A national dance battle dubbed as the Te Puke Throwdown is set to take place on May 18.

The free all ages competition is being held in conjunction with youth week 2019 which is running from May 18 to May 26. This year’s youth week theme is ‘We are more than you see’ ‘He wai hohonu a matou’ (literally, we are deep waters, thus referring to unseen depths).

This national dance battle is youth inspired.

Steve Fawcett from Vector Group says they are hopping to strengthen youth engagement and inclusivity and celebrate diversity. They also hope to strengthen the collaboration of the Te Puke community alongside youth service providers and to others.

Steve says it is a celebration in dance and is multi-generational family event which is unique to Te Puke.

He says they wanted to establish an event that could lead to an annual youth event held in Te Puke and could be replicated to other towns.

The competition will see two categories, groups and singles, battle it out for cash prizes.

A live band will also be playing at the event, along with live DJ’s.

Steve says there will be international circuit and national breaking contestants.

“We have some amazing talent coming so it’s going to be very entertaining.”

Alongside the dance competition, there will be free dance workshops and graffiti street art painted on a car.

Steve says what he is most looking forward to with this event is the fun, diversity, music, dance, and the anticipation and unknown of what the car is going to look like are it is graffiti.

The Te Puke Throwdown is taking place in Te Puke on Saturday May 18.

For more event details and information click here: