Noosa ballerina whipped All Blacks into shape

A slender dancer from Noosa went toe to toe with rugby bruisers whose tough egos took a battering trying to match her moves.

Ballerina and former All Blacks "dance move" trainer Angelika Burroughs

Of all the challenges former Ukrainian ballerina Angelika Burroughs faced including battling through personal injuries, one of her toughest assignments was trying to get the hulking All Blacks football players to loosen up a little.

Ms Burroughs, 50, who is based in Noosa and runs FitBarre-fitness classes using demanding dance disciplines, was surprised how ungainly the elite New Zealand national heroes were.

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The former principal ballet teacher at the New Zealand Ballet Academy and Recreational Dance Foundation migrated to Australia in 1994 after her stint with the rugby bruisers whose tough egos took a battering trying to match her dance moves.

Ms Burroughs said it was "absolutely" correct that ballet dancers could match their strength and endurance with footballers.

"When I used to live in Auckland I was approached by the All Blacks to teach them," she said.

"What I found was they were absolutely inflexible, they couldn't hold their legs 45 degrees, I was very surprised."

The modern day All Blacks put on some pre-match moves.

Ms Burroughs and her family six years ago fulfilled a long-held desire to move to Noosa where she started FitBarre-Fitness four years ago.

"I was teaching in schools around the Coast but I really love to do my fitness classes," she said.

"I really like to change people's lives. I have an amazing gentleman in my class who is turning 80 years young and moves like a professional dancer 30 years his junior.

"I have ladies who have improved their posture so much that they are standing straight, like an arrow, for the first time in years."

Ms Burroughs said dance involved learning sequences of steps and movement in space, in co-ordination with music.

"It requires physical and cognitive engagement and improves strength, balance, co-ordination and memory, attention," she said.

She has built up her classes over the years using just word of mouth.

"It's my heart and my soul so I don't charge people a lot and I'm staying fit with them as well," she said.

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