In 2001, founder Libby George was a sixteen year old wanting an after-school job. Instead of pounding the pavement with CV in hand, she decided to create a job for herself. From that first weekly hip hop class, our studio has grown into one of Wellington's largest, with over 350 dancers and 17 staff members. 

Year after year more dancers joined our Pump family and we introduced jazz and contemporary classes. By 2007 we had outgrown our rented studio, so we decided to build our very own space. Within an empty floor of a Taranaki Street building, we designed three brand new dance studios.  It made all the difference in the world, having a studio to call our own. 

Competition fever took hold of Pump in 2008, with the formation of our hip hop crews and jazz troupes. A bunch of the Pump coaches started dancing together as an adult crew and named themselves Infinite. The all-female crew began competing nationally and internationally, creating a name for themselves in the hip hop community.  

Infinite held the National Hip Hop Unite title for four years in a row and competed at the world championships from 2010 to 2013. From 9th, to 4th, to 3rd place, the ladies finally won gold in 2013 in Serbia.

Meanwhile, our studio had expanded into the suburbs, offering a taste of Pump in Eastbourne, Khandallah and Ngaio. More and more boys wanted hip hop opportunities, so we created male crews and classes. We  started getting booked for stadium entertainment, dancing parades and large scale flashmobs around Wellington city.

Since 2008 our end of year productions have been held in the Wellington Opera House. Our audiences are treated to hip hop versions of traditional tales. Some favourites are Star Wars, Mary Hip Hoppins, Little Red Riding in the Hood and The Lion Queen. Doing everything we can to avoid typical dance recital tedium, our shows are on another level, if we do say so ourselves.

We have always made a conscious decision to not do exams. Instead our focus is on working towards performances or competitions. The most important thing for us, is to love dancing. To love learning new routines, to love being inspired, to love nailing the tricky moves and to love the thrill of performing onstage. The biggest love is for our dance family at Pump.

If you feel the same way, we'd love to dance with you.