WIDance News

October 2025 

Royal Academy of Dance NZ returns to partner with WIDance 
for a second Tīaho Summer School in 2026

.

WIDance is thrilled to be returning to partner with The Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D) NZ  for a second Tīaho Summer School in January 2026! 
Following the success of last Summer's Tīaho course, this summer the workshops will offer fun, creative dance opportunities designed to build confidence, creativity, while supporting wellbeing.

Running from the 14 –16 January in 2026, each day Tīaho will run two one-hour workshops exploring movement technique and creative dance. 
The summer school will conclude with a special studio sharing alongside the R.A.D Grades course, where whānau and friends are warmly invited to celebrate the students’ creativity and achievements.
Tīaho - "to shine". Here's to shining during this summer of dance.

July 2025 - Celebrating 15 years of WIDance

WIDance is turning 15! Where has the time gone? What an honour to be celebrating this significant milestone in July 2025.

This year as part of our 15-year celebrations we will be performing at 4pm on Saturday 26 July at St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington. We welcome all to come join us as we celebrate our journey of creativity, expression and connections through dance. Immerse yourself in a relaxed afternoon of performance, featuring our youth dancers, open class participants and community members who will take to the stage to share highlights from our favourite works over recent years. Entry is by koha in support of our fundraising efforts, and you are invited to stay and share in an afternoon tea after the performance.

WIDance would like to extend our warmest congratulations to all of our dancers over the years. A huge thank you to our wider WIDance whānau of tutors, funders, family and caregivers, support workers, volunteers and cheerleaders. We couldn't do it without you. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe - thank you all very much. Here's to the next 15!

May 2025 - What a fantastic whirlwind start to 2025!

What a whirlwind 2025 has been so far! 
WIDance started the year with a bang. We kicked off the year collaborating with the esteemed Royal Academy of Dance New Zealand (RAD) who hosted their first ever inclusive dance workshops series as part of the annual RAD Summer School in Pōneke.. It was a huge success enjoyed by all and an important milestone in creating pathways for more diversity and inclusion for Aotearoa dance. We are already looking forward to the next one!
Many thanks to the wonderful RAD team and much love to our support tutors Sarah Davies, and our Tiaho friend, Hayleigh Rossiter.

Our regular WIDance term classes have been going well, with an exciting new addition of term classes now in Kāpiti and Levin. Lots of new faces and always so rewarding to see new movement being created.

In March we had the pleasure of performing at the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability Conference in Wellington and were also invited to share the stage at the Kāpiti Disability Expo. Thank you for having us, it was a pleasure to be involved.

The end of March saw Wellington burst alive with colour, music and dance at the CubaDupa Festival. WIDance premiered their brand-new work Murmuration, created by our own Sumara Fraser, in collaboration with fellow clever creative Deb Pope of Awkward Productions, incorporating stunning costume creations by Rebecca Bond of Kāpiti Art Studio.  Ngā mihi nui to all involved, especially our hard-working dancers, helpers, supporters and CubaDupa for hosting such a memorable event – the magical murmuration flocking through our capital city was a sight to behold.

April saw the first of our three 2025 Workshops with the ever popular Royal New Zealand Ballet Education Team which are always a fantastic night; and as we head into May we are busy gearing up for our Inclusive teaching Workshop for all tutors/facilitators of Dance; the next Tīaho dance in schools’ collaboration with Royal Academy of Dance and an exciting WIDance fundraiser event in July.

Whew! Big breaths - it’s only May! 
Huge smiles all round here at WIDance.

December 2024 - Celebrating Growth, Connections and New Horizons 

As we near the close of 2024, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the remarkable journey we've had at WIDance this year.

From new classes and workshops to exciting partnerships and outreach programs, this has been a year of growth, connection, and achievement.
We couldn’t have done it without the incredible people who make WIDance what it is. A heartfelt thank you to our dancers, our artistic director, our funders, our board, our tutors and our supporters working behind the scenes. We see each and every one of you and thank you for generously giving time, thoughts, and energy to support our organization in countless ways; you are deeply appreciated and truly invaluable. What a year it has been!

We are already getting excited for 2025, with our R.A.D/WIDance Tīaho Summer School in January, a Cuba Dupa performance in March, and in July we celebrate our 15th Anniversary.  We will be marking this huge achievement with a variety of special events and activities, so watch this space.

Here’s to a relaxing Christmas and an exciting 2025, full of new possibilities and continued collaboration.
Thank you for being part of the WIDance family. Here’s to dancing!

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season. Meri Kirihimete from the entire WIDance team.

November 2024 - Royal Academy of Dance NZ partners with WIDance 
Summer School Announced

Earlier this year the esteemed Royal Academy of Dance New Zealand partnered with WIDance and Limelight Dance Academy to launch the Tīaho pilot project for inclusive dance in schools. The project was a great success, and we are pleased to announce January 16th and 17th 2025 will see two days of Tīaho workshops here in Pōneke, as part of the upcoming Royal Academy of Dance Sumer School.

