First steps are important

BY ANGELA CROMPTON

A "love affair between the African drum and the flamenco guitar" is Stayz Raukawa's definition of salsa dance.

He runs Star Dance Academy classes for young people in Marlborough and Nelson, and last month took a 30-member group to Australia to perform in the 2010 Salsa Congress. After judges compared their routines with those of other international teams, the Kiwis were awarded a trophy.

A similar award was presented to a group Raukawa took to Los Angeles in 2006. The young Kiwi dancers were invited there by "world salsa godfather" Alberto Torres after he saw them perform in New Zealand.

"He had come to New Zealand with a preconception of what it was going to be like, and was shocked and surprised," Raukawa says.

Kiwis might not yet be as polished as some of their international competitors, but they make up for it with their non-stop energy and enthusiasm.

Raukawa is the founding director of the Star Dance Academy, which has branches throughout the country. Its website compares it to Scouts or Guides – helping young people achieve their goals through organised activities.

Raukawa says dance is like outdoor physical challenges like abseiling.

"Put [young people] on a dancefloor and there's that same fear and same challenge. But the resources are little bit easier – you just need a CD player and the space and the audience."

He started dancing in his bedroom when he was nine, trying to master the moves of Michael Jackson. A year later, he was running classes for his friends at intermediate school

There was little money in his family to pay for lessons, so he just grabbed inspiration where he could and kept practising.

After leaving school, dance became a "passport" to travel overseas, and Raukawa picked up techniques from performers in New York, Los Angeles, Budapest, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

No one turned him away because he hadn't gone through the official dance school stages, he says. "You just show them your personality, your passion, your perseverence and confidence."

Hip-hop and breakdancing became his specialties until he met Marlborough dance tutor Annie Giles at a Latin dance festival in Taupo.

He says Giles is "the angel of New Zealand salsa", and although it was only her beginners' class he joined in Taupo, she learned about his work for the YMCA and suggested that he move to Marlborough.

He and wife Larissa left Wanganui and now live in Picton with their sons Ocean, three, and Sky, 10 months.

Star Dance Academy students learn a variety of dance styles, including hip-hop, breakdance, samba, disco, mime and swing. Dancers do best in front of an audience, and because parents and grandparents make up much of the audience when children are starting out, a mixture of styles works best, Raukawa says. "I don't know if grandma is going to sit through too much rap."

- The Marlborough Express