An elite dance company of New Zealand’s champion highland dancers, renowned for performing innovative choreography worldwide, will perform an exclusive show at the 8th Te Anau Tartan Festival this Easter.

The Highland Dance Company of New Zealand was to have been the headline act last year, but the festival was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.

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Te Anau Tartan Festival convenor Kirsty Pickett said organisers were thrilled the Dance Company had managed to reconfirm Te Anau on its calendar this year, especially when the team flies out to perform in Virginia, USA, the very next week.

“I can’t emphasise enough just what a unique opportunity this is. While we see them in competition around the country, these dancers usually only come together as a troupe for international performances. Shows around New Zealand are rare,” Pickett said.

“Although it’s grounded in our traditional technique, the choreography and costuming is contemporary and dynamic and will appeal to a wide range of people. I think people will be genuinely surprised at just how exciting and innovative highland dancing can be. What these dancers are doing for highland dancing is akin to what Riverdance did for Irish dancing.”

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Fourteen of New Zealand’s top highland dancers make up the company, including the reigning New Zealand Champion Imogen Grayson, Runner-up Angus Hendry, and the current Under-18 New Zealand Champion Milly Christie. The rest of the troupe includes many past and present top-10 ranked age group dancers. Hendry, who won the overall New Zealand champion title in both 2019 and 2022, is the only male dancer currently competing at elite level in New Zealand.

Unlike its ballet equivalent, none of the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand members are paid professionals. For example, Grayson lives in Auckland where she is studying Engineering Science at Auckland University, Hendry is a Tauranga-based lawyer, and Christie is from Ashburton and will be starting studies at Canterbury University this year.

The company will perform a revised version of its Heart of the Highlands show, which included Invercargill in its 2018 tour, specially adapted to suit the Te Anau town hall stage at the Real NZ Fiordland Events Centre.

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As part of their goal to inspire and encourage other young dancers, the company is giving those competing at the festival the exciting opportunity to apply to be part of the cast. Numbers are limited and priority will be given to Southland-based dancers.

The Dance Company’s attendance at this year’s Te Anau Tartan Festival has been made possible thanks to assistance from the Regional Events Fund, which was created to stimulate domestic tourism and travel to those areas worst hit by the closure of international borders during the pandemic.

Located approximately two hours’ drive from either Invercargill or Queenstown, Te Anau is a picturesque lakeside town in Southland, known as the gateway to the Fiordland National Park and the jewel in its crown, Milford Sound. The small community, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has been doing it tough over the past few years but, with borders now reopened, is looking forward to welcoming visitors back.

Full programme details will be unveiled over the next few weeks, but the Dance Company will perform two shows over the course of the Te Anau Tartan Festival, the first to open the festival on Friday, 7th April. Tickets are due to go on sale later this month on the festival website: www.teanautartanfestival.co.nz.

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Alongside highland dancing and solo bagpiping competitions, other events planned are the ever- popular highland games on Saturday, 8th April, along with food stalls and a market. And, for the first time, piping and highland dancing workshops will be offered on Sunday, 9th April, to encourage competitors and their families to stay in the region longer, and learn from some of the country’s leading tutors.

About the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand…

The New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing (Inc) was established in 1946 with the objective to raise the standard of technique and execution and establish a fuller appreciation of the art and beauty of the national dances. The Academy fosters and maintains the Highland and National dances brought to New Zealand by the Scottish Settlers.

In 2011 it established the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand, under the directorship of Julie Hawke MNZM (Christchurch) and Robyn Simmons QSM (Blenheim).

Unlike its better resourced ballet counterpart, the national highland dance company is entirely amateur, with all members either in fulltime work or study and keeping up their world-class dancing as a hobby, albeit requiring extensive practice, alongside strength and flexibility training. Senior dancers audition for places in the company and make themselves available for intensive rehearsal camps and, as opportunities arise, (usually overseas) travel. Much of their preparation is done at home, with the use of recorded video and video-conferencing.

About the show…

Heart of the Highlands will tell the stories and legends that are said to be the origins behind the traditional highland dances of Scotland. Audiences will see the dancers portray the stags and targe warriors of the Highland Fling, the battlefields of Culloden from which the story of the Seann Triubhas originates, plus an enchanting snow scene depicting the legend of the Reel O’Tulloch.

The Highland Dance Company of New Zealand brings together New Zealand’s top highland dance talent including past and present NZ champion dancers. Since its inception in 2011, the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand has performed with critical acclaim both within New Zealand and internationally. Joined on stage by Southland’s own young local dance talent for Heart of the Highlands, be sure to see this spectacular showcase of Celtic legends told in dance.

National Dance Company to Headline Te Anau Tartan Festival

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