On the 11th of July, an exciting new event made its sold-out debut in the Ōtepoti hip-hop scene: The Yard. Founded by third year Nutrition student and local hip-hop dancer Martha McAuley, along with the creators of the Dunedin pre-loved clothing store 324 Central Market, The Yard is a street dance battle event, held underground in the Octagon’s New Athenaeum Theatre. Martha, who was also one of three judges at the event, said that The Yard “celebrates freestyle dancing and battle culture”.
Martha explained to Critic Te Ārohi that she and her co-founders noticed the lack of freestyle events in the Dunedin dance scene and just how many “really sick dancers” there were in Dunedin and wider Otago, and thought “why don’t we bring them together?” in order to connect and share their passion for dance. She also emphasised the importance of “creating a specific atmosphere that is just really ‘hip-hop’ [...] That underground vibe, that’s where hip-hop came from. It came from the streets.” It made perfect sense then, for the event to be held quite literally underground.
The battle categories consisted of 1v1 freestyle battles, 1v1 breakdancing, and Mini Crew – a battle between teams, each made up of two to five dancers, competing with pre-choreographed dances. In the freestyle battles, two dancers would compete against each other to the same song through improvised choreography. “They just dance at each other, and they can kind of feed off each other, imitate each other,” Martha explained. Participants are free to dance in any style they wish, under the hip-hop umbrella, of course. “It’s really open like that, you kinda just play it to your strengths.” The 1v1 breakdancing battle involved a lot of footwork, “toprocks”, “downrocks” and even head-spinning.
“We were just surprised by […] the amount of people that entered,” Martha admitted. “We thought [the] first event might be a little bit lackluster [...] We had faith, obviously, but you know – we were very happy with the response.” Several dancers had travelled all the way from Christchurch to compete, which Martha says “really shocked” her. From the judging perspective, Martha said they were looking for good musicality – how each dancer utilised the music. She noted that “freestyle is so interesting, because you can do such different things with the same piece of music”. Additionally, the judges were looking out for technique as an indicator of “how long someone has been training for”. Finally, Martha spoke of the performance element, how important it was to be entertained by dancers, and having those memorable moments that make people go “oh shit!”
Martha herself has been dancing Hip Hop since she was seven, and competing since the age of ten. “It has always been Hip Hop for me” she said. Throughout the years, Martha has competed both regionally, and nationally. In fact, she and her crew, “Z1 Adults”, are currently representing Aotearoa at the 2026 World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Phoenix, Arizona. “I’m just proud that Dunedin is getting on the world stage because that is an accomplishment in itself” she added. This is a big year for Martha, as she is also set to compete in the Hip Hop Unite World Championships, held in Tauranga in October, and has also been coaching a team of her own, who were international finals wildcards for the Australian Dance Crew Championships. When reflecting on how she has managed to balance all of this alongside uni, Martha reckoned she’d picked up some pretty good time management skills now she was in her third year. As well as that, the things that keep her busy are “all stuff” that she loves. “I would not be as joyful I think, if I didn’t have so much dance in my life”.
When asked about plans for The Yard going forward, Martha said they hope to bring back The Yard some time in the near future, and potentially expand to other cities. When Critic asked if we would see The Yard returning to Dunedin, Martha was very enthusiastic in her reply. “Yeah! This was the place of origin. We’d love to bring it [back] here.”
Martha’s words of wisdom for those looking to get into hip-hop, or dance in general, is to just take that first step. “Take the first step into the dance class, onto the dance floor — that’s the hardest part I think.” She reassured that once you do, “you realise how awesome of a community it is”. She even revealed that her mum just went to her first dance class. “Bro, she’s like sixty. C’mon, it’s never too late to try. Take a leap of faith.”
So take that leap of faith, and check out The Yard on Instagram for their next endeavours! @theyardnz
