Performing at the Ashburton Trust Event Centre was a career highlight for Kelly Reid. Photo supplied.Dancing professionally is all about catering to your audience, and in Ashburton that was an exciting career highlight for Kelly Reid.

The Otago University student was in his home town as Rhythms of Ireland staged in front of a sell-out crowd at the Ashburton Trust Event Centre on Thursday night.

Reid and his fellow cast members danced up a storm to an appreciative audience, which in turn energised performers on what was the third show of the tour.

“This is my first professional show. It’s completely different to competition dancing which I’m used to. It’s all about catering to your audience,” Reid said.

“In competitions, you’re trying to be technically perfect to score the 100 points. But for shows you can relax into your technique to match the other dancers.

“It’s nice being able to do this alongside six other New Zealand dancers. For a lot of us, me included, this is our first time doing a professional show.”

He said another aspect giving the show its energetic appeal was the dynamic between cast members, and it was “heaps of fun” being on stage with them.

“After only spending a few weeks together, we have gotten so close. On our days off, we’ve gone to Bluff and danced at an Irish pub.”

Reid has come a long way from trying out some moves while watching a Riverdance DVD in his lounge room.

He began his affair with Irish dancing as a five-year-old, following in the footsteps of his two older brothers.

It was in the 1990s, following the Riverdance craze, and Reid and his siblings would watch the DVD of the show over and over again.

Their mum swept them off to dance lessons in Ashburton at their request, where Reid and his brothers and younger sister excelled, and they ultimately joined the O’Neill School of Irish Dance in Christchurch.

They competed nationally and travelled the world, going to Ireland and Philadelphia for world championship events, and Australia for Australasian championships.

Reid has many a win under his belt, having won four national titles and placing in the top 10 at the worlds.

Today Reid is 24 and studying a masters in psychology at the University of Otago.

He hung up his dancing shoes after graduating from Ashburton College, but put them back on last year when a teacher began Irish dance lessons in Dunedin.

He heard about performing with Rhythms of Ireland when the Kiwi lead who had been chosen sent him a Facebook message.

Ashleigh John asked him if he would be interested in joining the cast, so he emailed the producers, and they asked him to send them a video of him dancing.

The rest is history as they say, and soon after Reid left for Sydney for rehearsals with fellow cast members.

He was one of six Kiwi dancers who have been selected to join the cast, featuring Ireland’s most outstanding and elite company of dancers. It is Rhythms of Ireland’s 10th anniversary show, and the first time back in New Zealand since a sell-out tour in 2010.

Rhythms of Ireland is touring New Zealand until May 8.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 April 2019