Justus

As the Christchurch Festival was flying by I never had the chance to sit with Justus for long enough to ask him my questions in person. That's probably a good thing as it would mean we had to cut down our time on the dance floor and who would have wanted that :-)??!

We exchanged contact details though and I sent him an email with some questions I'd come up with combined with things I remembered from talking to him. I meant to organise it all nicely after he had filled them in but to be honest, I do like it the way it is. Enjoy :-)!



Questions:

So, let me put down what I still remember ;-):
You are originally from Germany but moved to NZ with the age of 6, right?

Yeah, that's pretty much right. Technically I was 5 as we arrived two weeks before my sixth birthday. I come from the South-West of Germany (Schwabenländle) near the Lake of Constance.

How come your parents moved to NZ? (I wish my parents would have had that idea!! ;-))

Well, the main motivation was actually Chernobyl. My parents weren't too impressed with what happened there and wanted a somewhat safer place to raise their family. New Zealand was clean, green, nuclear-free, and at that time, reasonably easy to get in to. Still, seems kinda crazy that we ended up moving to the country that's the furthest away from Germany in the world. Ah well, don't think I'm gonna complain.

What’s your earliest memory of NZ?

Hmm... When we first arrived we lived in a cabin in a camping ground that was beside one of the beaches near Auckland (can't remember which exact one). I remember us watching "Duck Tales" and also the fact that there were a lot of peacocks. I remember being very impressed with watching the peacocks as they fanned out their tails. Kinda random things to remember but anyhoo.

You said you were a musician…
When did you start playing music?

I think I started playing recorder when I was 6, violin when I was 7 and German Tenorhorn when I was 8.

What instruments do you play?

I play the violin, viola, cello (just need to learn the double bass so I can play the whole string family!), German Tenorhorn, Trombone, Guitar Ukulele, and I have some basic skills on instruments like piano, bass guitar and drums. Oh and I guess singing counts as an instrument. Just about forgot, but since rehearsing for the routine for Christchurch Swing Festival I also play trumpet!

Do you have a favourite?


In terms of sound, I really like the cello, but guitar and violin are the instruments I use the most.

Have you always liked Jazz?

I didn't really grow up with jazz but started getting into it when I joined the school jazz band at high school.


How did you come across Swing dancing?
You’ve been dancing for 3 years, right?

I was first introduced to swing dancing back in 2009 (I think?). I was back in Timaru (where I grew up), and I was invited to come to swing dancing as some of my friends from high school were doing it. I really enjoyed it but only did a few lessons as I was only back for a few weeks. I got a job in Timaru in mid-2012 so when I moved I decided I was keen to get into swing dancing plus it was a good way to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

For how long have you been part of the performance group in Timaru?

Not sure when I did my first competitions but I think it was in 2013.

How long were you practicing to get the performance all right for the championships :-)?

Umm... Not too sure, but definitely a few months, 2-3 times a week. Most of those sessions would be longer than an hour. Yeah, quite a bit of work goes into it. There were a few stressful times as we have all been very busy outside of dancing as well over the past few months. Ah well, we seem to have pulled it off alright and for that we are thankful and feel quite blessed.

Who wrote the performance and do you want to tell me a little bit about the dance scene in Timaru?

Lenard Smyth choreographed our winning routine. He's also the one who set up SwingKatz in Timaru and our main teacher. There is a good group of teachers/advanced dancers who all help out to make sure the club runs as smoothly as possible. We do lessons on Thursday night but have been experimenting with different ideas to get more dancing happening beyond just Thursday.

What’s a dancing experience you’ll never forget? Could be a moment, sad, funny, an event…

Ha, hard to pinpoint one in particular as there have been plenty of good times. One of the most memorable would probably be Windy Lindy 2013 (Wellington, NZ). Just mind-boogling amazing to see so many good dancers and Jamin Jackson and Sonia Ortega were the best teachers ever. I love Jamin's style, just so relaxed but also smooth and creative.

Have you travelled to go to dancing events apart from this festival in Christchurch? If so, where to or are you planning on?

Yeah, I've been to Christchurch for a few things over the years and have also been to the Windy Lindy festival in 2013 and 2014. We are hoping to take a team up to Windy Lindy 2015 this year again and hopefully we'll be able to defend the title of the winning routine that we won last year.