Dancers hit the stage again in school holidays
Return to in-person classes for start of competition season
While Easter and school holidays may mean family trips and vacation time for most, for a group of local dancing girls, it instead marks the start of the competition season.
Paityn Angove, Harriet and Matilda Jackson, Charlotte and Amelia Fouhy, Nina Algie, Charlotte James, Michayla Coogan, Monique McDonald and Keira Fergus are all part of a special group of Pahiatua girls who pursue their passion for dance at a competitive level.
Paityn Angove and Harriet Jackson, now 11 years old, began dance competitions at age 6 and their love for dance has only grown with them.
Both girls have enjoyed success on the stage, earning many first places and winning regional championships. Paityn and Harriet have also successfully auditioned to perform with the Royal New Zealand Ballet; both girls performed with our national ballet company in Sleeping Beauty in 2020, and Harriet also graced the stage in the RNZB’s Hansel & Gretel in 2019.
“It is such a joy to see our younger girls start to follow in their footsteps and develop their own performance qualities,” said Rose Brownlie, director and dance teacher of The Rose Academy.
“To achieve such success the girls train hard, taking classes in Ballet, Jazz, Acro (acrobatic dance), Contemporary, and Stretch and Conditioning. These girls all attend classes at our local dance school, The Rose Academy. “Covid has made the last two years a challenging time for dancing; students adapting to online Zoom classes, missing performance opportunities with competitions and public events cancelled, and juggling rehearsals around exams after postponed productions.
“Yet these girls have shown great resilience, dedication, and patience. With the country now in orange settings, there is hope they will spend more time on stage this year,” she said.