Imagine: Enjoying a blues dance in prelims… 😱🤯
Thanks Michael for somehow making that happen at Swingvasion this year!! 🎉
📍 @swingvasion , Wellington NZ
🕺 Michael Li
💃 @emilgracee
Dancing to 120bpm, feeling like 120 degrees 🥵💃
Thanks Brendan for a dance that made this prelim feel like my favourite ever! 🪩🤩
📍 @swingvasion Wellington, NZ
🕺 Brendan Dunn
💃 @emilgracee
A truly beautiful event, that I don’t think words could summarise, but I’ll give it a damn try 💕
NZO this year came at the end of an awful few weeks, and I was incredibly stressed and exhausted by the time I arrived. But the opportunity to relax and dance with my friends changed my energy completely.
I became excited to compete and dance - but probably even more excited to cheer on newer dancers and friends, and finally present the team routine I’ve worked on for the last couple of months. Getting to spend time with the Swing Central community to put our routine together was an honour and such a fun time! 🕺
To top everything off, to be recognised with the Kat Award was a beautiful and unexpected honour 🥺
I often feel overwhelmed in the dance environment. A lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of pressure and not a lot of sleep is an absolute recipe for disaster for me. I’ve gradually learnt that focusing on supporting and cheering for others gives me the perfect distraction and takes me out of my mind and discomfort. I may not always be the most chatty person at the event, or the one social dancing the most - but I am there pushing through my challenges while trying to improve the event experience for others 💕
I don’t really know what I’m saying, and I’m aware it’s mostly a ramble, but that’s how it be I guess? 🤗
Still processing what a beautiful event NZO was this year! 🥹🤩
Here’s a dance video instead of a feelings-post, to put off processing those!! 🥳
Thanks Sury for such a fun and chilled strictly comp! I’m so happy with how it went, even without our fun shirts arriving in time 🙃🕺
💃 @emilgracee
🕺 @hey_sury
📍 NZ Open, Auckland @streetswing.nz
🎵 I Want You - Marian Hill
Took a last minute opportunity to compete as a lead in the @asiawcsopen Pro-Am Jack and Jill and you’ll never guess what happened next… 😯
On my third rotation, I got partnered with my lovely, talented (LITERAL CHAMPION) friend Mia! Thank you for making such a fun and memorable dance, even though I was absolutely shitting myself!! 🤭👯♂️
Can’t lie, this dance was possibly one of the highlights of my Asia trip earlier this year 🤩😅
Thanks Scott for such a fun dance - It’s always a laugh to fly halfway around the world, just to randomly draw a fellow kiwi in competitions!
💃 @emilgracee
🕺 @dj_scoot_wcs
📍 @asiawcsopen 2025
👯♀️ WCS Intermediate JnJ semi-final
🎶We Up - Nu Choyce
Not quite good-quality photos for not quite North Korea 🇰🇵
Fulfilled a dream I’ve had for a very long time - by dream, I mean that I used to have a printed copy of the North Korean constitution up on my wall 🫣
It’s only been a couple of weeks, but I’m already missing the energy and fun of @asiawcsopen 💃🇸🇬 Beyond stoked that I made the final and placed 4th at such a MASSIVE event! Thank you Kwangil for such fun dances in the final! 🤩
For the uninitiated, we’re dancing West Coast Swing - this is fully improvised, and we had actually never danced together before, until this competition!!!
🏅4th Place Intermediate Jack & Jill
💃 @emilgracee 🇳🇿
🕺 Kwangil Kim 🇰🇷
📍 @asiawcsopen
🎵 Nightmare - Joya Marleen
