Taupo¯’s artists star
Taupo¯ artists owned the stage at Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park 2018 — at least for a while.
Acoustic singer and soloist David Wall and Dance Central Taupo¯ were teamed up to perform two acts together, and altogether Dance Central Taupo¯ performed six acts.
Dance Central Taupo¯ principal Carissa Yeoman said it was amazing for the young dancers aged 13 to 18 years to be on stage at one of New Zealand’s biggest outdoor concerts.
“The atmosphere was surreal, and it was a real buzz to find out we were going to be performing for David.”
David works full time at Tenon Manufacturing and his partner and manager Carol Murch says he is a weekend wedding singer, so this was something different. “He was so stoked to have Taupo¯ dancers. He got to sing a duet with Lavina Williams. He was starstruck! He jammed out the back, he met Stan [Walker].”
Dance Central was invited to attend after sending an audition video. They also performed last year’s event. David had no idea Carol had sent an audition but was delighted to be invited to attend a live audition.
David sings at weddings every weekend and is booked out to 2020. He is also in Rotorua reggae band Tyneegiant who are putting together a debut album.
Carissa says a 40-strong group of family members and supporters were given VIP tickets to the concert, with the dancers performing six times, with an additional televised dance added the day before the concert.
“Luckily we had just had our end of year production so we used one of those dances, and had a day to learn it to new music.” says Carissa. She says it was incredible to have the chance to perform with professional musicians at such a huge gig.
■ The performancecan be viewed at www.threenow.co.nz/shows/ coca-cola-christmas-in-thepark-2018