19/04/2026
Adjudicator announcement!
We are delighted to announce our adjudicator for our Championship Weekend in June.
SONIA HEMS
Dancing since the age of 3, Sonia trained in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, musical theatre and vocal. During her training she achieved TDI Major Solo in Jazz and Tap, BBO Scholar status and RAD Solo Seal. While a training dancer, she placed multiple times in the Ora Burnett jazz and tap awards, the Sir John Logan Campbell Award for classical variations, and won multiple variation awards and championships.
She trained at the New Zealand School of Dance as a Classical Ballet Major, completing her tuition at the International Ballet Academy under Sherilyn Kennedy, Carl Myers and Russell Kerr QSM – dancing a soloist role choreographed for her by Russell Kerr at her graduation.
After her training she pursued a professional career in dance and choreography spanning multiple dance styles over 20 years. This included contracts and touring in China, England, Germany, Wales, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand and some singular event contracts across Europe.
On her return to NZ she performed as a professional dancer for various professional entertainment companies in NZ, performing as a cheerleader, skycity dancer, and at corporate events. She also featured in multiple New Zealand music videos, which she also choreographed. She also took a career move to street latin dance, where she quickly became a national and international title holder, both as an individual and with her couples and teams which she choreographed and trained. Sonia became a booked professional for performances, workshops, choreography and adjudication in the street latin field, both nationally and internationally and has performed with some top international artists in this field both here and overseas.
Sonia has been a choreographer for the last 15 years, choreographing floor shows, performances and events for Skycity corporate functions, Skycity feature theme shows, Sky TV (As a choreographer and dancer for King in the Ring 8 Man for Carlos Ulberg, UFC fighter) and Good Morning as well as at singular corporate events. Most recently Sonia choreographed the nationwide touring production of ‘Ladies Night” for which she received positive reviews. Sonia is considered a technical specialist and has also been frequently booked to run workshops with training dancers in NZ on heels technique, dance technique, performance enhancement, preparation for audition, advanced dance technique and performance artistry. Sonia currently teaches in Auckland specialising in ballet, contemporary and lyrical, where she adores helping to foster the passion and love of dance in all her students.
