, fox trot, Viennese waltz and quickstep, jive, paso doble, rumba and samba and cha cha cha.

  Preeti Gupta got her name in the Limca Book of Records for being the main dancer in the 'World's Longest Dance Party'  dancing non-stop for 55 hours and 55 minutes.