Meet the dancers behind the dancers: Harcourts Dancing for Hospice

Three tutors have worked their magic on the contestants for Harcourts Dancing for Hospice. Photo / File

Fifteen weeks ago their moves ranged from sprinkler to jazz hands but now they can jive, spin and lift their respective partners around the dancefloor. There are just two more sleeps for the 20 locals who will take the Harcourts Dancing for Hospice stage but who are the professional dancers behind these locals making it all happen? Reporter Leah Tebbutt sits down with dancing tutors Elly-Ann Pritchard, Troy Smith and Glen Law to uncover the magic they have sprinkled on the once two-left-footed dancers.

There is no question about the commitment of the professional dancers who have been behind the scenes for the past 15 weeks turning 20 locals into dancing stars.

Both Elly-Ann Pritchard and Troy Smith commute after work to make their three-hour practices, then travel an hour or more home again.

That's because they are busy teaching 10 teams made up of 20 locals with no dance experience who are learning routines for Rotorua Hospice's biggest annual fundraiser, Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.

Passion for dancing oozes out of dance tutor Elly-Ann Pritchard. Photo / Supplied

But it's all about passion for Pritchard who doesn't let her two hip replacements, a product of her dancing, stop her.

"I teach as well as holding down a full-time job because I don't like seeing my students as mortgage payments and bottles of milk."

It was 46 years ago, Pritchard was 12, when she started her teaching apprenticeship and dancing hasn't left her side since.

Part of her "thing" as a dancing teacher is not caring how good her students are before they start, which makes Dancing for Hospice her bread and butter.

"I am interested in adult beginners with some passion. I don't care if you are old, grey or have broken bits.

"There are lots of teachers who are happy to teach the gifted, the talented and the young but I find that a little bit boring."

She said it was to easy for those "types" of dancers to do exactly what she asked but she enjoyed the journey of working with dancers who, for whatever reason, were not capable of completing a triple spin ending with the left leg around the partner's neck from the get-go.

"One of the things about being a dance teacher is you have to have 100 ways to teach but the student might not be able to get it so you have to find 101 ways."

Troy Smith has been behind the scenes for four years now and loves every minute of it. Photo / Supplied

Smith has been involved with the event since it began.

"It is not just about a competition it is about having fun.

"The best part is watching those people who are adamant they cannot dance put on an amazing show on the night."

Smith was forced to dance by his mum at age 6 and admitted that at the time he hated it because he was given "a lot of stick" from others for being a male dancer.

Deep down though he loved it and carried on.

This year's Harcourts Dancing for Hospice dancers with the tutors in Westbrook School hall. Photo / Supplied

While Smith and Pritchard do all the choreography, the dancers insist they would be lost without Glen Law who comes along to help the dancers when they get stuck.

"I started dancing in 1977. I was really really shy but my mum worked with a lady whose daughter was a New Zealand junior champion and she suggested taking me along to a dance class."

Next thing, Law found himself in dance competitions and he is still toe-tapping around the floor after 42 years.

And it was his mum who drove him to help with Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.

"She lived in Australia and I brought her back when she had cancer. Hospice was fabulous with her so this is just a way of saying thank you."

All table tickets have sold out but limited general admission tickets are still available from $35 through www.ticketmaster.co.nz or in person at the Energy Events Centre.

Four celebrity judges are tasked with deciding which of the 10 couples will take out the winning spot.

They are Colin Mathura-Jeffree, Kristie Williams, Michelle Langstone and Turanga Merito.