Dance NZ Made Regional Success for HGHS Dancers
Over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of September, 54 dancers took part in the Dance NZ Made Waikato Regional dance competition at Cambridge High School. Thirty seven of those dancers came home with prizes.
On Saturday night, six soloists and three duets competed. This competition involved choreographing a two minute piece in the style and music of the dancer’s choice. In the duo Year 11 - 13 category, Mayah Sarsfield and Sarah King came second runner up.
In the solo competition, Rosie Muhlman was awarded the top Year 10, with Lily Burgess Munro taking out first runner up. Oliviarose Kaua won the top Year 11 solo. Lily and Rosie will compete in the Dance NZ Made Nationals in September to win a place on a ‘She Shines On LA Dance Tour’.
During a full day of rehearsals and workshops on Sunday the dancers were competing for a handful of Golden Tickets acknowledging the most ‘fiercely awesome dancers’. These awards recognised dance technique as well as the dancers’ ability to ‘give it their all’ across all styles of dance.
Lily Burgess Munro, Sarah King, Oliviarose Kaua, Tara Prince and Rosie Muhlmann were selected (along with others) to represent Waikato in the Golden Ticket competition in November. There they will complete five dance workshops of different genres and then compete that evening to win $1000 towards their future dance training.
Five HGHS dance groups competed in the team competition. The Junior Dance Club and Development Hip Hop Crew competed in the Year 9 - 10 teams competition, with the development Hip Hop Crew placing second runner up.
The Senior Dance Club competed in the Year 11 - 13 category, and the Auditioned Contemporary Dance Group and Hip Hop Crew (Rivalry) competed in the Open Division. Rivalry was named Open Division Champions with the Auditioned Contemporary Group placing runner up. Rivalry then went on to win the Overall Regional Teams Title.
The theme of Rivalry’s dance was Toy Story. “We chose Toy Story to connect with the audience - everyone knows and loves Toy Story. We wanted to show different personalities within the dance and we had a lot of fun with that - really girly dolls and staunch soldiers, for example. Having that diversity made us stand out, I think,” explains Mayah Sarsfield, dancer and co-choreographer for Rivalry.
Mayah and Sarah King took home the Excellence in Choreography award for their work with Rivalry and Rivalry will compete at the Dance NZ Made National competition in September.
The HGHS Dancers would like to thank Margot Rawlings (Art Coordinator) and the Wardrobe Crew for all their help with costumes, Mrs Fanning for her work with the Junior Dance Club, Miss Shannon for overseeing SDC, Contemporary, Development Hip Hop and Hip Hop and all of the student leaders: Mayah, Sarah, Lily, Liana, Rhiana, Aisha, Sophie, Libby, Teagan, Annie, Jorja and Oliviarose. None of this would have been possible without you all.