Jared & Reeve win titles at NZ One Dance Open Champs
Jared & Reeve win 14 dance titles at NZ One Dance Open Championships
Photo supplied: Reeve Watson aged 13 and Jared Sim aged 16.
The New Zealand One Dance Open Championships were held over Queens Birthday weekend in Porirua and locals, Jared Sim aged 16 and Reeve Watson aged 13 trained by Mark Glastonbury, won 11 Youth Age titles and three Adult titles.
Both are students at Whanganui High School but with Reeve still only 13 years old, the couple have to dance in either or both the youth section (ages 16 to 19) or in the adult section (16 and over). As Mark says, “Reeve has never really had a junior dance career. She is the youngest in the youth section.”
There are three main styles of dances – standard, Latin and Nouveau with dancers expected to know at least 25 to 30 different routines. On the day they dance in over 100 events and Mark says, “They were almost constantly in the marshalling area. But they can do almost everything by second nature. Nothing fazes them.”
Mark adds, “The pressure can either be the making of dancers or they are already naturals. Jarod and Reeve already have a strong work ethic, practising four to five times a week.”
On Labour weekend there will be the New Zealand Open Dance Sport Championships at the same venue which Jared and Reeve will be focusing on. However, during the season from March to late October there will be one dance competition every three to four weeks around the country and Mark says, “We try to get to all of them within a drivable day.”
These include the River City Dance Floor Championships which Mark is organising this Saturday at the Memorial Hall. It will attract nearly 120 competitors from throughout the North Island. It is open to spectators starting from 11.30am. The cost to enter is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for those under 16. This is the fourth year Mark has organised this competition.
Mark is a judge at most competitions – although not at his own in Whanganui. In Porirua he did 21 hours of judging over two days which saw 524 events take place. He says, “We have 1 minute and 10 seconds to make our decisions in each dance. They start with 12 couples with six to be eliminated.” He needs to have a wide vision over the dance floor but warns his dancers to avoid any distractions and hopefully any mistakes and to dance for the judges.
Another of his charges – Wiki Maihi – achieved a variety of podium results in all her events last weekend. Wiki was also partnered by Jared.
River City Press 13/6/19