Encore Performers dancer Louise Jamieson and dancer, choreographer and costume maker Corinne Delia Bowey at the Sound Shell in Napier where they will be performing two shows during the Art Deco Festival on Saturday, February 17. Photo / Paul Taylor
Encore Performers dancer Louise Jamieson and dancer, choreographer and costume maker Corinne Delia Bowey at the Sound Shell in Napier where they will be performing two shows during the Art Deco Festival on Saturday, February 17. Photo / Paul Taylor
She’s had the eyes of thousands of people from all over the world on her as she dances in the street and 14 years on, she’s not ready to throw away her dancing shoes.
In fact, Art Deco dancer and choreographer Corinne Delia Bowey is flat out ensuring she has enough dance shoes for her Encore Performers as they prepare for a huge weekend.
“We started rehearsing in November,” Corinne, the owner of Born to Move dance studio in Hastings, said.
“It’s a busy time of the year for me. Dance classes resume, then suddenly it’s Deco time.”
It all began in 2012 when someone said to her “we need a group of dancers to do the Charleston at the War Memorial”.
“It was the Friday opening event night of Art Deco. We got changed, did a warm-up and then walked out at the end to a huge crowd. There was a steam engine and people everywhere dressed up in deco gear. It was amazing and I thought to myself, ‘where have I been, how have I missed this’.
“I knew I wanted to be involved and it just exploded from there.”
“Most belong to my school and others have moved on and then come back, especially for Art Deco. A lot of them are students who fly back to uni on Sunday evening.”
Corinne says being part of the troupe is not just about dancing.
Corinne Delia Bowey has been part of the Art Deco Festival since 2012.
“Everywhere you go there are eyes on you so we need to represent the Art Deco era. You can’t be shy. You have to create a persona, and be authentic and in character. People stop us all the time for photos or simply to ask for directions. We are not just there to dance. It’s the whole shamboozle”.
It was Corinne’s dad who introduced her to vintage dancing.
“Dad got me going. He signed me up for dance classes and we travelled around the country to competitions. I was exposed to music from all the different eras but there’s something about the 20/30s that I just loved.”
Corinne also finds the time to make 90 per cent of the costumes the troupe performs in.
“My mother taught me to sew when I was 8 years old. I do the majority of my sewing at night. I have a sewing room and just lose myself in it all.”
During the festival, they set up a base camp. “It’s usually in an empty commercial building and we have racks and racks of costumes, hundreds of pairs of shoes, many of which need repairing or are ruined by the end of it all, plus wigs and makeup,” Corinne says.
“I’m looking forward to it even though I know there will be long days and I mean long - 7am start to midnight finish.”
Corinne says she is not planning on hanging up her dancing shoes any time soon.
“It’s my passion. No matter what’s going on in my life, when I step through the door to my dance studio it all falls away.”
Last year when the festival was cancelled because of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Encore Performers put on a fundraising show at Theatre HB.
“We raised a lot of money for the cyclone. I would go to the hub at the racecourse and ask them what they needed on that day. Then go out and buy it. It would be things like deodorant, shampoo, things like that.
“After three years of disruptions we can’t wait to get out there and dance.”
You can catch the Encore Performers at the Sound Shell in Napier on Saturday, February 17, at 11.20am and 3.20pm. You’ll also see them dancing in the streets during the festival, which runs from February 15-18.
