Dancing with the Stars dance teacher Shelley Martin. Photo/Stephen Parker
At 7, her hair in ringlets, Shelley Martin danced with her grandmother at Old Time dances.
At 14, she signed on with Rotorua's dancing queen, the late Irene Oliver.
Joining forces with fellow student, d'Artagnan Kennedy, she moved to classes in Cambridge, then Auckland.
Subsequently she and Troy Smith partnered up - winning national titles and representing their country internationally. Along the way Shelly turned pro.
Next Saturday night when 10 couples compete for the top spot in the Harcourts Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) fundraiser for Hospice, they'll be there because Shelley and Troy have taught them the intricacies of dance, helped pick their music and choreographed their routines.
D'Artagnan will be one of those sitting in judgement on these novices' performance skills.
That, pared to the minimum, is the Shelley Martin story.
But there's no way we're letting her off so lightly.
Rotorua's glamour event of the year simply wouldn't exist without the dedication of Shelley, Troy (he crosses the Mamakus from Matamata at least twice a week) and tutor Glen Law. Together they've turned this group of "three left footers", as most described themselves on night one, into the streamlined show-stoppers they've become.
We do not exaggerate; Our People's had the privilege of snatching insights into their development as dancers over the past 18 weeks.
Conscious of the blood, sweat and, very possibly, tears this 'pic 'n mix' of local personalities have put in we've coerced Shelley into providing a personalised insight into what goes on behind the glitz and glamour that hooks the public in with shows of DWTS' ilk.
Like our local rank amateurs the dancing careers of those who've guided them had to have a starting point.
Shelley's was at those Old Time dances during school holidays in Hamilton with her grandparents.
"They were really into dancing it was such a treat for me, I always loved it."
But it was when a friend invited her to watch her having a lesson with Irene Oliver that Shelley became a dance floor fanatic.
"Irene came over and said 'no one watches here, get up and dance'. I was scared, the only person for me to dance with was a 5-year-old boy who held my fingers."
Regardless, she went home entranced.
"My mother said 'obviously you're fairly serious, let's invest in your future'. I started classes with Irene, wasn't very good, d'Artagnan and I partnered up, I hated him at first but being at Irene Oliver's was the start of our very, very strong friendship."
It was cemented during twice-weekly trips to Cambridge for more advanced classes.
"Then we saw this demo at the nationals by Peter and Erica Nicholas from Auckland, they'd been overseas champs, my dream was to learn from them, it was going to cost a horrendous amount to travel to Auckland every weekend but my mother said 'let's do it'. I was lucky to have such dedicated, financially supportive parents. We had our first lesson and it was phenomenal.
"There were lessons on Friday nights and Saturdays, competitions every second or third weekend, we went into competitions straight away. I still can't watch the video of my first, it was appalling, atrocious."
They danced ballroom, Latin American, New Vogue, Old Time. "With the routines no one of our age did we improved out of sight, were being placed, my passion really kicked in."
Then d'Artagnan dropped a bombshell, work was taking him south. On the dance vine Shelley heard Troy needed a partner.
"I didn't know what hard work was until I danced with Troy, it was like 'ho-leeee', he was so committed and disciplined, he'd started when he was 6."
They won their first national title in 1998 at the New Zealand Amateur Ballroom champs; Troy was 19, Shelley 23. "He was like my little brother."
Costs were mounting, the 'bank of mum and dad' dug deep.
"The dress I won the title in cost $2500, it was covered in feathers with loads and loads of diamantes."
To defend their title the couple upped the practice ante, alternating twice-weekly practice between Rotorua and Matamata. "There was no social life, no money, I spent it all on dance and practice, it was cold, miserable, I was often hungry but too tired to eat, however my passion for dancing was really strong."
Two months out from a second tilt at the national title disaster struck. A workplace accident left one of Troy's hands hanging by a thread.
"That was really tragic but he insisted we worked twice as hard as anyone else, changed our routine but still managed to get second or third, danced in Australia."
The following year Troy announced he'd found a new partner. "It broke my heart into a zillion pieces but to be fair they looked a lot better together."
The couple literally swapped partners. " He was no Troy, I was in A and B categories, he was in D and E."
Regardless, he and Shelley were chosen to dance in Hong Kong, along with Troy and the partner who, by then had replaced Shelley's replacement. "The first didn't last five months."
The latest Troy pairing won the competition, Shelley and her partner placed fourth. Once home she took personal stock.
"It was 2000, I'd been dancing 16 years and decided I wanted a life; my sister, who's younger than me was married, had a house, a baby. I wanted to go out while I still felt good about it [dancing]."
Various jobs followed, her first marriage produced "two beautiful girls" now 14 and 12. Her 6-year-old daughter's a by-product of her second marriage which brought her a blended family of two ready-made sons. "We don't have steps in our family."
She opened her own studio creatively called Shell We Dance. That apart, the past 11 years of Shelley's working life's been a million miles from the theatre of dance, she's a qualified mental health family support person.
"I didn't go back to competitive dancing but I'd watch it on TV and cry inconsolably, I really missed it but not the lifestyle."
SHELLEY MARTIN (nee Tombs) Born: Rotorua, 1975. Education: Selwyn, Sunset Primaries, Kaitao Intermediate, Girls' High. Family: Husband Chris Martin, three daughters, two blended sons. Interests: Family, friends "both are really, really important to me." Fishing "My ideal date's fishing - just him, me and the sea." Dancing. On dancing: "It's my escape where I can be who I am, taken away by the music." On DWTS 2017: "There's a lot more complicated choreography, more technical stuff, more story telling and theatre than last year." Personal philosophy: "Sleep in, eat the cake, buy the boots."