Dancing Diary: Harcourts Dancing for Hospice team progress lessons, pick music

Laura Smith of the Rotorua Daily Post is taking part in this year's Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.

OPINION

Rotorua Daily Post reporter Laura Smith is taking part in this year’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice. She shares her thoughts in the build-up to the August 17 event.

From five steps to maybe 50, Nikora’s and my feet are learning to do what they’re meant to. Mostly.

There have been some stuff-ups, which are expected in week two, but wow it feels so damn good when you feel like you’re both getting into the swing of it. It’s like a lightbulb moment.

Everyone else is looking amazing, I’m loving how varied everyone’s dances are and, from the snippets I’ve been seeing, they’ll all be very different and very impressive.

It definitely highlights how much work dance instructors Troy and Ellie Smith (not related, nor to me) are putting into each routine. It’s incredible how their brains work.

You can see it playing out in their minds, step by step, and the next second they’re putting it into practice, sweeping, spinning and strutting across the floor.

Glen Law’s positive and enthusiastic demeanour is incredibly welcome too. It makes the somewhat constant (and very needed) corrections, suggestions and pointers sink in a bit better.

We’ve each been given our music so now we have the hard task of the tune we’ll be playing on repeat for the next few months. We’d best pick wisely.

This author is taking part in Harcourts Dancing for Hospice outside her salaried hours. NZME is a sponsor of the charity event and any content by the Local Democracy Reporter is done in her own time.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.