Waitara group to compete in Australia
Waitara junior hip-hop dance crew Oryan is off to Australia to compete against the world’s best dance crews.
The six-member, all-girl group, whose ages range from 8 to 11 will face some tough competition from international and Australian teams, as well as one other New Zealand team they’ve been beaten by previously.
There are eight other hip-hop based dance categories at the contest and Oryan is performing against 11 others in the kids’ division.
‘‘We’re going up against a team we came second to in the NZ Battlegrounds competition so it’ll be interesting to see if they’ve improved,’’ parent Tasha Lehmann said.
They have been training the house down in preparation for the event and are currently training and rehearsing five days a week to get ready for the competition which runs from October 5 - 8 in Sydney.
Lehmann was confident the group could win the competition, but whatever the result knows the girls will have given it their all.
Crew leader, Courtney Blakeney-Williams, 10, was excited to be heading to Australia but she was a touch nervous about the challenge that lay ahead.
‘‘We’ve never gone to the worlds before so to win it would be absolutely amazing,’’ she said.
However, regardless of the results there were no expectations. ’’Just getting to the competition is huge so we just need to be proud of what we achieve,’’ BlakeneyWilliams said.
Dancing has been an constant thing in her life and she can’t remember a time she didn’t dance.
‘‘I love it. I just hear the music and I just do it, I don’t care how big the crowd is, I really enjoy it.’’ she said.
The group has been fundraising with sausage sizzles and raffles for some time and has received donations from people in the community as well as help from a few sponsors.
The World Supremacy Battlegrounds is the biggest and most prestigious international street dance competition in the Southern Hemisphere and hosts the best of the best dancers.
‘‘We've never been to the worlds before so to win would be amazing.’’
Courtney Blakeney-Williams