Luck runs out as dancer's charms stolen

Harry Bartlett had his specialist dance shoes and other sentimental items stolen from the family car. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A young dancing champ has been robbed of his shoes and lucky charms.

Harry Bartlett, 12, is a three-time national Irish dance champion, and on Saturday a bag containing two pairs of shoes and precious keepsakes were stolen from the family car while it was parked on Tawari St in Mt Eden.

St Patrick's Day is on March 17, and Harry has some big performances coming up and is desperate to get the gear back.

After a busy morning with club cricket and a dance lesson, Harry and his father, Nigel, went to watch cricket at Eden Park. Returning to the car, they found a window smashed and an iPod, GPS system and the bag gone.

Harry's mother, Michele, said it was a small grey backpack with a diagonal zip and a dance hip-hop logo on the front. It was personalised with a signature from world champion Irish dancer and musician Dean Crouch and a little black teddy bear tied to the zip.

Inside the bag were specialist dance shoes worth about $600, a pewter dance shoe keyring that Harry designed and made in technology class and a photograph from his first dance competition.

"If the shoes are gone, fine, but we're just hoping for Harry that if his bag is in a gutter in Mt Eden somewhere, someone might have seen it lying around," said Mrs Bartlett.

Harry could not believe the car had been broken into and the first thing he thought about was his dancing bag.

"It wasn't really the shoes that bothered me, the bag I had forever and had some good memories," said Harry.

Harry was born with a moderate heart condition and took up dance as he could not take part in contact sports.

He said it would be "awesome" to get the bag back.

"Dance is my passion - I have asthma, it's helped with that, and it's good for the heart."