The comment got Kopytko thinking how quickly we can lose our history, forget those or what came before, or forget the meaning of what we have now.
"Do we value our local stories? Do we hear or see them enough? Do we tell of our own struggles, to be who we are now - in this city?"
Kopytko says she wasn't one of Rawlins' best students as she didn't want to learn to play the piano but Rawlins made a considerable impact on her.
Gwen Gibbs was her first dance teacher and Gibbs also trained Val Bolter, Maureen Ax and Michelle Robinson - familiar names to the city's dance community.
Kopytko says the city has always been a training ground for performing artists but some of that history seems to have been forgotten.
Who Are We? is a response to the city's 150th anniversary. Born and raised in Palmerston North, dance teacher Kopytko thought it would be nice to have a performing arts response to the identity question. She invited colleagues to join her and they all said yes.
Toi Warbrick will provide a Rangitāne and bicultural perspective. The other artists are multi-instrumentalist, teacher and performer Kane Parsons, Shree Academy choreographer and dancer Tanu Gupta, folk singer Sue Pugmire, and tai chi practitioner Ling Wang.
Kopytko encourages other people in the city to tell the stories of people important to them or of things significant to them.
She says the city has to get over the idea that it's something to cringe about. Let's just tell people how good a city it is and great things happen here.
The August 21 show will be a performance trail with the audience walking through different Te Manawa spaces to see the artists. They will be led from space to space by a musician and a mine artist. The show the next day at the Globe Theatre will be a seated performance.
The trail performance is free and the Globe one is entry by donation. Kopytko says the shows are funded by grants as she wants everyone to be able to afford to hear stories about our people. The shows are suitable for all ages.
As well as the "grand artistic ladies of Palmerston North", Who Are We? will explore flax farming, Te Marae o Hine, the life of a farming woman and the significance of our diverse cultural heritage.
Evelyn Rawlins taught music in Palmerston North for more than 65 years. She died in 1977. Evelyn Rawlins Room at Square Edge Arts Centre is the original city council chamber.
The Steinway piano Rawlins advocated and fundraised for, installed at the Opera House in 1959, is now at the Globe.
Gwen Gibbs is recognised as one of New Zealand's best ballet teachers of the 20th century.
The Details
What: Who Are We?
When: August 21 and 22, 2pm
Where: Te Manawa (Saturday) and Globe Theatre (Sunday)
