Candy Lane is kicking up her heels and feeling so blessed. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
When Kiwi dancing icon Candy Lane decided to pack up her life and move across the ditch, she imagined long days spent in the sun with a drink in her hand and her partner Ricky Hancock by her side – and maybe the occasional day of work.
While she stuck to that plan for the first few months in Queensland, she couldn’t resist the call of the dance studio. Now, two years after the move, she admits she often takes just one day off a week.
“Every day I say to myself, ‘I need to take more days off,’ but I get caught up in it,” the 65-year-old smiles. “I love teaching kids – it’s so rewarding. It was a great plan at the time, but I’ve come to accept this is what my retirement looks like.”
Candy still trains competitive dancers and judges competitions, and she has even stepped back on to the dance floor in recent months to support her young students.
“I have some little ones who don’t have a partner, so I took to the floor at the last competition so one of them could compete in more events,” she says. “A lot of professionals wouldn’t do it because you’re putting yourself out there for ridicule. But she was so excited to be out there dancing and so happy when she won her events, so it was worth it.”
Ricky, 52, is just as busy with his own dance students and regularly flies back to New Zealand to see his kids or teach.
Despite their packed schedules, Candy laughs: “We still have plenty of time to drive each other nuts! We have a fishing competition going to see who can catch the biggest fish each month. We take a bottle of bubbly and a bowl of Cheezels, and count our lucky stars that we can do all these things.”
Spending time with family is the most important thing to Candy. Her biggest motivation for the move came during Covid when she was separated for two years from her daughter Jaz, 30, grandchild August, 7, her brother Brett and his wife Karlene.
Now she lives around the corner from them, the little things make her happiest, like spending time with Auggie after school, babysitting when midwife Jaz is called away to work or enjoying family dinners.
“We had the most basic but perfect Mother’s Day because I was teaching all day in Brisbane,” Candy recalls. “I called in to Jaz’s in the evening and we sat on the floor watching the Warriors play and eating fish and chips. I came home with my heart feeling so full.”
Despite her best efforts, Candy has accepted that Auggie – much like Jaz and her son Zak – will not be following in her dancing footsteps. The closest she’s come is a video game that Auggie loves, which involves a lot of dancing and jumping around.
“Not ideal when I come home exhausted from teaching, but I can’t say no, so away we go!” she says. “But Auggie loves singing and has joined the school choir, which is not surprising because my daughter is very musical and has a lovely voice.”
While Candy isn’t slowing down, she is looking forward to a well-deserved break at the end of the year. She’s planning a big family Christmas in New Zealand with her kids and Brett’s family. Then, in the new year, the siblings and their partners plan to jet off to Thailand.
The thought of an overseas getaway, surrounded by loved ones, feels like the perfect reward.
“One of the best things about moving here is becoming closer to my brother,” Candy says. “As adults, you don’t often get to spend much time with your siblings. It will be the first holiday we’ve had together since we were kids, so I’m looking forward to it.
“We want to go for three weeks, so I will have to say no to a few work things.”