Books and pencils were left behind on August 5 as students and staff at Hauraki Plains College laced up their boogie shoes for a night of dance glitz and glam.
The Dancing with the Staff fundraiser was put on by the college, raising $1175 for its year 13 students to go to camp in term three.
Around 200 students, staff, parents and peers arrived to watch the inaugural show in the school hall.
Fourteen year 13 students and staff members were paired up and tasked with putting together a dance routine for the event.
There were two sets of winners on the night, one duo chosen by the judges and one duo chosen by the audience.
The judges were made up of deputy principal Jaco Dreyer, former HPC department head of music Stu Green, Hauraki District Mayor Toby Adams and Whaea Moana Te Moananui.
Victors of the evening were head of department of the arts Jacqui-May Allison-Dodds, or Mrs A-D, and year 13 drama student Jordan Liversedge, who won the judges over with their performance of dancing through the decades.
Mrs A-D told The Profile their dance routine started from a stylistic Bridgerton waltz, into the grease hand jive of the 50s, and ended with classic hip hop moves. When she found out about their win, Mrs A-D said she felt thrilled, relieved and “proud of my dance partner”.
“He just rolled with whatever I suggested and came up with his own ideas too.
“Even if it didn’t work in rehearsals, we were able to laugh about it.”
Winners of the audience vote were year 13 dean Anish Chand and year 13 student Saige Syme, who said their theme was about the seasons of the year, with a different song and dance genre to fit each season.
“The lights on our costumes also changed to fit the seasons,” Saige said.
“I had a white tassel dress with colour changing lights which changed depending on the song [and] season and Mr Chand had a vest to match.”
“We were lucky to have supporters that changed the lights by remote.”
While Saige was an experienced dancer, it was Mr Chand’s first time dancing in front of an audience – and the duo made it work.
Year 11 dean Tezhar Paymani said he and his dance partner, Jaymee Davies, wanted to share something from each of their generations’ dance.
The pair’s theme was ‘Who is the king of pop?’ which included a mix of Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars, Mr Paymani said. “Both artists are super upbeat so we just wanted to have some fun.
“We had a mix of old school moves and TikTok moves.”
There were also some family ties in the mix of participants with the Tawa mother and son duo.
Whaea Jenny Tawa and year 13 head student Nikora Tawa performed a rendition of The Blues Brothers’ Shake A Tail Feather scene. Nikora said they wanted something to get people up and dancing.
Before the dance, Nikora said he just wanted to get it over and done with, “but I was proud of myself after”.
Meanwhile, Whaea Jenny said she was nervous and excited beforehand, but was “ready to sign autographs” after.
For their costumes, the pair “rocked” the classic Blues Brothers suits, shades, ties and “attitude”, she said.
“Imagine two penguins in suits, throwing out their best moves.”
Whaea Jenny said her goal was to “have a bit of fun with my son”.
“We nailed it.”
