Teen tap dances around difference

Built like a rugby player but with a passion for ballet and tap, Kaea Rakatairi-Paul is no stranger to smashing stereotypes.

‘‘I am Māori. I am tall. I amquite solid ... I have gotten a lot of double looks in my life,’’ the 19-year-old says.

It was dancing to Curious George in the lounge at age 3 that got Rakatairi-Paul’s talent spotted by his mum, who enrolled him in a jazz dance class a couple of years later.

He started playing rugby at the same age but it was dance that won his heart.

His talent led to scholarships, allowing him to take extra classes in hip-hop, tap, contemporary and ballet at the Dean Mckerras School of Dance in Palmerston North.

Being an ‘‘all-rounder’’, Rakatairi-Paul can also sing and act. In year 9 he took part in his first stage production, A Chorus Line. He was also a lead in two musicals at Freyberg High School where he was awarded the performing arts dux prize two years in a row.

For all his success, Rakatairi-Paul hates bragging: ‘‘That is why I hardly talk about myself.’’

While he has trophies and awards at home, he is not sure howmany competitions he has been in.

His approach has been to enter as many as possible and he estimates it has probably been close to a hundred.

Rakatairi-Paul has a confident showman stage persona but it wasn’t always that way. ‘‘I was very quiet and nervous ... I was the super shy kid,’’ he says. Adding to his shyness were his feelings of loneliness, being an only child – all reasons why his mother signed him up to dance classes, he says, which helped him to develop confidence.

Teachers have largely been supportive, but not so much other children at primary school, including some friends, who made disparaging remarks when he dropped rugby in favour of dance. ‘‘I really took that to heart when I was a kid,’’ he says.

With no time for stereotypes, Rakatairi-Paul loves opportunities to ‘‘change up their sort of thinking’’, particularly when people make assumptions.

When they learn he can dance, they assume it is hip-hop.

When you think about hip-hop, you think of African American culture and it is street hip-hop, ‘‘the more aggressive sort of dancing’’, he says.

‘‘Most people say to me: Oh, do you do hip-hop? Yes I do hip-hop. But I do other styles.’’ His love for tap and ballet is routinely greeted with surprise.

It is a good feeling, he says – to bring a shock to change people’s thinking.

Rakatairi-Paul studies ballet for the technique. It is the base for every single dance style. ‘‘It is very precise what you do with your hands and your feet.’’

But it is the expressiveness and the ability to choreograph his own style that he loves about tap dancing.

‘‘I just love the uniqueness and the ferocity of tap.

‘‘The sounds you make are all the same but all it takes is a shift in music and a shift in timing and, wow, you have got this new feel ... It helps convey more emotions.’’

Rakatairi-Paul says people expecting a dancer often greeted him with a ‘‘Who is this tall Māori fella?’’ expression. What it means for him to be Māori, though, is a journey he wants to explore.

‘‘I really want to reconnect with my Māori heritage.’’

He has strong memories of his greatgrandmother, Nanny Winnie, who was fluent in te reo, and he learnt he had a connection to iconic Kiwi showman Sir Howard Morrison on his mother’s side.

The reaction from performing in front of a crowd – seeing everyone enjoy the dance – used to be what made Rakatairi-Paul happy. But now his motivation is to inspire the next generation.

He volunteers his time at Freyberg High School, helping with the Musical Theatre Academy, and he is also a dance teacher where he first learned his craft, with Dean Mckerras at Red Star Dance.

He loves teaching the skills he has learnt over the years to students.

‘‘It is a pleasure for me to see them growing up doing the stuff that I used to do. It makesme really happy.’’

Despite his passion for teaching and his drive to dance, he is not sure where the future will take him.

One of his goals is to train an adult dance crew and enter more competitions. But his ultimate dream lies in teaching.

‘‘I know one of my [dance students] is already flourishing with all my knowledge and it is amazing ... That is what gives me life,’’ he says.

‘‘I was the super shy kid.’’