Havana jazz dancing

Anyone expecting spirit fingers and/or jazz hands when Havana Vogel-Beal dances will be out of luck.
The waggling of digits, apparently, belongs to the world of Broadway. What Havana, 9, performs is modern jazz dance.
Clad in a spangly two-piece costume, Havana demonstrates a routine she brought with her from Cairns, Australia, where her family is now based. She has the moves down to a fine science, having performed it recently for her grandmother during a family reunion on Rarotonga.
To the casual observer, her performance appears to combine gymnastics, cheerleading and “old school” jazz dance, with a touch of burlesque thrown in to keep things interesting.
“We wanted to get her into something besides sports, because all our boys are into sports,” says Havana’s mother, Moira, of the decision to enrol her daughter in a dance class four years ago. “The next best thing was to look at jazz dancing and what there was to offer.”
If Havana appears shy when staring down a reporter’s notebook (asked what she likes best about the dancing, she offers up but two words: “The moves.”), her confidence is obvious once the music starts and she takes to the floor.
Her wide smile is genuine, while the talent she demonstrates with the cartwheels and splits and leg lifts are the envy of those in the audience who haven’t been that flexible since the middle of the last century.
Moira says Havana originally chose jazz dancing over ballet because of the music.
“It’s a lot more modern and funkier,” she says. “It’s all about what she wants and we’re there to support her in every way. As well as that, I think children need something outside of school to keep them out of mischief.”
Havana has competed solo and with a number of dance groups and has never finished lower than third. Later this month she will start ballet lessons, not because that discipline’s music has suddenly improved over the past four years, but because it will help her become a well-rounded dancer.
Moira doesn’t think modern jazz dancing will be a passing phase for Havana.
“She loves it with a passion,” says Moira. “I wish it was Cook Islands dancing, but never mind.”

By John Ireland

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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