Lower Hutt’s Town Hall was the setting for NZFTD’s Harbour City Championships on the 7th May. Although the lighting seems to have improved – with new lights over the stage and an attractive stage design – this venue still struggles to be big enough to hold a dance competition in. I know overseas there are minimum floor sizes for competitions – it would be nice to see something similar introduced into New Zealand.
On the plus side the competition and a reasonable sized audience, on the minus side some of the kids (and adults) need to learn that you should never cross a floor when there is a competition taking place!
The catering was good and music was excellent. Its nice these days that we don’t have to pay for a program as these are emailed out prior to the event – but it would be nice if a few are available for purchase at the door – some of us are old and forget to bring them 
Harbour City Championship Rankings
Venue 1/5 – the venue is tired and small. The floor really isn’t big enough for many competitors to show themeslves off on – and that’s what its all about isn’t it. Removing the tables along the side and just doing chairs would help – but its still a pretty small venue. The changing rooms are awful – either use the loo or hide around the back of the stage with no proper privacy never mind a mirror.
Judging/Adjudicating 2/5 – judges from out of town was good - unfortunately all judges were affiliated with the same professional association – not saying it affects the judging – but its not a good look. Also the 10 strong panel featured 2 husband and wives. Most events seemed to have 3 or 5 judges on the panel – but I wasn’t sure why Open events only rated 3 judges while preliminary and other beginner events rated five?
Atmosphere / Attitude of the Organisers 4/5. No marshaling - and in fact the organiserss were very kind to some couples who weren’t ready to take the floor on time – on the other hand this was partly due to the cancellation of many events were numbers on the floor were lower than those entered.
Competitor Numbers: 3/5 – Only 12 registered couples on the program – though many more beginners and unregistered dancers as well.
Range of Events 4/5 – The same sex events are starting to become the norm in Wellington – and given the standard of local same sex dancing. Huge range of events for unregistered and beginner dancers – this is a good competitor for the beginner to make their competition debut at. It always seems a missed opportunity when B or A grade competitors are in the hall but their specific grades aren’t danced – who doesn’t want to watch an A Grade dancer dance again – even if they do have Open to enter?
Check out the videos from this comp on our youtube channel
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