Devised by Rod Downey on 20 March 2022. Tairāwhiti Wedding commemorates Rod and Kristin’s younger son Alex marrying Lana Phillips in a wonderful wedding in February 2022 in Gisborne.

As Lana has Maori heritage, there were a lot of Māori elements in the beautiful wedding, including a lovely Korowai (cloak) from Lana’s grandparents, as well as a Waiata and a spirited Haka.

For the wedding dance Lana and Alex were first couple dancing Mairi’s Wedding in a “family and friends” set, the men all in kilts and ladies with sashes to celebrate Alex’s
Scottish (Macdonald) heritage.

Tairāwhiti is the Maori name for Gisborne (or, at least, the Gisborne Region). This dance contains a new version of the Rose Progression around a couple in the spirit of New Park from book 19, which has an all round poussette for 1C and 3C.

The original version of Tairāwhiti Wedding was trialled by Leeds Branch tutor Catherine Livsey and her experienced class (watch the video here).

Rod modified the dance on 21 June 2022 to improve the flow from bars 1-8 into bar 9.

Download the modified instructions for Tairāwhiti Wedding

A special feature of the Johnsonville Tartan Night on 27 June 2022 was the public premiere of Tairāwhiti Wedding. Johnsonville dancers are shown enjoying this special dance below.