Media Release: Inaugural ‘Dancing Like The Stars’ event to take place in four Dunedin schools.
on 09 May 2011
A new primary school dance and performance programme called Dancing like The Stars will be trialed in Dunedin starting Monday 9 May 2011.
Over the next nine weeks four Dunedin primary schools, Bradford, Brockville, Caversham and College Street will be participating involving over 100 students. Each class of approximately 30 students will learn one dance style taught by a local dance professional. Dance teachers include Lisa Wilkinson of RASA School of Dance, John Stanway of Ceroc Dunedin, Vivienne Brooks of Vivienne Lees Dancesport Academy, and Ana Martino who is teaching salsa. At the end of the programme the four schools will come together for a performance showcase to an audience of family and friends.
The Dancing Like The Stars programme was first piloted in Christchurch by the Dance and Physical Theatre Trust. Since it began in 2007 the Dancing Like The Stars programme has been extended to 19 schools in Christchurch, and now four schools in Dunedin. The programme in Dunedin is coordinated by the South Island Dance Network Coordinator, Hahna Briggs, in partnership with the Dance and Physical Theatre Trust and the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust.
Briggs says one of the primary aims of the programme is to promote an active lifestyle through the provision of dance to children who would not normally be able to participate in dance as a recreational medium. The programme has been focussed on low decile schools.
Caversham School has been particularly enthusiastic and will be running their own dance programme for the entire school that will run alongside Dancing like the Stars. Principal of Caversham School, Mike Darracott says the programme is a fantastic opportunity to teach all children at their school that dance is a great way to practice an active lifestyle.
“We thought it was such a great initiative we decided to take dance to the whole school, said Darracott “While the senior school are participating in the Dancing Like the Stars programme the rest of the school is going to undertake their own dance programme with a school performance at the end.”
Dancing like the Stars Dunedin is supported by the Dunedin City Council, Creative New Zealand Creative Communities Scheme, Otago Community Trust, the Southern District Health Board’s Healthy Eating Healthy Action and the University of Otago.
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Hahna Briggs
Dunedin Coordinator
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / Phone: 474 9514
