The winning couple of the Harcourts Dancing For Hospice competition, Nicky Fraser and David Livingstone.
With just over a week left until the big show night for Rotorua Harcourts Dancing for Hospice, the judging panel will soon make a hard decision: which novice-turned-superstar dancer will be crowned the winner?
The competition’s four judges have been announced and in the mix this year are two world champion dancers, a netball player and a La La Land choreographer.
Twenty dancers will be performing at the Energy Events Centre on August 17 after 16 weeks of professional dance lessons, to raise money for Rotorua Community Hospice.
Last year’s event raised about $140,000 and Nicky Fraser and David Livingstone took out the crown with a tango.
Karen Hardy, who starred in Britain’s version of Dancing with the Stars and was a world champion in ballroom and Latin American dancing, has had years of experience behind the judging table including judging the 2022 Dancing With The Stars NZ.
Karen Hardy is one of the judges for Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.
Hardy is an experienced dancer, having competed internationally for Great Britain, and she opened her own lifestyle ballroom dance studio in 2008. She moved to New Zealand six years ago.
She said it was a “delight” to be asked to be part of the charity event and she was “overwhelmed” by the dancers who had signed up to perform with no return other than to give back.
“Working behind the scenes as much as I do with events, it’s massive to put something together like this.”
Hardy said as a judge, she looked at three key aspects when deciding who would be the winner.
Firstly, it was important to note whether the pair stuck to the “characterisation” of the dance.
“If someone is dancing samba, does it have that carnival, party feel to it?”
Secondly, competitors should be careful they did not turn what was supposed to be a lively dance into something more serious.
The basic “techniques” of a dance style were also important to master. For example, performing the cha-cha-cha using locked legs or the samba being danced on bent knees.
But Hardy said the most important aspect was the chemistry shared between the two dancers.
“I’m always trying to look for that chemistry, that magic,” she said.
Harcourts Dancing for Hospice celebrity judges for 2024 are Angela Gainsford, left, Julz Tocker, Karen Hardy and Erena Mikaere.
“Sometimes dancers get so engrossed in what they’re doing, they overlook that the main goal of this whole thing is when two people start off individually but become one on the dance floor.”
Judging alongside Hardy is Angela Gainsford, a Hamilton-born dancer with experience in dancing, competing and teaching.
She is a NZ A grade champion in ballroom, Latin American, new vogue, and classical sequence.
She and her husband, past Dancing for Hospice judge Kingsley Gainsford, have represented New Zealand in seven world championships and she teaches classical ballet, lyrical, American jazz, ballroom and Latin American in her Auckland studio.
Gainsford said she would be judging “slightly differently” to other dance competitions and would be looking for the couples having the most fun.
Gainsford attended the event two years ago, where she was “impressed” how many people were there for a small town in New Zealand.
One of New Zealand’s finest ballroom and Latin dancers, Julz Tocker, has worked with A-list celebrities including Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone for the La La Land movie, and Britney Spears, Jason Statham, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on Dancing with the Stars USA.
Julz Tocker has worked with A-list stars and will be helping judge the Dancing for Hospice competition.
Accomplished Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic netballer Erena Mikaere brings a different background to the judging panel, having experience playing in the Silver Ferns, being a sports show presenter, and an advocate for community involvement and youth development in sports.
Rotorua Community Hospice fundraising and marketing manager Jessica Meade said Mikaere’s experience in high-level performance gave her an understanding of the “incredible journey” the dancers had undertaken to go from “dance novices to confident performers” in 16 weeks.
“As a well-known local, Erena also brings a special connection to the event.”
