The New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing News Feed

2025 Summer Fling

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Summer Fling 2025 - 16th - 19th January
Tutors: Jacqueline Seque, Shelley Easton, Lynette Mitchell, Kate Deane

See resources, downloads for the schedule, entry details and merchandise order form

2024 Conference photos

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Photos from 2024 conference now available for viewing and downloading from the Gallery

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand - Port Arlington - Day 8

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Today sees our Company disperse as most of us head for home and a few stay on for a little longer in Oz.
A huge thank you to our dancers who have represented our Academy, NZ highland dance, their teachers, parents and themselves with professionalism and outstanding performances. Over the 3 days of the National Celtic Festival Australia Official at Portarlington our girls each performed around 50 dances with Annabel taking the prize with an astonishing 62 dances! (That didn’t include the rehearsals on Thursday and Friday morning) Amazing mahi by our dancers…girls, you were awesome!
Thanks also to our guest performers, Sara and little Annabelle. You were both stars and added an extra dimension weaving our show together.
Grateful thanks to the parents and family who travelled to support us, we loved having you there to cheer us on and a special thanks to Jenna for all the help behind the scenes.
Thank you to our Academy Exec, Dance Co management team and Raewyn for your assistance, organization and support in making these opportunities available to our dancers.
And finally, sincere thanks to Una, Amanda and the crew at National Celtic Festival Australia for your invitation and hospitality…we had a blast!
Stay tuned for videos of performances still to come!
Robyn and Julie

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand - Port Arlington Festival - Day 7

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Yesterday we enjoyed a well earned sleep in before we meet in the hotel lobby to sing Siara Happy Birthday. Happy 18th Birthday Siara!
We then headed to the Victoria markets for breakfast where we enjoyed fresh croissants and coffee.
After breakfast we all did some shopping at the markets before heading off for some more shopping around the city.

We meet in the hotel lobby later in the afternoon for show and tell of all our shopping before going to the Princess Theatre to see the musical Sunset Boulevard, it was a wonderful way to end our Melbourne trip.

Jenna & Annabelle

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand - Port Arlington Festival - Day 6

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Today we took the ferry from Portarlington back to Melbourne, where we dropped our bags off and went our different ways - some to Luna Park and others to Chadstone shopping mall.
At Luna Park we rode a wild range of rides that brought out all the emotions, and at Chadstone we shopped till we dropped.

Dinner was a special treat at Ginza Teppanyaki, where we played some fun games with our food.
After that we went to an escape room where the Cabin Crew + Little Annabelle innihilated the Young House Hooligans.

Our day ended with a sweet treat from a local ice cream shop then we headed off to bed

Ella & Rachel

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand - Port Arlington Festival - Day 5

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Today we had a very early start as our final Heart of the Highlands show began at 10am. The show was successful as we performed our hearts out!

We then went straight on to hold a “Have a Go” workshop. This was a big hit with people of all ages coming to learn some of the Highland Fling and Sailors Hornpipe. They all learnt really well!

Following the workshop we split off to grab some lunch and rest our legs before we started our short shows for the afternoon. Our first one being on the public dance stage outside. This went well with a large number of people stopping to watch.

We then chilled out in the break room to rest our legs before our next performance. We performed our snow skirt and snow capes dances in the Park hall, along with all the other dance groups who have been performing over the festival. It was great to have all the dance groups gathered together to watch each other perform!

We had another snack break and rest before our first evening performance at the Village Tavern tent. Waving goodbye to Annabel and Sara who were off to catch the ferry.

Finally we got to have some dinner. We had plenty of fish and chips to go round and lots of time to chat (and even nap) before our final performance for both the day and the festival.

Our last performance was at the Celtic Club tent where the crowd was great. This made it easier for us to bring the energy up even as we were getting tired.

Done and dusted, we grabbed our bags of costumes and props, and took shuttles back to the accommodation. We got to take our long awaited showers to wash out three days worth of hairspray and makeup.
To make the most of the last night of the festival, we went back to the Celtic Club tent and grabbed a drink. We watched a band perform which was a great way to finish the day!

-Tyra and Estelle 🩷

Highland Dance Company of New Zealand - Port Arlington Festival - Day 4

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Today was jam packed full of performances!! We started off strong performing a 30 minute show, which wowed a large crowd!!

Next we performed two 15 min programmes which, luckily, were in large tents since the rain picked up on us (can’t have makeup running!)

With a bit of spare time, we watched multiple amazing performances from other dancing groups along with some musical items that included a duo from New Zealand!

Luckily the rain held off for us and we were able to wander around the stalls and enjoy the festival! Along with a bit of promotion work 😉

After an already long day, we finished off by performing our 50 minute Heart of the Highlands show.

Now off to get that beauty sleep for another big day tomorrow! Thanks to all the families who came to cheer us on, we really appreciate it!

Neryda and Siara

Highland Dance Company of NZ - Port Arlington Festival - Day 2

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Our day started off with a bit of a sleep in for some, while others also managed a wee morning stroll around the township. We then all met up at home base for a morning debrief before tackling our first lot of rehearsals. We were then joined by Annabel and Sara at the main venue and began running the show from start to finish.

Of course some refuelling was in need, so we tackled the township and settled on a lovely cafe to nourish our bodies. We then finished off rehearsals, headed to dinner at the grand hotel and had our debrief of the day. Looking forward to our shows tomorrow and seeing some familiar faces of our families!

Olivia and Keighley

Highland Dance Company of NZ - Port Arlington Festival - Day 3

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After long rehearsal day yesterday we all got a bit of a sleep in before meeting at the house to run a few of our dances. We then began to do our hair and makeup before we set off for our first performance of the weekend!

We had a little bit of down time before our first performance to grab a bite to eat and see some of the local sights. Our first performance was for the local primary school children. We performed rhythm in silver and a sailors hornpipe which was well loved by the children!

After the concert, we had a dress rehearsal of Heart of the Highlands which was a success! We then refuelled with some delicious pizza for dinner before we returned to the festival to perform our 15 minute show at the village tavern stage. After a long day of dance we headed back home to do some recovery and get some much needed rest before our packed day tomorrow!

- Isla & Chloe