Wellington man secretly learns salsa to propose to girlfriend in epic choreographed dance performance

A Wellington man has salsa-danced his way to his soulmate’s heart by secretly learning a choreographed dance, complete with dance troupe and live opera singer, to propose to his partner of seven years in an elaborate live performance.

Richard Heaps has never been a dancer, not even drunkenly on a night out. But when it came time to propose to his partner, Sarah Ramsay, he knew he had to pull out all the stops to make it the perfect proposal.

Ramsay is a seasoned salsa dancer, with 10 years’ experience so Heaps came up with a plan to make his proposal unforgettable.

With the help of Ramsay’s friends at Wellington’s Salsa Magic dance studio, Heaps spent three months on a salsa crash course like no other, graduating from beginner classes to intermediate on his mission to make Ramsay his wife.

The participants perform in front of Sarah Ramsay in Wellington. Photo / Richard Heaps

He had been doing some photography work for the studio in September of last year and asked that rather than being paid for the work, they help him come up with the perfect proposal for his love, who had been rocked by the deaths of her grandparents and cat in the last two years.

“I really wanted to make it special for her because she’d been through quite a lot and, when you’re going through a lot of that stuff, you end up cutting out a lot of your hobbies. So bringing her school she’s been part of for such a long time into it, just seemed like the right thing to do.”

In May of this year after almost a year of preparation, the date was finally upon him. After the Wellington Latin Showcase, in which Ramsay was performing, Heaps had his partner brought back for a special performance, which she initially thought was a “thank you” from the studio for her work alongside them.

Richard Heaps proposed to his fiancée, Sarah Ramsay, in an elaborate dance performance after secretly learning salsa for three months. Photo / Marty Melville

It started with a friend singing opera, as a slideshow of memories of Ramsay’s dancing played on a screen. Alongside the crowd of supporters were members of Ramsay’s friends and family whom Heaps had secretly flown to Wellington and hidden among the crowd of 200, so they wouldn’t be seen by Ramsay while she performed in her showcase.

Ramsay told the Herald she first got an inkling this was not a regular performance when photos of her and Heaps began to flash on the screen.

“That was the moment I realised and it was heart-dropping, but in a lovely way,” she said. “Richard and I had talked about getting married but it wasn’t really something he was interested in, so I never expected it.”

After the slideshow, different members of Salsa Magic began to dance for Ramsay and, at the end, with everyone donning cat masks (as she loves cats) out came Heaps, dancing with the best of them.

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“That was just incredible,” Ramsay said. “My whole face just dropped and I was looking at his feet going, ‘There’s a Suzy Q, there’s a flair’ - he really knows what he’s doing.”

Heaps told the Herald the process of learning salsa wasn’t entirely smooth sailing and there were a few close calls, as getting his dancing skills up to scratch meant a lot of rehearsals that had to be kept quiet.

“There were a few near-misses, like there was one time where I was at a dance class and a woman was wearing quite a lot of perfume and it obviously rubbed off on me so I came home and she was like, ‘Why do you smell like lady perfume?’”

Richard Heaps proposes to fiancée Sarah Ramsay. Photo / Richard Heaps

Luckily for Heaps, he is an avid gym goer and practises martial arts so he quickly thought on his feet and said he had been sparring with a woman wearing the perfume.

“So, yeah, lies are a really great way to build a relationship,” he joked.

One of the other ways he hid his secret dancing lessons was to tell Ramsay he had been going to the gym, even going as far as wetting himself with the garden hose outside their house on his way back in to appear sweaty so she wouldn’t suspect him.

Despite only learning salsa for three months, Heaps told the Herald it’s something he intends to keep up. He and Ramsay are busy choreographing their wedding dance for when they tie the knot next month.

“Hopefully it’ll be easier than the first one.”

Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.