A busy year for dancers and teachers at Dance Wanaka was capped off with full houses at the dance school’s two annual recitals on Saturday (November 28).

Dance Wanaka director Anna Thomas said the year included classes being taught online for five weeks during the COVID-19 alert level four, “keeping dancers stimulated and motivated during lockdown”.

Highlights of the year include the Senior Modern exams going ahead as scheduled in July, where Dance Wanaka student Holly Gibson received the Asia Pacific Dance Association top tier award for her Solo Seal Jazz Addict exam. Anna said Holly received the second highest mark across Australasian schools.

Ballet exams were also able to take place in September, and another highlight for Dance Wanaka was having six dancers chosen to perform as child extras in the Royal NZ Ballet Sleeping Beauty show in Dunedin in mid November.

Young dancers in the Enchanted Forest.

Anna said there were full houses for the school’s two end-of-year shows on Saturday at the Lake Wanaka Centre, where more than 200 dancers, aged from three to 18-years-old, performed.

‘The Land Of Oz’ production was a modernised fairy tale of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. 

“It included lots of wonder and fictitious characters, but most of all was a celebration of the end of our dance year,” Anna said.

The Emerald Cabaret.

Anna said she was wowed watching the dancers bring the story to life, and the feedback had been incredible.

“While it’s been a challenge to stage in such a short time with limited stage rehearsals, it’s so worth it to see all the excited dancers experience a real theatre setting with full lighting and sound - and to pull together a story that includes so many little creatures and fun characters.”

The show started with 40 preschoolers dressed as farm animals, sunflowers and ducklings on stage in the Kansas farmyard.

The main soloist roles in the show were performed by Holly Gibson (Dorothy), Daisy Orbell (Scarecrow), Tamara Burrows (Tin Woodman), Aimee Harrold (Lion), Isabella Soper (Wizard), Zoe Frazer (Glinda the Good Witch), and Tayla Doran (Wicked Witch of the West).

Anna said Dance Wanaka has now expanded into Cromwell, where four classes in modern and ballet are offered each week.

PHOTOS: Jeannine Tuffin Photography