The art of dance is something that helps Izzy Fitzsimons and Neka Woolf express what they feel. The Thames High students told The Profile it was a good way to channel their emotions.
Sixteen-year-old Neka said dance taught her strength and patience.
“I’ve always found it really hard to talk about anything to do with my feelings and emotions with people, so dance has always been my way of expressing those emotions without having to talk about them.”
For Thames High head girl 17-year-old Izzy, she said she loved improvisation where she could just “make it up as you go along”.
“I feel like it’s such a human form of expression, like nothing can really match it. And it’s like athleticness and like the art form.”
It’s what makes their recent news a significant milestone.
The dancers have been accepted into the New Zealand School of Dance and will head there in early 2026 to begin their courses.
Izzy, who has danced since she was four years old, said this time last year she wanted to do a Bachelor of Physics at University, but this year she realised she should “follow my passions while I can”, she said.
The young dancer also sang and played the bass guitar: “I’ve always loved performing”, she said.
She planned to major in contemporary dance, but will also take several ballet classes a week.
She was nervous to leave her home in Thames but also grew up in Wellington so “it’s kind of [like] going back home”, she said.
One thing Izzy looked forward to learning in the course was choreography, which would be a “cool career path”, and one choreographer she looked up to was Hofesh Shechter.
“I know especially in second and third year you do a lot of work on that [choreography].”
According to the young dancer, who also taught at Thames Hauraki Dance Theatre (THDT): the dance world was small.
A familiar face and former THDT friend Liarah Anderson, who will be starting her second year at the NZ School of Dance, was set to be Izzy’s new flatmate, she said. Another THDT friend, Kolbie Fraser, will also study ballet at the school.
Year-12 student Neka, who was also part of the THDT family, said she started to dance as soon as she could from five years old.
“I was inspired by my older sister who also did dance, and by growing up around dancers and wanting nothing more than to be like them.” The moment she found out she was accepted into the school to major in contemporary dance, she said: “I felt like there was a doorway opened that could give me a whole new life”.
“The opportunity means everything to me. It’s a chance to leave my hometown for a fresh start while doing something I love. The school of dance is also a great start to a life in performing arts like acting which I’m interested in.”
Some of her dance goals and dreams were to possibly join a dance company and be able to travel around the world for dance, she said.
“I’ve always been obsessed with the ocean and music and being able [to help] people ever since I was small so hopefully some of my interests will cross paths one day.”
Her advice for other students who wanted to chase their artistic dreams was to “keep pushing” and “take every opportunity they are given”, she said.
“[Do] not let anyone tell them who they are or what they can do with their talents.”
-By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
