Wellington Girl Power Ready for Las Vegas

Media release
For immediate release Wednesday 28 April 2010

WELLINGTON GIRL POWER READY TO MAKE HISTORY IN LAS VEGAS!

Wellington has produced yet another world class dance group!

Emerge is preparing to take the world by storm as they make history by becoming the first females from Wellington to represent New Zealand at the inaugural, World Hip Hop Dance Competition in Las Vegas – and they are still in school.

The all female dance group [Emerge] competed at the National Hip Hop Dance Championships in Auckland against a field of finalists heavily dominated by Auckland teams and placed within the top 3 crews [out of 14] to earn the right of representing their country.

Managing their schoolwork and countless hours of rehearsals has seen the group learn about time management, discipline and working together as a team.

The commitment required has undoubtedly been to the level of a professional athlete, but well worth it as Manager Lenny Loh explains: ‘This win is the ultimate achievement for the team so far, it is the accumulation of three years of hard work and aspirations of placing and qualifying for the world competition.

IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE.

’ The group now concentrate their efforts on raising money to compete in Las Vegas between 27 July & 1 August 2010 against the worlds best.

Loh says, ‘the trip will cost us approximately $43,000, but we are raising $22,000 because the girls and their families are putting in the rest.

We need to raise this money by the end of June.

It will require a lot of fundraising, commitment by everyone involved and help from our community and businesses, but we are determined to get there for these girls, who are now role models for their peers and other dancers.

This will be a life changing/enhancing experience for them.’ There’s no mucking around for this team, the Emerge fundraising train is in full swing.

They are already displaying the passion and urgency that has taken them from pretenders to contenders by organising, a series of fundraising activities to raise the $22,000 required to win gold and show the world that Wellington/New Zealand has girl power!

The fundraising activities scheduled so far are:
Selling Chocolates: April -- July
Dance A Thon -- 1 May
Fundraising dinner and auction at Dragons Restaurant, Tory Street -- Saturday 22 May
Fundraising Concert -- Wellington Town Hall, June [Date TBC]

Emerge consists of 11 female dancers aged between 15--17yrs from diverse cultural backgrounds – Chinese, Samoan, Maori, Cook Island, Filipino and European.

Members of the group are from Wellington Central, Kandallah, Whitby, Karori, Ngaio and Lower Hutt.

The nine members who competed at the National Hip Hop Dance Championships are: Jess Loh, Nicky Lim, Stephanie Lee, Nikita Hiroki, Luisa Avia, Darlene Avia, Karina Llanillo, Teira Wiki and Olivia Murphy.

Ben Uili, Director of The Company NZ, founder & former member of Legacy Dance Crew coaches the team.

ENDS

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