Having a Ball at The Gardens School Part 2

Some comments about the ball from members of Huia 1:


... I was wearing heels and my friends and I were laughing because I was a lot taller than my partner. It felt good being tall because I am the shortest in the class. There was punch which tasted like Just Juice Bubbles, and heaps of supper. There were chocolate eclairs and I love those...
Jessica

I felt nervous but it was OK. I had to do the Grand March with Tracey and she was really slow - maybe she shouldn't wear high heels.
Jakob

... Last year I was really nervous, but I slowly started to get more confident. On Wednesday night I really enjoyed myself. The best bit as when we taught Mrs Chetty to fist pump. I thought Terrence and I were the best fist pumpers though. I think it was more fun than last year's ...
Ben

I have improved in dancing. I used to hate dancing but now I like it.
Danny .

...Everything looked amazing. All you need to do is have a good attitude and have fun. Rachel, Krizelle and I were taking photos of each other in front of the Eiffel tower with little lights that hung from it. I had the best night ever.
Annella

I felt uncomfortable when I first started but then, after a while, I came out of my comfort zone and I had lots of fun. I had a great time. I was surprised because I was one of the leaders for the line dances and I think I am more confident about dancing with people and in front of people.
What was funny was that we got free dancing time and when a song came on, everyone screamed really loud - and when the lights went out, everybody screamed. A great memory was that everyone was so nice when I danced with them. I wore some of my sister's jewellery and a black dress that goers black, grey, white. I liked how my mum did my hair, and I felt good.
Tegan.

...It was awesome. During dancing, I have learnt to keep in time and use a bit of style in my dancing. At the start of the term I was very nervous and didn't think I could make it to the ball. But, I didn't have many fears except for the fact that I might have fallen over in my heels.

When I arrived at the ball I was very excited because Hunter arranged for her uncle to take us in his very cool car. It was read and white and fitted six of us in it.

I liked how the hall was decorated. It had a beautiful cardboard Eiffel Tower. I was surprised how confident I was with all my dancing.
Caitlin

Last year I was not very confident with my dancing and I would avoid doing it in public - but now I can strut my stuff without a care in the world. I think Hunter, Tegan, Caitlin, Sarah I, Sarah J and I made an entrance in our fancy car. I will probably never forget that when the house lights went out some of the girls screamed loudly. I loved my dress because it was different in its blue-green colour and how it looked on me. I won a special Mickey Mouse pencil case for being enthusiastic during all six weeks of dancing practice. I love Mueve la Colita because I can put my own style into it.
Ricki-Jean.

At the start of the term, I had completely forgotten most of the dances from last year. But, when we started to dance to the music, I started to remember. My favourite dance was the Grand March to the Marseillaise. It was probably the hardest to learn but also, in my view, it looked the best.
Nikhil.

...My special memory is shuffle fist pumping. I won a prize for the Macarena and I came second in the statue waltz with Tanya as my partner.
Matthew.

...This year I was more confident in dancing.
Chris.


... At first I didn't like dancing but now I do because I have a lot of confidence and I think it's pretty fun. The best part was when Ben and I were teaching people how to fist pump - including teachers - like Mrs Chetty and Mrs Loakman. And, it was cool as!!!!
Terrence.

...The night was awesome because Hunter, Tegan, Caitlin, Sarah, Ricki-Jean and I went in this really awesome old car....There were lots of nice dresses and everyone was so good at dancing Mueve la Colita... Last year, when I was a Year 7, I wasn't that confident, but I know I am really confident dancing with boys now. Mr Yates danced with a chair when we were waltzing around the hall - he did that last year, too.
Sarah J.

The ball has just been. I had a great time with everything, and there was a lot of supper. We played statues - the waltz version; it was fun. My favourite dance was Mueve la Colita because it is very enthusiastic and it makes you want to smile. I got chosen to start off the snowball waltz, along with two other couples.
Hunter.

Mrs Chetty came to the ball. She was telling me to shuffle and I shuffled - then she started laughing. Nikhil and Taleyah won the statue waltz. There were a lot of good dancers like: Michael, Danny, me, Ricki-Jean, Tegan, Hunter, Trent, Sarah J, Fili and Ben.
Jackie.
When I first started dancing, I was scared but as we kept learning dances I started to feel more confident. As Taylor -Paige and I arrived, we forgot our tickets so we had to go back home and get them We walked in the door and all the lights were off and there was only fairy lights.

We started with the grand march and next we did Mueve la Colita- I got a prize for that. There was supper and drinks. The punch was very fizzy - it made my eyes water. Wednesday the 5th of October was the best thing for that week.
Renae.

Overall, my favourite dances were the merengue, the Maxina and the snowball waltz and I think that the best dancer was Ben.
Madison.

I liked the statue waltz because I am really god at staying still and so was Terrence - he was my partner. When Mrs Vincent said we had to act the Eiffel Tower and a tourist I wanted to be the Eiffel Tower but so did Terrence, but he outranked me by saying,"I am taller." Terrence and I got into the finals but we did not win.
Shayla.

Everyone dressed their best and brought a plate of food - either savouries or sweets. What I enjoyed best was the freestyle dance. The lights were turned down and the music was played. We started a jumping Follow the Leader line. I won a prize but I forgot what for. During supper we took photos in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was a fun night and I didn;t realise that I had gained more confidence in dancing.
Krizelle.

I learned that you have to be confident. I also won a prize for great dance moves. When our parents came we did some dancing to show them what we've been learning.
Sarah I.

Having a Ball at The Gardens School Part 1

Here's the first account of our Year 7 and 8 ball last Wednesday, and some of the photos.



On the evening of the 5th of October, the Intermediate team of the Gardens School gathered around the school hall. All wore their best dresses and suits and, as was required, their best attitudes. Many tried to make a grand entrance but they were shortly outshone by what they discovered on arrival.

The classic blacked-out windows greeted ball-goers and hid from passers-by the fabulous decor inside, which included a definitely-not-to scale Eiffel Tower, many Christmas lights and a supper that could be considered a feast fit for a king. In the background, French music complimented the theme of the night nicely - "A Night In Paris".

We began the night's dancing with the Grand March which is often performed at posh, formal balls. It starts with boys and girls in lines, shortest to tallest, and when the music starts the front two join arms and walk towards the host/hostess and everyone else follows along until everyone ends up in lines of 8s. We walked to the French national anthem which matched our theme.

We then broke into columns to dance Mueva la Colita, which in Spanish means "shake your bottom" or as Mrs Vincent says, "Move your tail." This was followed by the famous Macarena which although it is danced frequently many get it wrong, as one student kindly and thoughtfully demonstrated the correct way to do it. (Thank you, from Mrs Vincent.)


We then pulled out some dance moves that belong in the late 1970s and danced to Saturday Night Fever which then broke into the Circle Waltz, then through the Maxina, the Palais Glide, the Gay Gordons, the Merengue, the Veleta, and a statue waltz.

After most of the organised dancing, we had supper, followed by a snowball waltz, led by the best dancers of the night so far. Next the house lights were turned off and the disco and laser lights shone and we all started free-styling to some more recent tunes.
Thank you Mrs Whitehead for the group photos.

by Ricky-Jean


Here's a slide show of the ball photos. The link is currently 'private' which means it can only be accessed by using a link to it. You won't find it by searching or by finding it randomly.


If you have any photos you would like added, can you email them to me kayv@thegardens.school.nz and I will upload them to the blog. Others will have to wait until we are back at school. I hope you are all having a good holiday - from Mrs Vincent.