Zoe Edwards, Awhina Southey, Izzy Wisley, Amelia Butcher and Betsy Laybourn are stepping out in Adelaide in July. PHOTO/CATHERINE ROSSITER-STEAD
Move over ‘Dancing with the Stars’, because Kuranui College is taking dance to the world.
Dance teacher Karin Melchior and a group of senior dance pupils will be attending a worldwide dance conference in Adelaide during the July school holidays.
daCi (dance and the Child International) along with World Dance Alliance are hosting the Panpapanpalya Conference, a gathering of dancers, artists and educators who hope to generate new ideas and thoughts through dance.
Interwoven themes that will be explored are dance, gathering, generations and learning.
There will be workshops, presentations, social interactions and debates along with performances and creative meeting points.
Year 12 pupil Amelia Butcher is excited to be going.
“It’s a chance for us to learn about different types of dance, not just ballet and contemporary dance,” she said.
She’s also looking forward to attending workshops where she hopes to meet like-minded people and share in their experiences and knowledge.
The conference will also focus on indigenous cultural dances from around the world.
Ms Melchior believes these conferences are very important as dance is seen as a way for people to express themselves and give a voice to their lives.
“It gives our students an opportunity to connect with other dancers from around the world and to learn from experienced tutors and educators,” she said.
Getting to Adelaide is not cheap and the senior dance group of Amelia Butcher, Betsy Laybourn, Zoe Edwards, Awhina Southey and Izzy Wisler have been hard at work fundraising for their trip.
Along with selling raffle tickets for firewood, they are selling chocolate, and holding bake sales at Kuranui College, which has been fully supported by the other pupils.
To complete their efforts, they are combining with dance group In Motion, to present a dance spectacular.
This one-off performance on Tuesday, July 3, at Kuranui College promises to be highly entertaining and is a good chance to help celebrate and support them in their dance adventures.