Dancers provide much to inspire

Hundreds of dancers, dance students, educators, dance companies and professionals have converged on Hamilton for four days of workshops, seminars and performances.

Among the groups taking part in Te Whakakitenga, the 2013 Tertiary Dance Festival of Aotearoa, were the Okareka Dance Company, whose new work K’Rd Strip was staged at Playhouse Theatre on Tuesday night.

The Touch Compass dance company and Waikato hip-hop crew The UKnights also performed and led demonstrations and seminars for aspiring dancers mostly at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts on the Waikato University campus. Triple jump: Otago University student Nicole Wilkie prepares for an evening performance in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. The Otago company’s display was one of many during Te Whakakitenga, the 2013 Tertiary Dance Festival of Aotearoa. Photo: Chris Hillock/Fairfax NZ

Organised by the Waikato Contemporary Dance Projects Trust, the event was opened to secondary school students and the public for the first time this year.

It featured an evening programme of workshops and performances called Envision, which included sessions with Hamilton contemporary and hip-hop dancer Zildjian Robinson, a member of the Touch Compass group.

Senior dance lecturer and festival director Karen Barbour said the festival was a chance for young dancers to experience everything from hiphop to kapa haka, capoeira, salsa and hula.

‘‘Years ago as a dance student myself, one of the highlights of my tertiary study was attending the very first of these festivals,’’ she said.

‘‘The dancers I met from around Aotearoa and the teachers whose new ideas influenced my dancing during that festival are still important today.

‘‘It is in dancing that we come to know new things about ourselves and others, and through dancing, our understanding grows.’’