This article first appeared on Tahu News.
“Since I started dancing for a company, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” says 13 year-old Te Ahomairangi Jenner-Trinder, who grew up in Brisbane, Australia and has been dancing for four years.
Jenner-Trinder started dancing at the Bloodline Dance Company in 2020 and has been there ever since. This is the second time she has been in a crew that has qualified for the World Hip Hop Dance Championship. This year the championship will be held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jenner-Trinder has lived in Australia since she was a year old. And, despite living away from Aotearoa, her dance crew are mostly Māori, which makes her feel more at home.
“It feels good that I get to dance with others who are like me and we get to travel together too, which is cool,” she says.
In her spare time, Te Ahomairangi creates Tik Tok content that consists of different dances to further improve her skills and eventually get to the same level as her dance inspiration, also from Aotearoa, Parris Goebel.
“She is just so good at what she does, her facials, her dance style and I just love that she’s from the same place as me,” she says.
Focused on competitive dance
Juanita Stowers, one of her dance teachers from Bloodline, notes that she is quiet, but very focused and hard working.
“She is able to pick up choreography very quickly and is versatile in a lot of our different hip hop styles,” Stowers says.
“With consistent training and hard work she has the potential to make it a career.It already shows - dance is taking her across the world to represent Australia twice now,” she says.
Tania Jenner-Trinder, her mother, agrees her daughter is quiet and shy but says dance has allowed her to express herself.
“She has grown so much. She is able to now show her expressions not only internally but externally. Her confidence, although it seems small, is huge for her and we are super proud,” Tania says.
Te Ahomairangi is focused on competitive dance and preparing to open her own studio in the future to make it her fulltime job.
Te Ahomairangi Jenner-Trinder Photo / Tahu News
Te Ahomairangi with her dance crew Photo / Tahu News
Te Ahomairangi with her whānau Photo / Tahu News