Rotorua’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice Jo-Ann Wilson and Aaron Sears ready to shimmy

Harcourts Dancing for Hospice will take place on August 19 at the Energy Events Centre, and rehearsals are well under way for a big night in Rotorua entertainment. Rotorua Community Hospice needs to raise $1 million each year to operate and is aiming to raise $140,000 through this year’s event. It will feature 10 dance couples who have been practicing three times a week for 15 weeks in preparation for the night. This week, Michaela Pointon catches up with Jo-Ann Wilson and Aaron Sears.

Being part of one of the biggest ballroom dancing shows in New Zealand was enough of a reason for Wilson to join the competition.

“What way to be crazier,” she said, than to dance in front of thousands of people?

Originally from Scotland, Wilson learned Scottish country dancing as a young girl before moving to New Zealand at the age of six.

“I got to New Zealand and was like, ‘I need some street credit’, so I had to give that up,” she joked.

She claimed grooving at Lava Bar Rotorua was the “extent” of her dance experience as an adult after Scottish country dancing.

Wilson is a clinical coder for Tauranga Hospital who works from home in Rotorua. Reading patient files at work made her understand the depth of support required for end-of-life care from organisations such as Hospice.

“The fact it’s not funded just blows my mind.”

Meeting people through the event was her favourite part of the competition so far. She named herself and dance partner Aaron the “chatty Cathys” of the group.

“His shimmy is on point. If we get up there and forget our moves, he’s just going to shimmy for two and a half minutes.”

She said there was a build-up to the performance, and this year’s show was going to be “the best one yet!”

Jo-Ann Wilson and Aaron Sears are preparing to dance in the Rotorua Harcourts Dancing for Hospice competition on August 19. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sears said replicating Michael Jackson’s dance moves was the extent of his dance experience before entering the competition.

“We are always mocking ourselves [in rehearsals], and I guess that’s what makes it funny. We tend not to take ourselves too seriously.”

Sears said he started rehearsals with “two left feet”.

“Now I’m at one and a half left feet. I need to get my right foot back completely, and then hopefully I can do the dance,” he joked.

Sears works at Rotorua Lakes Council and is used to being in front of large groups of people.

He was looking forward to finishing the performance knowing he had given his best.

“I’ve met all these really cool people and I’ve had this really cool journey.”

“The next day, I’m probably going to be excited, but I feel I’m going to miss the people. There’s going to be this massive gap where before it was filled with dancing three or four times a week.”

Dancing for Hospice was a good way to give back to the community for Sears.

“What Hospice does is amazing. To have the opportunity to have a lot of fun [and] put on a show for a really good cause is pretty epic.

“It’s going to be an amazing show.”

Jo-Ann Wilson and Aaron Sears are sponsored by the Cosmetic Clinic Rotorua.

Harcourts Dancing for Hospice tickets are now on sale, available online from Ticketmaster or at the box office at Sir Howard Morrison Centre.

Keep an eye out in future Rotorua Daily Post editions, as well as on the Harcourts Dancing for Hospice Facebook page, for more profiles on the full line-up of 2023 dancers and other updates.

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.