From left, Nelson hip hop dancers Shylah Andrews, Tyler Laing, Coen Williams, and Zariyah Andrews are ready to show you their moves at today's Shakedown. Photo: Brittany Spencer.

Nelson gets Shakedown

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Some of them may be as young as five but they can dance as if they’ve been doing it for decades, Nelson hip hop dancers will be put under the spotlight today as they battle it out at Shakedown.

Dancers from across New Zealand will be descending on Nelson for the one-day hip hop competition and workshops, and dancer Zariyah Andrews couldn’t be more excited.

“Shakedowns are so cool, they’re really fun! You get lots of experience from the workshops, you get to meet the judges who are all amazing dancers, and this year we get to battle so me and my sister Shylah are going to battle together.”

Hip hop dancer Coen Williams says he’s looking forward to meeting and watching all the other dancers.

“It’s quite surprising and cool to see all the older dancers, you get to see how much better you’re going to be like when you’re older which is pretty cool.”

So far, around 400 aspiring dancers will compete in solo, iconic, group, and battle categories in front of world champion dancers at the competition that began in Nelson eight years ago.

Organiser Gemma Laing says Shakedown has put Nelson on the hip hop map.

“We’ve got a lot of top dancers and top dance teams coming so it will be a really good competition but also really great for people to watch.

“It’s really exciting to see the dance community we’ve created in Nelson, we’ve now got a standard and a competition that dancers from across New Zealand want to come to.”

Make sure to show your support for our local dancers and head along to Nelson College today between 1-3.30pm or 6-8.30pm to watch the 2017 Shakedown competition. Visit www.shakedowndc.co.nz for more information.