Pair can't wait to hit the stage for Hospice
Tickets for August event now on sale
Injury and winter bugs have not stopped Nanu Turner-sarah and Kyle Fergusson-hughes from carrying on their dancing journey and finding muscles they did not know existed.
They are one of the dance couples in this year’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice being held on August 20 at the Energy Events Centre.
Ten dance couples with little-to-no dance experience are practising hard several times a week to be stageready and raise money for the local hospice.
The goal of the evening is to raise $120,000 to enable the hospice to care for and support more than 420 patients with terminal illnesses each year.
Turner-sarah is the housing support team leader at Wera Aotearoa Charitable Trust, and said she had attended Harcourts Dancing for Hospice a few times as a spectator and helping out backstage.
“I always thought as a performer that this is something I would love to be involved in because it is a great kaupapa for wha¯ nau, and so I thought why not try either host, perform, or be part of it, and here I am.”
She said practices had definitely been a learning experience.
“People think, ‘Oh, you’re a performer so you should be good’, but this is a completely different discipline.
“It’s a different form, there’s so much technique involved, and the need to rehearse and get everything right is paramount. But I’m enjoying the journey, it’s been fantastic.”
She said the main thing was they were there to support hospice and to celebrate all the mahi it had done for wha¯nau and friends, and all the mahi it would continue to do.
A highlight had been learning the style of dance they were doing, because it was completely unfamiliar to her, she said.
“I’ve been moving in ways I never thought possible and finding muscles never thought existed until now.” She cannot wait for show night. “I love the stage and this will be a nice way to do something different that people aren’t used to seeing me do. Normally I’m up there singing or dancing as in side-by-side or a twostep.”
Fergusson-hughes, the service coordination team lead at Wera Aotearoa Charitable Trust, said he had known quite a few people who had
I’ve been moving in
ways I never thought possible and finding muscles
I never thought existed until now.
Nanu Turner-sarah
used the services of hospice, including wha¯nau friends.
“I thought how about we pay it forward and do something to help out an organisation that I just don’t understand how we could possibly not have.”
He said he was happy to support such a group of people that did
amazing work to support others at a challenging time.
Fergusson-hughes is keen to have a fabulous time and a laugh.
“You think at the beginning you’ve got 15 weeks of rehearsals, and you think, ‘Okay we are going to practise three times a week, oh easy’.”
But six weeks out they were dancing to their music for the first time “so it’s taken a long time and you underestimate the technique . . . you do all these things that challenge the logical thinking that we have sometimes for dancing”.
And talk about sore muscles. He said at one point the day after practice they were hobbling around the office.
A benefit of being colleagues and dance partners was that they could meet up during the work day and bust out a 20-minute session, he said.
“I’ve had an injury through dancing so that took us out for a couple weeks at the early stages. It was hard to sit back and watch everybody else move on with the dance but I think we are where we should be.”
They said the dance instructors Ellie, Troy and Glen, had been keeping them on task and helping them to catch up when injury or those nasty bugs floating around had taken them out a few times.
“But we are still here, not giving up, and [we are] going to be there.”
They said Ellie’s and Troy’s ability to go from one dance to the next blew their minds.
“They are so graceful. Hats off to them.”
Tickets are on sale now.
People can get all their updates on the Harcourts Dancing for Hospice Facebook page.