In the last weekend of October, Year 12 student, Imogen, and Year 8 student, Poppy, attended the PACANZ National Young Performer awards in Palmerston North.

Imogen (Arts Prefect 2025) competed in the solo section and troupes. After dancing two tap solos in a section of 55 dancers (a multi-speed and an own choice) and completing a judged masterclass, she was thrilled to make it into the top 12 for the semi-final. It was an amazing opportunity to be part of a section of tap dancers who were selected from all around New Zealand to compete at this national competition.

Previous to this, on the Friday, Imogen and Poppy competed in the troupe section with their dance ‘Anything Goes’, as part of the Denise Henderson Studio tap troupe. They were one of only a few tap troupes to feature and even though they narrowly missed out on making it into the top 19 for the finals, coming 21st out of 74, they were thrilled to receive the 'Sparkle and Shine' award. This was one of the six special awards given out in the troupe section.

Ka pai, Imogen and Poppy - we are so proud of you!