The year kicked off with sunshine, laughter, and plenty of dancing. On New Year’s Day, we headed to Mahanga Beach - the pickleball net was out, the sun was shining, and it was my first time playing! Pauline from Rhythm’n Lines in Gisborne called through, so we danced a few Dunedin dances together for practice at the upcoming Dunedin Gala. We danced, swam, and yes, danced Wagon Wheel, at the Mokotahi Lookout. Hubby joined in again - he claims it was because of a few beers, but I’m calling it dedication!
Next up, we returned for our second year at the Wairarapa Country Music Festival. The weather played hard to get - a spattering of sun, cold, and wind meant Sunday was cancelled, but we danced anyway (or maybe it was just the caravan swaying us!).
Back in Napier, with 36-degree heat, we squeezed in more practice of Necklace at The Clive Bootscootin’ Shed and kicked off our podcast series for the year with Stephen Patterson and Luke Watson. Inspired by Luke’s 8-minute choreography technique, I wrote, danced, demoed, and uploaded a new dance to Copperknob for Luke Combs’ Sleepless in a Hotel Room - much faster than the many hour long process of when I choreographed my first dance! Shoutout to the amazing team at Copperknob for always being so quick with getting dances up... and making any changes!
The end of the month saw us travel to the Sonny Boy Line Dancers event in Levin, which was an outstanding success, with 18 of us there on the day it was a record turn out for Clive Bootscootin. With many dancers from around NZ, it was amazing to see our Intermediate/Improver dancers shine in such a large space - and of course, so much fun (everything is fun!).
Excitingly, someone roped me in and we've put together a group performance to Stomping Ground for the upcoming Boot Stomp in Gisborne in March. With practice, perseverance, and laughter, it’s going to shape up to be another incredible performance for our massive group of 12!
Reflection: Time flies, practice pays off, and the joy is in the music, movement, and friendships that grow along the way. 2026 is off to a fabulous start, and I can’t wait to see where these boots take us next.
🎶 Song of the Month:
Counting Stars - Simon Ward
