The Howick and Pakuranga Dance Festival is being held once again this year at Somerville Intermediate from August 5-8 at 6.30pm.
The first two days of the festival is organised by Cockle Bay School where 14 schools will participate; and the logistics of the next two days will be run by Our Lady Star of the Sea, where other 14 schools will participate.
Howick and Pakuranga Dance Festival is inclusive of all dance abilities and is a chance to showcase the love of dance.
Cockle Bay School will be dancing to the tune of Pink Panther. Interestingly, all dances are a throwback from past TV shows, which should be an enjoyable experience for the audience.
After 22 years of organising the Howick and Pakuranga Dance Festival, Kirsten Bell, dance and drama specialist at Cockle Bay School says that this year she will be passing on the baton to someone else.
“It is a huge event, and now it’s time for a fresh face and new ideas, there are only so many ideas one can come up with,” she says.
The fresh faces come in the form of five teachers teaming up from Cockle Bay School who have been shadowing Kirsten this year.
The highpoint she says is seeing the show come together each year.
“Best memory is a hip hop dance we did in my second year of organising it. I will never forget carting back to New Zealand 20 LA Lakers caps and t-shirts I got from a side stall in Washington. It was the first year I spoke on stage introducing the show and I soon learnt to give kids that job! We now pre record their voices on the show.
“I have loved pulling together this community show. It has been exciting seeing the technology change from fast forwarding tapes into place, to CDs and now simply a press of the button in a slideshow presentation! Who knows 22 years from now what will it be.”
