GISBORNE - Danielle Kilpatrick wants to tell her grandchildren she saw in the new millennium while the world watched.
The 10-year-old Gisborne dancer had to plead with her parents to let her audition for the Ruamano 2000 dawn ceremony in the city tomorrow because the 4.30 am performance waswell past her bedtime.
Danielle's mother, Trish Kilpatrick, said she gave in because her daughter recognised the importance of the event.
"She said that it would be something she could always remember and tell her grandkids about. Who could say no to that?"
For the past six months, Danielle has devoted weekends to ever-increasing rehearsals with about 150 other performers, mainly from Gisborne.
Auckland choreographer Mary Jane O'Reilly and New York-born composer Jonathan Besser have created Te Rangimarie, a 20-minute historical and spiritual pageant.
Te Rangimarie will recount in dance the journey of the land, from Maori legend through European settlement to modern-day New Zealand.
Danielle will dance in a group of 10 girls, emerging from the expected audience of 55,000 along a 130m-long walkway. Their performance will precede Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's appearance.
She said that now the 10m-high stage on the Midway Beach dunes had gone up, she was becoming very excited and was trying to persuade her mother to let her stay up all night.
"We have to assemble at 2 am and I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway."
