Dance awards in memory of Karori dancer

By Frank Neill

For four days in April, 400 dancers will compete for $400,000 of awards and prize money in the Alana Haines Awards (AHA), held in memory of Karori resident Alana Haines.

Dancer Alana Haines was 11 years old when she tragically died in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1989.

Since the inaugural 1991 competition held in her honour, the Alana Haines Australasian Awards has grown to the largest of its kind in Australasia.

This year’s event, at the St James Theatre will showcase Australasia’s most talented dancers, aged 11 to 18, in a competition that will award all finalists $50,000 cash prizes plus international training scholarships totalling $400,000.

The AHA dance awards begin on 8 April and run to 10 April. The finals will start at 6pm on 10 April. A former AHA scholarship winner Alice McArthur will feature at this year’s event.

Alice and Mitchell Millhollin will come to New Zealand from Germany and will perform “La Nascita de Venere”, choreographed by Emanuele Babici, at the awards.

From Auckland, Alice won the AHA scholarship to John Cranko Schule Stuttgart 2017. She won gold medals in both Asian Grand Prix 2019 and RAD Fonteyn competition 2021. Mitchell from Chicago joined John Cranko Schule Stuuttgart 2021 and won both classical and contemporary gold medals at the American Dance International Ballet Competition.

Tickets for the Alana Haines Awards are available from Ticketmaster, and the AHA website is www.ahaawards.co.nz.