Gisborne Hip-hop dancers to compete on world stage

Hip hop dancers Kylah Ashwell and Paul Hawaikirangi strike a pose at their rehearsal space at Anytime Fitness. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

Hip-hop dancers Kylah Ashwell and Paul Hawaikirangi aka 98 Cents will represent New Zealand when they compete in the Hip Hop Unite World Championships in Portugal this October.

The couple qualified to compete in the world competition when they took out first place in The 23 Hip Hop Unite National Dance Championships and World Qualifiers held in Wellington in June.

“We weren’t expecting to win — we went for fun,” says Kylah.

“We weren’t sure how we would compare with the other groups when we went to Wellington. We don’t belong to a dance studio so we didn’t have anyone to compare ourselves to and we weren’t sure where we would sit in terms of skill level.”

Kylah started hip-hop dance lessons when she was young and found a passion for musical theatre in high school.

She met Paul when the two sang together in their high school choirs — Paul for Gisborne Boys’ and Kylah for Gisborne Girls’ High School.

They bonded over their mutual love for hip-hop and musical theatre and started dating soon after.

Paul is largely self-taught and has always loved to dance.

“I was inspired by Michael Jackson and always loved listening to music and watching dance videos,” he says.

“I’ve met a lot of friends, who I have been able to learn from, on my dance journey.”

The couple started to dance together when Covid-19 hit and competed in Battle of the Bay in Hastings in 2020 and 2022 where they were placed third and second respectively.

They work well under pressure and managed to choreograph and learn their winning routine in under a week.

“We understand how each other works. I guess it helps being partners too,” Kylah says.

They have been fundraising to go to the competitions, running dance workshops and raffles as well as starting a GiveaLittle page — called 98 Cents to Worlds.

On Friday Gisborne Musical Theatre is hosting a Midwinter Cabaret Show to raise money to get 98 Cents to Portugal. This will be a showcase of local poets, dancers, singers, musicians, comedy and there are still tickets available.

The dancers seem equally at ease working in musical theatre as they do in hip-hop. They choreographed Rock of Ages for Gisborne Centre Stage Theatre Group in 2022 and are currently working on School of Rock for Musical Theatre Gisborne.

“We are super excited to be representing New Zealand in Portugal and are very thankful to everyone who has helped us get there, including the many Gisborne businesses who have donated prizes for the raffle and Keith from Knightbridge Design who designed our logo,” they said.

98 Cents has two social media platforms on Facebook and TikTok @98_cents for anyone wanting to follow their journey and hear about future fundraising events.