Julie Gillespie, a teacher from St Joseph's Stratford, is dancing the lead in the Dance of the Hours from Coppelia, one of the works being showcased in a performance entitled "Dance Gems", opening at New Plymouth's Little Theatre next month.
Julie is also stage manager for the show, a role her mother, Claire, held for many years with the Dance Theatre when Julie was a child.
Julie has performed with the Dance Theatre since she was young, when her family toured all over the North Island with the theatre. Her experience means she is a great role model for the younger dancers taking to the stage with her, some of them in their first public performance.
The young girls dancing the "hours" to Julie's clock include Kate Booker, from Eltham, featuring as 12. Emma Uhlenberg, Bella Hancock, Macy Edwards, Mya McSweeny and Jorja Shearman, all from Stratford, will be dancing some of the other "hours".
The Dance Gems programme is a showcase of just some of the more-than-100 different dance works the Dance Theatre has presented over the past 40 years. The first public performances in 1973 took place at the Little Theatre, making it an apt location for this showcase.