When dancing is a family affair

For one Katikati family, making their way across the living room floor is a chance to practice their steps for local dance tutor Tina Peet's upcoming performance of Stornaway Station.
The Austwick family has father Tony being one of three dads to participate in their first dancing roles.
Mother Jo is part of the performance too, as are daughters 11-year-old Chelsea, nine-year-old Gabrielle and their twin sisters Alyssa and Yasmin , aged four.
Tony became involved because his whole family were already part of the show.
"I have been in a show of Tina's before but never dancing - this is my first time." Asked if he felt nervous, Tony replied: "No comment".
Eldest daughter Chelsea began dancing at Tina's classes at 4, and is in the main 20-strong performance team of the show.
"The dancers in this team have to be 11 years-plus and have two years dance experience - it also must be their first love above any other recreational commitments," says Tina.
Jo began dancing when she was helping Chelsea and Gabrielle with their steps.
"This is definitely our family's main hobby. I was practicing with the children, next thing Tina has me in her adult class and now Chelsea teaches me steps - it's really neat," says Jo.
She says dancing is great for the memory. "I cannot believe how many dances these kids have to learn and remember, its incredible."
In the show, Chelsea has 11 dances and numerous costume changes . The challenges for her are "remembering my steps and making sure I get on stage at the right time and in the right place".
As result, Jo says Chelsea often dances across the living room, without realising, while learning her steps. Sister Gabrielle is not far behind her in Tina's Level 2 dance group and the twins are in the pre-school class.
Tina's Katikati and Tauranga Celtic dancers will perform Stornaway Station at Baycourt Theatre at 2pm and 7pm this Saturday .
Tina, who has her own dance studio at her Wharawhara Road home, has spent more than a year piecing together the production, which is a fairytale based on the Flying Scotsman train. It portrays the original journey of the Flying Scotsman locomotive number 4472 on May 1, 1928 - a non-stop journey from London to Edinburgh, of 392 miles (630km) that took 8 hours.
The story goes that in 2010 the train is purchased by a Katikati entrepreneur and is put into service on the passenger track from Tauranga to Katikati.
"One of the original passengers, Maggie, a young girl appears again in 2010 when two dance students find a button under their train seat and press it," says Tina.
"The production follows the two students on their adventure as their wishes are granted by 'Magic Maggie'."
Tina, who came up with the idea for the performance and wrote the script, says she works around her dancers and the Bay of Plenty Pipe Band, who provide live music for the event.
"I write it to suit the children in my dance classes but I also write it with the music that I know the pipe band can play," she says.
Her husband Ken is the stage manager and in charge of the props.
"Dancing is my passion - and I always tell Ken that he knew this when we first got together at age 16," says Tina.
"Productions are a mammoth task and they take over my life and my husband's - but they're worth it."