April O’Brien, a Palencia resident, local business owner and amateur ballroom dancer, recently earned top placements and scholarship at the First Coast Classic Dancesport Championships, an NDCA-sanctioned ballroom dance competition held in St. Augustine. The event is part of the NDCA Premier system, which publishes official results for sanctioned competitions and awards ranking points to dancers based on participation and placement. For April, the achievement was more than a competition result. It was a full-circle moment. One year earlier, she had walked into the First Coast Classic as a spectator, watching her first professional ballroom dance show from the audience. She had only recently begun dancing, and the competitive ballroom world was still new to her. But as she watched the professionals move across the floor inside the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, something clicked. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to do this so bad,’” April said. “This looks so cool.” Twelve months later, she was no longer watching from the sidelines. She was competing on that same floor, wearing five Latin dresses from her own dancewear boutique, Aura & Grace, and bringing home a championship trophy and scholarship.
For April, the win was more than a trophy. It was a full-circle moment.
April began dancing in February 2025, after years of focusing on raising her family, working, and building her design business. With her sons older and heading to college, she decided it was time to do something purely for herself. “I’ve always wanted to do it. I just never had the opportunity or chance, because I was always raising my family and working and building my business,” she said. “I made a decision in 2025
that I was going to just do something for myself.” What started as a personal outlet quickly became a passion. April took part in her first small nightclub competition in May and, by July, had entered her first larger ballroom competition, competing in American Rhythm and nightclub categories. Since then, she has danced in multiple showcases and competitions, training with her instructor and dance partner, Marat, as well as the Style Dance Team.
Her schedule is not casual. April often dances three to five days a week, balancing ladies’ formation practices, one-on-one lessons, group performances and competition preparation. During heavier training seasons, she may spend five to seven hours a week
in the studio.
The transformation has been physical, emotional and deeply personal. April said dancing helped her lose 50 pounds and gave her a renewed sense of joy and confidence. She describes ballroom as athletic, structured and demanding, but also so much fun that the exhaustion hardly feels like work. “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me other than Jesus,” she said.
Her love of dance also inspired a new business venture. April is preparing to open Aura & Grace, a competition ballroom and dancewear boutique on Market Street. At First Coast Classic, she was able to showcase several of her own Latin dresses, creating what she called a “soft opening” for the shop while competing in them herself.
The scholarship April earned was awarded through a competition division where dancers compete against others in the same age range and skill level. In addition to prize money, she received a championship trophy – a meaningful achievement for someone who, only a year earlier, had simply hoped to one day dance at the event.
For April, her story is not just about ballroom dancing. It is about choosing joy, trying something new in midlife, and proving that a dream does not have to stay in the audience.
