Dance Like Your Daddy by Megan Trainor was the song that thirteen students from Wairakei Primary School danced to at the Interschool DanceNZMade competition held on Wednesday August 3, 2022, at the Great Lakes Centre in Taupō.
DanceNZMade organised this nationwide competition for all our local schools.
Iggy Gloy of Dance Central Taupō approached our school about entering a group of dancers into the local competiton. Iggy came to Wairakei Primary weekly, for 7 weeks, to rehearse with the girls and created a 3 minute jazz routine for them. Once the girls had memorised the moves, it was practice time. Iggy also organised the costumes for the girls to wear - leotards, top hats and ties.
Who is DanceNZMade? Dean McKerras and his team of kiwi dance specialists are the driving force behind this initiative because of his own passion and love of dance. DanceNZMade celebrates and embraces the strength, diversity and passion of dance in New Zealand. Competitions are held in different regions all over New Zealand for school students, Year 3 to 13, to enter.
On the day of the competition, the girls could participate in two workshops throughout the day. Each workshop focused on different dance styles. Each school entered in the competition had an opportunity to run through their dance on the big stage. A dress rehearsal to settle the nerves.
It was fun watching all the other schools perform. There were some good dancers. It was cool meeting different people from other schools. Amelia
It was a great experience doing the workshops and fun performing the dance Miss Iggy showed us. Scarlett
After a quick dinner break, it was time to get into the costumes and have hair and make-up done. Luckily, some mums were supporting the girls out the back to do this.
The team of girls were amazing during their performance. They smiled, remembered all the moves and gave it their best shot.
Throughout the day, the dance teachers looked closely at all the dancers in the workshops and when they performed with their schools. They were scoping out some students to offer a ‘Golden Ticket’. A Golden Ticket gives a student entry into a specialised dance competition in November 2002. The dance teachers were looking for students that had stage presence, were confident, were able to pick up moves quickly during the workshops and showed strong dance skills. Out of nine schools and many students, only five were picked. Isla and Freya were chosen from Wairakei Primary School. Freya was also the winner of the Year 5 Solo Championship section.
Finally, the results were in and Wairakei Primary School placed 4th. An incredible achievement for the first time entering this competition.
It was awesome to do this competition with my friends and I hope we get to do it again. Chloe
It was a good experience to be with other schools, compete against them and learn different dances. Baylee
It was fun doing the workshops with our group and learning other dances. Isla
It was an amazing experience that we’ve never done before and we were the first from our school. Isobel
Now the team of dancers are setting their sights on DanceNZMade Nationals later this year in Palmerston North.
Keywords: Dance, DanceNZMade, Wairakei
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