Help me Compete in Nelson!

When I was three years old, my Mom enroled me into a ballet class. But instead of doing plies at the bar with the other students, I would go off into the corner and start break dancing. The next day my teacher sternly suggested to my Mother that I find a different genre of dance.

Since then, I had attended random weekly hip-hop classes at different dance studios on and off, but never had the confidence to develop my skills to create a professional dance future.

At the end of 2017, I finally built up the courage to audition for an extension class at Urban Dance. I walked out of the studio that night thinking that I had failed my audition because I am so critical of myself. But then I was greeted the next morning with a placement in the class, I was bursting with excitement and nervousness.

From then, I was doing over 20 hours a week of dance in preparation for our production. I learned how to pick up choreography very fast, how to move my body, and different techniques. This was a massive learning and growing opportunity for me. However, my confidence was still awfully low.

After our production, Urban held crew auditions for 2018. I had made up my mind that I wasn't skilled enough for a crew and that I was not going to go, but about an hour before auditions, I thought, "Oh well, why not?"

Once again, I went home gutted that I had failed my audition. But the next morning I was surprised to find a congratulatory letter and a crew enrolment pack. I was then launched into the whiz of crew life with long, hard training.

Since being accepted into a crew, my confidence has rocketed and is spread not only through my dance life, but also my personal life. I have developed so much as not only a hip-hop dancer but other styles as well, as my ability to pick up choreography and move my body in different ways has improved immensely.

I was asked to choreograph the pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, though 16th Ave Theatre, as well as a whole class ensemble number, and a group dance through my school. All of these things which I could never have done without being in the development of a crew!

I competed at Regionals with my crew Avidity, where we placed 8th (missing out on 7th by 0.02 points!) Unfortunately we were one placement away from qualifying for Nationals.

Hip Hop International then announced their wildcard out of all of New Zealand - and it was us! However, we chose not to compete at Nationals because of the short notice and enormous cost.

Avidity then competed at Project in Tauranga, and performed in Company (the extension class) as the opener. Urban also did a road trip down to Wellington to compete at Hip Hop Unite. Avidity placed 3rd in the Future Champions division, and now we are preparing for another competition in Hamilton, and a few others dotted around Nz!

The opportunity has come up for me to participate in a mega crew that will fly down and compete in Nelson. I have never been in a mega crew before so this would be an amazing learning and development experience for me!

I already sell chocolates at school and fundraise as much as possible, but it isn't enough to cover the fees of three classes, studio hire, term fees, production fees, flights, accommodation, and much more.

That's where I need your help! If you feel like being generous, $1 can go a long way and add up very quickly! But $20 or $50 or $100 can add up even more! But in all seriousness, this is something I really value and it is very expensive, and that's where I need your help!

Thank you so much for supporting me!!