Media Articles 

The Nelson Mail - 20 June 2009

Tripping the light fantastic

By Simon Bloomberg

Anyone wandering down Motueka's High Street yesterday could have been forgiven for thinking they had entered some kind of musical time warp.
The road was closed off and transformed into an impromptu dance floor, firstly for the golden oldies and then later for the disco king and queen.

He old time dance and disco revival were part of the Motueka on High market day celebrations and the opening of the Festival of lights.
Although many of the children watching didn't know what to make of the display by The Motueka Old Time Dancing Group, it was like a walk down memory lane for Motueka's Ina Stephens and Nancy Brereton.
...Last night's disco revival was also a step back in time , although Gwen Pegley, 11, and her friend Pearl Falwasser, 12, both of Riwaka, were familiar with many of the songs performed by the Abba lookalike Madsen Productions.
"Disco is pretty cool, and everybody likes it now after Mamma Mia," Gwen said.
...About 2000 people attended the celebrations.

Nayland College Circuit - September 2007

Students swing the night away

By Holly Blunt-Foley

Ladies and gentlemen slipped on their dancing shoes for the "1920's Jazz Bar", this year's Nayland Ball. The ball was held at the Rutherford Hotel, and once inside students found themselves amongst friends and elaborate decorations from Creative Occasions, a colourful lit-up dancefloor from The Illuminated Dancefloor Company at their side.

Live music was performed by a jazz singer who has sung her way around Europe on board a cruise ship and was accompanied by the Classic Hits band who got hearts as well as feet pumping on the dance floor.

Year 13 dean Gavin Dickson has been the teacher in charge of the ball committee for the past seven years and was thoroughly impressed with the effort put in by all students this year.

It seems camaraderie was just the thing to get the night going, with everyone putting on their polished threads and dancing shoes (even if they had two left feet).

Post-ball, the after –party was certainly a non-event.

Charles Newton, Principal, has seen many balls over his time at Nayland and he describes it as "definitely one of the very best ever!" 

The Nelson Mail - May 2005

Dancers to trip light fantastic

By Naomi Campbell

MANY FEET MAKE LIGHTS WORK : Kevin and Glenys Johnston of Creative Occasions own the South Island's first portable illuminated dance floor, invented by Aucklander Phillip Sutton (centre).

Nelsonians can party on into the night with the arrival of the South Island' s first portable illuminated dancefloor. Glenys Johnston, co-owner of Creative Occasions, the company which bought the dancefloor, said New Zealand was the only place in the world to have the portable illuminated floors. She said the Kiwi inventor had only made six others - all of which were based in the North Island. She had ordered three more to rent out around the South Island. The floor was installed at the Rutherford Hotel last Saturday night for Sunday's Wedding Expo.

The dance floor, which is made up of separate modules and covered with thick acrylic sheets, can be made into various sized floors. The biggest possible floor, a 7.2 sq m floor, was too big to be used at the expo so a 4.8 sq m floor was installed instead. Without lights, the dance floor is black, but coloured bulbs could be installed underneath to illuminate the squares in six different colours. "You can see so many applications for it". "When it lights up, people are on the dance floor within seconds." Mrs Johnston said she had already booked the dance floor for nine events, including a conference at the Trafalgar Centre which will have the full floor installed.

The floors would be mostly used for conferences and events in Christchurch and Queenstown, she said. The dance floor was invented five years ago by Aucklander Phillip Sutton who was in Nelson on Saturday to help with the set-up. He said it was "fantastic" to finally have the floors in the South Island. "It makes New Zealand a bigger and brighter place," he said.