Vicki Langford’s Dance History (Dossier)
Vicki Langford first began to seriously take an interest in dancing at the age of 14 yrs old, in mid 1977.
Within 3 months as a student she was invited to join her teacher to perform professionally with her teachers’ dance troupe, "The Elektra Dancers' then she spent all her free time learning and practicing the dance routines.
This also included the opportunity to perform bellydance both improvised & using a choreographed routine.
The dance styles learnt & performed consisted of: Tahitian Tamare, Hawaiian Hula, American Charleston, authentic Spanish Flamenco, Brazilian Salsa, Egyptian & Lebanese Bellydance, French Can Can, And American Jazz & Contemporary. Vicki performed at various locations & events around Auckland & the north island with 2 different troupes by the time she was 16 years old. These events were usually during the weekend and her school holidays.
From the age of 17 years to 23 years Vicki took a break from dancing & went on a working OE around NZ & Australia.
When she was 24 years old & living in Australia she decided she wanted to return to dance as a passionate interest & as luck would have it 2 weeks later she was auditioning for a 2 month contract with an Australian dance troupe to work in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, & Macau. 10 days after that she was off to Kyushu, the southern small Island in Japan & worked in Kumamoto & Miyazaki for a month each. Having such a good time in Japan, tasting the food for the first time & loving it, picking up the language quickly & self teaching with dictionaries & making new friends, she asked if there was any way the work can be extended. Next thing off to Hong Kong for a week, for business visa extensions, & while waiting for 4 months for the next dance contract in Tokyo Japan to become available, work appeared in south Korea for a few months, so again, off she went to dance in Korea. That too, was an amazing experience. Finally, Vicki’s wish came true & she got her contract to work in Roppongi, Tokyo, & had the luxury of dancing with a wonderful group of Japanese dancers who took care of her like their little sister, took her out to their favourite restaurants, taught her to sing, & speak more & more Japanese.
By the time Vicki returned to Australia she was speaking fluent Japanese & she set herself up with 2 tour companies in the Gold Coast of Queensland, worked as a full time Japanese speaking tour guide for 3 years.
After another year of travelling, this time back packing extensively through South East Asia, India, Nepal, Scotland, Germany, France, & UK, Vicki finally returned to live in NZ permanently to be with her family in 1994. Vicki spent 2 more years dancing as a student, concentrating this time on hip hop, modern contemporary & modern Jazz.
From 2001, Vicki has returned to dance on & off in between having 2 babies, and this time concentrated mostly on Middle Eastern Dance. From early 2008, Vicki has been teaching bellydance full time continuously without a break right through to the present time, & not only does she teach bellydancing, she also teaches Bollywood fusion, Pacific Island fusion, Contemporary, & Chinese silk (double) fans is her latest new style.
February 1987 working at 'Maxims' cabaret club in Roppongi, Tokyo, with her Japanese dance sisters, Vicki at the age of 25 yrs old.