Ready to rumba

Ballroom dancing, the bingo of Terpsichore, has long since achieved cult status on TV: the sequins, the Mr Whippy hair, the impasto make-up are competition for anything Lily Savage has come up with, and that's before you even look at the competitors. Everyone should spend one evening in a lifetime at a live ballroom competition: like greyhound racing and eating snails, these things expand the horizons and boggle the mind. And where better than the bright lights of Blackpool? The Las Vegas of the North is currently playing host to its 21st annual dance festival, in which couples and teams rumba, foxtrot, waltz and cha-cha-cha their way round the floor of the legendary Winter Gardens, with only the world's stocks of spandex between them and freezing. It's so good to see people strive for excellence with only glory in mind.

Church St, Blackpool (01253 25252) today