R6 got their dance on! 

By Beth Downie | Posted: Tuesday November 8, 2016

Read R6 thoughts on the RNZB experience !

As the word ballet flowed through my mind I wasn’t very happy I didn’t really like ballet at all but little did I know I was in for a big treat. “SHOES AND SOCKS OFF PLEASE!” Pagan yells ! Holly and I scared run back out we take our shoes and socks off and scarcely tip toed back inside, everyone was sitting down so we joined the group and Pagan introduced herself and told us a little bit about what she would be doing she said it wasn’t going to be like normal ballet and it would be fun this got holly and I a bit happier we got into lines with Holly and Chloe beside me crossing my legs my ankles digging into the floor shooting a sharp pain up my leg she teaches us a little routine on the floor then splits us into groups Fletcher, Austin, Felix, Theo and I start to come up with some ideas on what to do. Austin comes up with some good moves so we use them we work together as a team and figure out a good routine she comes over and stares at us as we show her our ideas when we were finished I waited patiently for her constructive criticism she said we did a good job and had some good ideas we were overjoyed. As time flies by we were on our way to morning tea I had a better time than I thought and I hope everyone gets to experience this.  Jade Barrow 

We walked into the dance room as a gust of lukewarm air burst into our faces. Pagan, from the RNZB, told us to take our shoes off. We sighed, as we walked back through the doors, and took off our shoes and socks. We were then instructed to sit in a circle, as Pagan told us a little bit about what ballet was. Most of the boys were feeling nervous, but when we started, we thought, “It’s not THAT bad!”. We learned a little sequence, which involved hitting the floor, clapping, and slapping our own faces. Some of us were a little bit silly with the slapping. We would hit ourselves so hard that our cheeks went red.

We did this over and over again, to some cool music, and everyone got mixed up with it at least once. Before we started, Pagan would say, “ 5, 6, 7, 8!”, and we would go. We kept going with the sequence for a while, but then Pagan stopped, us. She said “now, it’s time for some waltz” The boys weren’t that happy anymore. We picked a partner, and started doing a waltz, step by step, Pagan taught us. We were dancing to old, classical music. Pagan said that it was the pop of the 50’s. The red-faced boys stared deep into their partner's eyes. We were done soon after, and our faces were back to normal. But not for long. We got back into our partners, just as Pagan instructed us. And we got into a circle. We had to handshake our partner, and move forwards up the circle, to shake the next person’s hand, and the next, and so on…

We started to get bored, but the session was almost over. We sat down into a cluster of people sitting in random places in front of Pagan. She showed us some traditional ballet shoes, and we passed them around each other. She then showed us some fabric, after the shoes were given back to her. The fabric was some material taken from tutu’s, and they were very light. There was more fabric, from a scarf. We passed the fabric around, and then the session was over. We thanked Pagan as we walked back through the doors and put our shoes back on. We walked back to class, chattering on about what we did. People said “that was so embarrassing, I HATE dance!” while others, mainly girls, said “omg… that was totally amazeballs…I wanna do it again like… every day… lol… that was fun.” Ollie Moffatt 

As Jade walks in with her socks on when Pagan specifically asked for bare feet. She wanders in looking at her beautiful reflection. She gets told to go take them off. She goes out and comes back in to every one dancing on there tippy toes skipping away like fairy's. She joins in feeling a bit embarrassed because she wasn't too keen on the idea. She got into the mood and started jumping as if she had wings on.

After a bit of warm ups we sat down in front of the huge clean mirrors listing to pagans instructions. We sat in lines with people each side of us. We learnt some simple moves and then joined it in with music.

We got put in groups and had to find a way to do all those dance moves into a dance with a group.

“5,6,7,8” ground clap ground clap, as we shared our amazing dancing to the whole class Pagan then decided to do something different.

We got into pairs and had to hold hands, After we sorted all that out we had the instruction to go…

Left foot right foot, left foot right foot this went on for a bit but then after a while we had a little jump, me and jade just looked at each other. We weren't use to this stuff science we do hip hop but at least we will learn something new. We practice's that for a bit and then we got into a big circle …

After we found our places, Pagan told us to shake hands with the person on the left and then the person on the right. As soon as we get to the last person we have the choice to link arms and skip around or put your hand around their waist. Maia and I decide to do the first option.

As we skipped around time flew by and we had to leave this very fun activity and of back to class.

This was so fun and I hope that everyone will have the chance to do this!    Holly D-S 

“Take your shoes and socks off everybody” we walked into the dance room only to see Pagan dancing lightly on her feet. We sat down in big lines with our legs crossed she started to teach us a sequence of banging and clapping.

We did the sequence first without music then we did it with music. Afterward we got into partners with a weird feeling inside. We thought we knew what was about to happen. old waltz music started to play through the speakers, 5 6 7 8 she was teaching us to waltz.

Felix and I danced awkwardly around each other. Pagan then showed us some of the ballet shoes and materials that the dancers used in a lot of shows. I enjoyed most parts of the ballet and would do it again.  Austin Keogh