The Ashburton connection; Sarah Gluyas, Julie Hawke, Charlotte Sloper and Lucy Moore. Photo supplied.There was a distinctly Ashburton flavour to the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand in the Netherlands to perform at the Rotterdam Tattoo.

The company includes Ashburton dancers Sarah Gluyas, Charlotte Sloper and Lucy Moore, with their dance teacher Julie Hawke. They performed at the Netherlands Military Tattoo Festival for three nights and then moved on to Belgium to perform at the Oostende Tattoo this weekend before travelling back to New Zealand.

There are 14 top highland dancers in the New Zealand team and they have joined with Canadian and Scottish dancers to make up the performing team.

The dancers combined with 10 Scottish and Canadian dancers to perform in six shows in Rotterdam at the Ahoy Arena, which seats 3000.

They will perform three shows at the Oostende Tattoo at the Sleuyter Arena, which seats 5000.

In Rotterdam, the team took centre stage in two choreographed dances accompanied by international pipe bands. Broadswords is a New Zealand choreographed dance by company directors

Hawke, who now lives in Christchurch, and Robyn Simmons (Blenheim). The second dance was titled Hellbound Train and is danced to a Red Hot Chilli Pipers live rockband/bagpipe combination, choreographed by Crystel Benton who resides in The Netherlands, formerly from Blenheim.

At their last performance, the audience included the King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand.

In Belgium the company will perform a third item in Aboyne costumes.

The dance company is an auditioned dance group and Sloper and Moore were selected over two years ago. Gluyas has been in the company since its formation in 2010. Last year a team of 24

New Zealand dancers performed as guests at the International Virginia Tattoo in Virginia, US.

Next April the dancers will go on tour in the North Island with their stage show Heart of the Highlands. At the auditions this year (held only every two years) Ashburton dancer Milly Christie was successful in being selected to the prestigious group, bringing the Ashburton total to five, including Britney Moore, who was not on the tour due to university committments.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 October 2019