Te Awamutu College 2023 Monte Casino Ball - formal dancing. Photo / Dean Taylor
Te Awamutu College 2023 Monte Casino Ball - formal dancing. Photo / Dean Taylor
Since 2009, my wife Robyn and I have had the honour of being part of the Te Awamutu College senior ball - so with one cancellation for Covid in 2020, this year’s Monte Carlo Ball was our 14th.
Robyn works with the students, teaching the social dance and choosing themusic we play. Mine is a supporting role of plugging into the PA on the night and playing the tracks.
It is a night out we look forward to, and as I have always said, it is a credit to the young adults of Te Awamutu.
Praise for the Te Awamutu College senior students doesn’t just come from us. Band members - and for the past couple of years, the DJ - security staff, venue staff, caterers and others have commented on the positive nature of the Te Awamutu College ball, the wonderfully polite and courteous behaviour of the students and how great it is to see young people enjoying social dance, as well as interacting with bands and DJs and dancing the night away.
Te Awamutu College 2023 Monte Casino Ball - arrivals. Photo / Dean Taylor
A Te Awamutu College senior ball is one of the few occasions when proper social dancing takes place, and the entire night is about fun and elegance.
Te Awamutu College 2023 Monte Casino Ball - formal dancing. Photo / Dean Taylor
From the amazing arrivals in a range of wonderful vehicles, the “reveal” as the beautiful young people showed off their dresses, suits, hair and more, the opening dances with parents/grandparents and friends in the “audience”, people dancing to the music of the band or DJ, the special photos, the supper and thelast waltz, it is a classy affair.
Te Awamutu College 2023 Monte Casino Ball - dancing. Photo / Dean Taylor
Robyn and I also appreciate that Te Awamutu College sticks to the tradition of formal dance - something my mother Coral Taylor was at the forefront of with school students when we were youngsters, and which we have continued to be involved with simply because it is so rewarding.
Dean Taylor is the editor of the Te Awamutu Courier and a community reporter with 35 years of experience.
