Waiata Maori Awards – Hip-Hop Dance Competition

Press Release, August 6, 2010.
Waiata Maori Awards – Hip-Hop Dance Competition

Two well-known names in the New Zealand hip-hop industry will be on the judging panel at this year’s Hip-Hop Dance Competition being run alongside the National Waiata Maori Awards (Maori Music Awards) in Hawke’s Bay in September.

Auckland’s Dziah Dance Company director Billie Paea and choreographer/performer Justin Haiu will judge the competition at the Hawke’s Bay Opera House in Hastings.

Paea’s Dziah company has performed at the Hip-Hop World Championships in Los Angeles when they were placed second in 2006, while Haiu was recently named as the Manukau Pacific Dance Artist in Residence for 2010.

Waiata Maori Awards Hip-Hop Dance Competition event organiser Ellison Huata, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu, says having the two men on board as judges will give the performers an added incentive when competition time arrives

She says it will be a chance for performers to speak face to face with two names that have made it in the dance industry. The judges will be on hand to give advice to the competitors and hopefully inspire more people to think about dance as a career path.

Ellison is also the production manager for the Waiata Maori Awards and wants to keep holding the hip-hop event alongside the music awards.

“It is a unique way to encourage young people into music, performance and dance, as well as an avenue to show them they can have a career in the dance industry.

“I would like to keep in it alongside the awards, just to keep the flow going for the youth and the industry in terms of the arts,” Ellison says.

She says there’s no doubt there is a “big following of hip-hop in the country”, especially in Wellington, Rotorua and Auckland and she wants the Hawke’s Bay event to be added to that list.

“They also have annual dance competitions in the other areas and New Zealand has a very high standard in terms of the teams that have competed at the World Hip-Hop Dance Championships,” Ellison says.

In 2009, New Zealand group ReQuest, which Ellison says is an “all girls group” won the Varsity Division at the world champs which “just goes to show hip-hop is not just for the boys.”

Ellison hopes some new prospective teams worthy of a chance at the world champs could be found at the Hawke’s Bay competition this year.

Entries for the 2010 Hip-Hop Dance Competition closed at the end of July and groups will now be busy perfecting their routines for the show which will be held on Sunday, September 12.

A full list of competitors will be released soon.

Waiata Maori Awards 2010:

• The awards will include the Maori Music Expo, September 9 and 10, where modern and traditional musicians and composers will offer their advice and experience in a series of workshops and forums.

• A fashion show will be held on the evening of September 9, mixing live music with work from prominent Hawke’s Bay designers.

• The awards ceremony will be held on the evening of September 10, broadcast by Radio Kahungunu through the iwi station network and by Maori Television.

• A hip-hop dance competition will be held on September 12, starting at 4pm. Judges will include Justin Haiu and Billie Paea. The dance competition awards will be held at the conclusion of the event.

ends

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