Chance to dance

Sarah and Rebekah’s love of the arts was always given full support. “At one stage we were driving to Blenheim four nights a week to dancing, music lessons and gymnastics,” says mum Catherine. Sarah was a representative gymnast before taking up jazz ballet. Rebekah started with Scottish Highland dancing, moving to hip- hop then Latin dance styles. While Sarah’s current “manufacturing mode” means she has little time to dance, Rebekah still heads down to a local studio to do salsa or zouk most nights after her nine- hour painting day. Brazilian zouk is a partner- led freestyle dance with its roots in the popular 80s dance, lambada. Before painting took over, Rebekah taught guitar to 40 students a week, and set up Street Dance Federation with her police recruit- aspirant sister Charlotte. The not-for- profit hip- hop school has provided backing dancers to New Zealand musicians. “We got to choreograph pieces for TrinityRoots, The Black Seeds and Tiki Taane for the Sweet Az Sun Festival in 2016. It was fantastic to be able to give our students such great opportunities.”