Harcourts Dancing for Hospice celebrity judges for 2023 are Clint Roberts, left, Alex Vaz and Brittany Coleman and Kingsley Gainsford.
Harcourts Dancing for Hospice celebrity judges for 2023 are Clint Roberts, left, Alex Vaz and Brittany Coleman and Kingsley Gainsford.
If anyone can relate to how Rotorua’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice contestants might be feeling two weeks out from their public performance debut, it’s two members of their judging panel - Dancing with the Stars alumni Brittany Coleman and Alex Vaz.
Last year, the pair came in fourth in season nine of the New Zealand TV competition series, which pairs professional dancers with well-known Kiwis. Coleman was the expert of the pair, while Vaz had been on Heartbreak Island in 2019 and was a bachelor on TVNZ’s The Bachelorette in 2021.
Dancing For Hospice will see 10 local dance couples, who have been practising for 15 weeks, perform on the Energy Events Centre stage in front of an audience and four celebrity judges on August 19.
Vaz said he “really enjoyed” his time on Dancing with the Stars after initially being nervous about being tall. He said his favourite part of the show was putting himself in “uncomfortable spaces”.
Vaz said he would be judging the Rotorua show contestants on the same techniques he was “grilled on” during his TV dancing experience - he said he would be looking for pointed toes and a straight back from the dancers.
It would be his first time visiting Rotorua and he was looking forward to watching the contestants have fun on stage.
Season nine of Dancing with the Stars (New Zealand) fourth place winners 2022 Alex Vaz and Brittany Coleman. Photo / Instagram
Coleman is a school teacher and began dancing at age 4 before competing in ballroom-style dance competitions with her older brother, Brad Coleman, at age 8.
After nearly a lifetime of dancing, Coleman would bring real-life experience to the judging panel.
Coleman said she will be looking for a “good combination of having fun, good technique and interesting moves” from the dance couples.
She said the rumba was her favourite ballroom-style dance as it was the most technical and slowest performance of the 12 ballroom dances.
ZM radio personality Clint Roberts will be a judge at this year's Rotorua Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.
Rotorua-born and raised radio personality Clint Roberts, from ZM’s drive show, will be making a guest judge appearance at Dancing for Hospice. ZM is owned by NZME, publisher of the Rotorua Daily Post.
He said he was a “proud Rotorua boy” looking forward to coming home and spending the weekend with family and helping out a great cause.
“I’ve seen it over the last few years. It’s a great event and venue the way it’s put together is excellent. I’m keen to be a part of it.”
Roberts said he had “absolutely no right” to any dancing judging credentials and described his dance style as “three left feet”.
He added his “worst nightmare” would be getting asked to dance on stage.
Roberts said he would be looking for “energy, enthusiasm and confidence” from the contestants and would leave technical judging to the other judges.
Either a backflip or an on-stage connection with their dance partner would make Roberts give a dance couple a perfect 10 out of 10 score, he said.
He was looking forward to getting dressed up, heading out to watch incredible dancing, and “later on maybe experiencing the nightlife of Rotorua”.
Kingsley Gainsford has danced internationally and will be a judge at Rotorua Harcourts Dancing for Hospice this year.
Kingsley Gainsford also grew up in Rotorua and has been ballroom dancing since he was 8 years old.
He trained in Europe and America and represented New Zealand as a champion dancer internationally for many years before returning to Auckland, where he co-owns North Shore Dance Centre with his wife.
Gainsford said he would be looking for “showmanship, presentation and entertainment” from the dancers.
He said it was “fantastic” how Hospice brought the Rotorua community together to raise money for the organisation.
Gainsford said the energy in the atmosphere on show night would be “infectious” and “brilliant”. He acknowledged the hard work put in by contestants and event organisers and was looking forward to a night of dancing.
Rotorua Community Hospice needs to raise $1 million each year to operate and is aiming to raise $140,000 through this year’s event.
