What has the experience been like so far?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been humbled by the collective courage of people from our community feeling compelled to help those that help us through our heaviest days.<\/p>\n
It has brought together 20 members of the public, organisers and coaches who would not have otherwise made a connection \u2013 that alone is important and valuable.<\/p>\n
How do you think you will feel on the night?<\/p>\n
It will be a rush … apprehension, nerves, excitement and I really hope that people enjoy watching our dance. I bet it will be over too fast, however, [it] will be one of the most significant events in my life.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m really looking forward to dancing with Audrey in front of a couple of thousand paying members of the public!<\/p>\n
What is your dancing experience?<\/p>\n
Well, I enjoyed dancing to GnR, Nirvana, Metallica, and RHCP at the ACE of clubs on Ti Street in 1992. Then there were the festivals and nightclubs of Europe in the 2000s. Also, last year I decided to scratch a childhood itch (due to watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire movies with my father) and attended an adult tap class at Amjazz. I\u2019m working towards level 5. <\/p>\n
How would you describe your partner?<\/p>\n
Down to earth, honest, wears her heart on her sleeve and as Scots typically do, just wants to enjoy herself with those out for a good time. <\/p>\n
What is the highlight of the process so far?<\/p>\n
Getting to know Audrey. Seeing the progress we have made so far with the help of Troy, Ellie and Glen (the coaches), and of course, as a couple in our own time.<\/p>\n
Harcourts Dancing for Hospice dancers David Groot and Audrey Russell. Photo \/ Megan Wilson<\/p>\n
Audrey Russell<\/p>\n
Why are you dancing?<\/p>\n
I am dancing because Hospice is an awesome cause, and I can\u2019t think of a more fun and energising way to raise funds. <\/p>\n
What has the experience been like so far?<\/p>\n
The experience has been amazing so far. I\u2019ve loved meeting and getting to know everyone involved. There is a real solidarity between us, and the whole environment is super supportive. It feels like a real honour to be part of such an amazing event. <\/p>\n
How do you think you will feel on the night?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve attended Harcourts Dancing for Hospice a few times, and realise how big an event it is, so I expect I\u2019ll be a mixture of nervous and excited on the night. At the moment though, I\u2019m looking forward to being on the dance floor. <\/p>\n
What is your dancing experience?<\/p>\n
My dance experience is pretty much limited to a boogie in nightclubs! I\u2019m finding learning the dance pretty challenging. I used to think I was a fast learner … turns out I\u2019m really not!<\/p>\n
How would you describe your partner?<\/p>\n
David is a brilliant dance partner. He is keen to practise and is really patient with me. We are spending a fair bit of time together practising, and he is fun to hang out with. <\/p>\n
What is the highlight of the process so far?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to pick a highlight. I\u2019ve loved so much of it, from choosing a dress, to meeting everyone. Maybe the biggest thrill for me is the realisation that we really are getting better, that \u2018wow, we almost nailed that\u2019 feeling is brilliant!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What has the experience been like so far? I\u2019ve been humbled by the collective courage of people from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,95,35839,1863,4596,8414,12448,5981,195391,7502,6284,26954,156,5071,1888,2082,10322,34746,23600,12027,300,130,111,139,69,1523,3117,2515,39157,1327,11763,8037,2552,5433,4758,165,2846,9350,686,4518,1533,102],"class_list":["post-532229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-and","tag-audrey","tag-back","tag-competition","tag-couple","tag-couples","tag-daily","tag-dancers","tag-dancing","tag-david","tag-entering","tag-entertainment","tag-feature","tag-first","tag-for","tag-groot","tag-harcourts","tag-hospice","tag-learn","tag-money","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-post","tag-raise","tag-reasons","tag-rotorua","tag-russell","tag-september","tag-service","tag-stage","tag-taking","tag-their","tag-them","tag-vital","tag-week","tag-weeks","tag-will","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}