SERENA DUNNE and Philip Redmond have been in Blackpool this week. No time for eating candy floss and riding rollercoasters, though, these two teenagers have bigger things on their mind.

The reigning All-Ireland Dance Sport champions have come to watch their British counterparts do battle in the British Ballroom Championships at the Winter Gardens. Notes are being taken, technique observed and a lot of practice squeezed in.

They hate being wallflowers. They'd like to be out there on the dance floor, where they know they would do well, but, at 14, Dunne is too young to compete in senior competition in Britain.

Never mind, they are consoled by thoughts of next weekend when they will defend their amateur title at this year's All-Ireland championships in Mosney.

Dancing is their life, and it's a tough life. Seventeen-year-old Redmond and his young partner train four nights a week. She'll make her way from Crumlin after school to the Granby Dance Works in the centre of Dublin, where the couple train with Flora Millar. He'll belt over from Mulhuddart with his homework books under his arm.

There follows three hours of hard physical training and technical work. In between, they'll tackle their maths or their Irish, grab a bit of food and talk about their routine.

It's an expensive business, competing at this level, they say. Both have their outfits provided by sponsors, but Redmond must work all weekend in McDonald's on O'Connell street to pay for his lessons. There are no Sports Council grants - winging this couple's way yet.

Besides the expense, the lack of recognition and the hard physical grind, ballroom dancers also find themselves confronted by prejudice. It's especially hard for the men.

The boys at Redmond's school stopped laughing at him, however, when a bleep test indicated that he was fitter than all the Gaelic footballers, rugby players and soccer fanatics. In fact were it not for two, dedicated long-distance runners he would have come out on top.

"You do hear criticism from other men, but when they come and see what it is all about, they see it's not just some little `fairy' dancing about. They see that it shows masculinity," says Redmond.

Dunne and Redmond are aiming for the top, their teacher thinks they will make it.

In 2008 the couple will be at the speak of their careers, with another II years of training under their belt. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that when the open-topped bus makes its way from Dublin airport bearing the Irish medal winners from the 2008 Olympic Games, it will be Dunne and Redmond whom the crowds turn out to cheer.