The winning couple of the Harcourts Dancing For Hospice competition, Nicky Fraser and David Livingstone.
OPINION
Rotorua Daily Post reporter Laura Smith is taking part in this year’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice. She shares her thoughts in the build-up to the August 17 event.
Stumbling, tumbling, tripping and . . . dancing?
Partnered up and dance styles allocated, the journey for myself and 19 others to become (hopefully good) dancers began this week with the first of our lessons.
And we found there is nothing like the feeling of nailing a tricky step you and your partner have been working to get right.
The nerves are beginning to wane a little, and are being replaced by a solid determination to do yourself, your partner and everyone helping along the way proud - and do your best to contribute to a very good cause.
It’s fun too, with plenty of occasions for laughs between the furrowing of focused brows.
Watching other couples learn their routines is gratifying, particularly seeing their faces light up when each move seamlessly flows to the next, exactly in time to how it should be.
Pretty impressive to see in week one of learning, and a little intimidating given it is a (friendly) competition.
Nikora Simpkins. Harcourts Dancing for Hospice 2024 participant.
If I think about how my partner Nikora Simpkins and I are doing, I would describe it as steady and focused.
I think it’s going to be incredibly fun getting to know him on this dancing journey, and I’m sure I’ll learn something about myself on the way too (ya girl is cheesy, okay).
If you want to learn more about the work Rotorua Hospice does, head to its website.
This author is taking part in Harcourts Dancing for Hospice outside of salaried hours. NZME is a sponsor of the charity event and any content by the Local Democracy Reporter is done in her own time.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express and has been a journalist since 2019.
