The event of the year for national dancers wrapped up on Monday.
The Highland and National Dance Competition was hosted in Ashburton over the weekend for the fourth time in recorded history.
Competitors performed their final routines at the Ashburton Event Centre before packing up and heading home.
Leighton Terry, an Ashburton dancing piper and teacher, said the community has always rallied behind national dancing.
“A lot of people are dancing parents who wear multiple hats; they’re running the kitchen, they’re doing backstage points, they’re doing piping, teaching.”
Terry said Ashburton has hosted amazing teachers and produced champion dancers, which makes it a hotspot for those wanting to learn the styles.
More than 250 performers, from four to 29 years old, competed over the four-day event.
The competition included three styles of dance; Scottish Highland, Irish National and British National. Every dancer had to learn and perform a routine in all three styles.
Until they hit the stage, dancers did not know who they’d perform with. While everyone learns the same steps, one person out of formation can render a year’s worth of practice worthless.
Juniors competed on Friday and Saturday, before the official opening and senior performances.
Ashburton dancer Britney Moore performed 10 routines over the competition.
“The sailor’s dance, the one I just did, is the most physical of them all. Pretty high intensity, pretty full on!”
“The sailor’s hornpipe is one of the most brutal dances because it’s eight steps,” added Auckland dancer Imogen Grayson.
Despite living islands apart, Moore and Grayson keep in touch between annual competitions.
“I’ve been friends with a lot of these girls for so many years,” Grayson said. “With some of them, we’ve been dancing together for like 10 years.”
Moore placed first in the 18 and over Irish reel category, with Grayson coming in second.
Moore is also off to Scotland to compete at the Braemar Gathering later this year.
“The royals go and watch, and you have to be accepted into it,” she said.
“I’m gonna show up to a comp and not know anyone, it’s gonna be so strange!”
By Anisha Satya