The Tīaho Summer School is a series of inclusive workshops designed for children, youth, and adults of all abilities. The workshops will offer a playful and accessible approach to dance, focusing on creativity, movement, and expression. Participants will explore dance through music, props, and collaborative activities in a fun and supportive environment. Each group will have the opportunity to share their creations during a studio sharing session on the final afternoon, celebrating the culmination of work over the two days together.

October 2024 - Royal New Zealand Ballet Open Workshops continue to be a huge success

The end of October wraps up our season of the incredibly successful Royal New Zealand Ballet Open Workshops for 2024. Led by the talented Education Team of The Royal New Zealand Ballet, workshops were held in April, July and October, and consistently fully booked out fast each time. 
Each workshop is created to be inclusive, welcoming, challenging and fun; a unique opportunity to learn ballet skills and repertoire from Aotearoa’s National Ballet company. This year we have been thrilled to learn snippets of choreography from Swan Lake, Solace and Midsummer Night's Dream.  It's been an absolute pleasure, and we are already looking forward to more in 2025!

 September 2024 - Inclusive Teaching Workshop Tutors Announced

We are thrilled to reveal the fantastic line up of tutors for our 2nd annual Inclusive Teaching Workshop coming up on Sunday 13th October 2024.  WIDance Artistic Director Sumara Fraser will be joined by Sarah Davies and Rachel Horwell. The trio will be sharing their practical and creative insights into inclusive teaching during an enriching four-hour session, open to all those interested in facilitating dance experiences.
From Designing and Scaffolding Inclusive tasks, Dancing with the Deaf Community and tips and tricks to Dancing Safely, the workshop promises to be an insightful and enjoyable day. Get in touch to find out more and secure your spot!

August 2024 - WIDance attends Creative Spaces Conference

WIDance had the pleasure of attending the Ngā Wāhi Auaha Creative Spaces Conference 2024, organised by Arts Access Aotearoa and held in Wellington on 22 and 23 August. The conference was attended by 150 creative space leaders, artists, art tutors and speakers from Aotearoa and abroad, held at the stunning Pōneke waterfront venue with additional participants joining online.
What a fabulous reflection of creativity, sparking new local, national and international thoughts, connections and ideas.
Ngā mihi nui to the entire team at Arts Access Aotearoa and the Creative Spaces Network.

July 2024 - Happy 14th Birthday to WIDance!

It's been 14 years since WIDance was formally established and what a wonderful ride it has been. 
We have seen so many incredible dancers over the years and together have created a very special dance whānau, which continues to grow. 

WIDance is so proud to have gone from strength to strength over the years... from our once-a-week contemporary dance classes on a Saturday in 2010, to now offering multiple inclusive classes, workshops, collaborations, employment opportunities and stunning performances across the greater Wellington area.

With so much aroha we celebrate the magic of the past 14 years and can't wait to see what the future brings. Let’s dance!
Arohanui, from the entire WIDance team.

June 2024 - Exciting Collaboration Announcement

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) New Zealand National Director Bronwyn Williams and WIDance Artistic Director Sumara Fraser have come together to sign an MOU, marking the beginning of an inspiring partnership. Together, RAD and WIDance, working with Limelight Dance Academy in Hamilton, present Tīaho, a pilot project for Aotearoa based on the RADiate programme in the UK. 
WIDance is thrilled to collaborate with the RAD and excited to embark on the project here in Aotearoa. 

May 2024 - WIDance Artistic Director attends IRIS training

IRIS! We are very proud to announce WIDance Artistic Director Sumara Fraser has recently completed a four-day online IRIS syllabus tutor training with UK-based Stopgap Dance Company. The IRIS training intensive followed on from the online Stopgap Seedbed workshops Sumara attended in mid-2023. 

Looking forward to sharing the new skills here in Aotearoa , Sumara reflects: "The experience was wonderful, with a supportive global community of teachers and loads of amazing resources. Stopgap provides incredible support and encourages connections and community building for all those trained in the IRIS syllabus. The training has greatly inspired my creative content planning, sparking fresh ideas, and numerous ways to deliver new, and exciting content to all our participants across the Wellington region... it was totally worth navigating the time difference to attend sessions...let's just say I drank a fair few cups of tea to stay awake!"

Stopgap Dance Company is driven by a diverse creative team that uses dance as a movement for change. Their mission is to create an inclusive world where diversity is not just accepted but pursued, a world where no one is limited by prejudice against Deaf, Disabled, or neurodivergent people.

IRIS is an inclusive dance syllabus that gives teachers a framework to develop the disabled dancers of tomorrow and supports creative and rigorous learning while still being inclusive of all. 
Ngā mihi nui to the team at Stopgap Dance.