The New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing

Highland Dance Company of NZ - 2023 Auditions - 16th Jun 2023

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand
2023 Auditions

The Academy is calling for auditions for the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand.

The Application Form and Application Conditions can be found on the Academy website - in the Resources/Downloads section.

Please note that applications close 30 June 2023.

Kings Birthday Honours - 5th Jun 2023

We extend our congratulations to Sherilyn Hall for her inclusion in the Kings Birthday Honours receiving the "Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit" for services to Highland Dancing.

Virginia tattoo blog - day 10 - 24th Apr 2023

Virginia tattoo blog - day 10 Sunday 23rd April

We started our day very much as a lazy Sunday with another much needed sleep in, followed by breakfast and a quick waiata practice to get those vocal cords moving.

We then headed off to the Scope Arena to prepare for our final show, where we also managed to fit in some fun “trading” with other performers, and of course maximise photo opportunities for life long memories.

We finished our day with a fabulous team dinner in celebration of everyone’s hard work and dedication over the trip towards our performances. Now heading off to bed before a long bus trip tomorrow!

Keighley and Rachel

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 9 - 23rd Apr 2023

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 9

This morning we started the day by walking to our favourite breakfast place Cold Pressed to get our bagels and smoothie bowls. We then walked to the arena for our matinee show for all the very excited school kids. 

 

Half of us then travelled to Mary Calcott Elementary School to perform a broadsword dance, sailors, seann, and Irish reel for the kids. We taught them how to do some simple dance steps and they absolutely loved it!

We then performed our dances at the Hullabaloo festival and performed our last show for the day. Lots of parents were in the crowd and it was nice to see an NZ flag being waved around. We are now recovering from another big day back at our hotel. 

Ariana & Mhairi

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 8 - 23rd Apr 2023

	Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 8 Saturday 22nd April 

This morning we all had a much needed sleep in before a big day of shopping! 
We all got some breakfast and walked to Scope Arena to get picked up and taken to the Norfolk Premium Outlet Mall (a very successful shopping spree 🛍️). 

We had a team lunch/dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then headed back to get ready for our second to last show of the trip. We were very happy when the Choir brought us some sweet treats in between our dances. 

Due to the rain we were driven home and are now off to bed, getting rest for our final show day!! 

Lots of love, 
Olivia and Ella ✌️

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 6 - 22nd Apr 2023

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 6

Thursday 20th April

It’s the first show day! 

Started off today with an early morning for 4 of us to do a tv interview at Scope and then we met the rest our our group at our favourite cafe for breakfast. 

 

Our matinee performance was first up, then half of our group headed off to Suburban Park Elementary for an outreach performance while the rest of us fuelled up and got prepared for the hullabaloo and second show in the afternoon. 

 

We all met back at Scope and got stuck into the rest of our performances. The night rounded off with a reception for Julie, Robyn, and two of our senior dancers. 

 

Ready for another big day tomorrow.

 

Charlotte and Olivia 

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 4 - 20th Apr 2023

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 4

Tuesday 18th April 

day 3

 

 

day 3 of rehearsals started off with a bit of a sleep in. Julie had her T.V debut on channel 13, which we are all looking forward to watching later, (link coming out soon, so stay tuned for that.)

 

Meanwhile, the rest of us continued to practice and perfect our items in the hotel from 11-3, which then gave us some spare time to get prepared for practice at scope, and to have a much needed break. 

 

The Virginia International tattoo kindly provided dinner for all performers tonight at scope stadium which i’m sure we all enjoyed. 

 

The rest of the night was mostly spent on rehearsing the finale with the other bands and performers, along with the sound and lighting which is going to look amazing!! As well as working on the opening act which is our white dragon dance. 

 

-Sophie & Bridie 

 

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 3 - 16th Apr 2023

Virginia Tattoo Blog - Day 3 The team was up especially early for a Sunday morning, arriving at the hotel restaurant for a breakfast experience of a life time, as well as meeting some of the Scots College Pipe Band from Western Australia.

We then headed off to the pristine Norfolk Academy facilities for a busy day of rehearsals and our first run through with the Pipes and Drums live.

It was great to see how enthused the Australians were to be playing the NZ national anthem, they were even whistling it in the hallways.

Virginia’s best van drivers then transported us to the Scope Arena venue for an evening of positioning our items and wowing the show producers.

Neryda, Dawn and Kaitlin :)

The New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing Inc., PO Box 5470, Palmerston North
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