Inside the Australian Institute of Sport arena, the smell of hairspray was as pungent as the competitive, yet sparkly, spray-tanned spirit of the 370 couples who had travelled from around the country, New Zealand and China to compete.

While the dancer's moves and glittery, colourful costumes had the large crowd in raptures, the facial expressions seen on the floor were equally captivating and as varied as dance styles themselves.

The ''Wow! I love this song and haven't blinked in two days!'' wide-eyed, toothy smile of the level-four jive to the ''My neck is really going to hurt tomorrow'' grimace of the ballroom novices - the competition had more facial contortions than a Will Ferrell movie and more razzle dazzle than the Oscars.

For the uninitiated, the annual DanceSport event can be best summarised as a combination of the Olympics and Strictly Ballroom.

''It's somewhere in between that yeah,'' former professional dancer-turned-coach-turned celebrity shuffler Michael Miziner said from the sidelines, where about 30 judges watch the competitors every move and facial twitch.

Miziner and his wife, former Miss Australia and Dancing With The Stars partner Rachael Finch, who were spotted out and about in Canberra over the weekend, were in town cheering on six couples who are under Miziner's tutelage at his Sydney dance studio, Dance Planet.

''To get to this really competitive level, you need to be working on your technique and routines for two to three years. Most of these couples would be training five to six days a week for around four hours a day,'' he said. ''Chemistry is everything when it comes to dancing. Like routines, you need to build on your friendship with your partner. You can really tell the couples who have a great relationship off the floor.''

Miziner would know. After retiring from professional Latin American dancing four years ago, he met and fell in love with Finch on the set of Dancing With The Stars. He said Finch, who is due to give birth to their first child later this year, is continuing her dancing training during her pregnancy.

''Dancing With The Stars is so different. Because there, only one person is professional and you only have six weeks to train, so it's very intense, here, here this is a very serious and professional sport.''

Ten couples were selected from the two-day event and they will now perfect their moves before the World Championships later this year.