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Outlook: Love on the dance floor: The refugees reunited in ballroom

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Millie and Paul Cao in their ballroom outfits, dancing together

18/01/2022 GMT

Love on the dance floor: The refugees reunited in ballroom

BBC World Service - Outlook, Love on the dance floor: The refugees reunited in ballroom

Paul & Millie Cao first danced together in 1970s Vietnam, now they're competing in the US

Paul and Millie Cao first danced together in Vietnam in the 1970s when dancing to western music was frowned upon. They're now blazing a trail on the dance floors of California.

When they first met in communist Vietnam in the 1970s, Paul and Millie Cao loved dancing together even though dancing to western music was frowned upon. Although they quickly fell in love, Paul had to flee Vietnam just six months after meeting Millie. He went first to Taiwan and then to the United States where finally, after six years, he and Millie were reunited. Jo Fidgen talks to them about their love story and how - now in their sixties - they're back on the dance floor, blazing a trail in competitions all over California. Their story is featured in a documentary called Walk Run Cha-Cha which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2020.

Imani Wilmot was born into a surfing family - her father is known as the "godfather" of Jamaican surfing and her brothers are also avid boarders, so she took to it like a duck to water. She was good too, winning competitions and representing her country with pride. But she soon realised that she was the only top black female surfer at those competitions, and that if she wanted a community around her, she'd have to create it herself. So Imani set up a surf school for girls and women when she was 17, sharing her confidence and discovering the healing power of the waves. This interview was first broadcast in August 2020. 

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Jo Fidgen 

(Photo:  Millie and Paul Cao dancing together. Credit: Paul Cao)

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