Cultural Awards Winners 2010

Waimarama and Barney did a fantastic job hosting the Cultural Awards last night.  They kept the audience entertained, and caused more than a few tears with their special awards. 

The whole event took AGES to set up.  Salvatore and Daniel Cameron worked hard setting up the auditorium, Christina alphabetised and checked the certificates, Mary and Ms. Thomson sorted out the supper, and Joshy set up the lighting and sound systems, and the band boys set up the muso section.  The afternoon was filled with costumes being re-set, make-up going on, and the glittery gowns coming out.

The evening started with Wai and Barney giving their welcoming speeches and review of the year.  Then the Yr 9 dancers showed their stuff with their "Evolution of Dance" routine.  Dan Carlisle showed his talent with a cirque routine including juggling knives.  "The Collision" performed "Another Brick in the Wall" and Zoe Renor sang "Memory" from Cats.  The Senior Dancers did their "Fame" routine, Katie and Wai pulled out the 5 minute scene from "Romeo and Juliet" and Finn, Adam and Aaron renewed their scene from "The Wizard of Oz".  Thomas Uatuku performed "Nothing else matters" on guitar, wowing the crowd again with his talent.  The theatresports boys did a fantastic rendition of Louis Gray, performing "Survivor", thanks to Darren, Arjun, Daniel and Dominic.  The final act of the night was "Artificial Sun" performing "Sunrise" and "Comedown" - brilliant talent shown by Jack, Tom, Barney and Louis.

We were thrilled to have so many Blue award winners this year, especially from those students who gained Blues in 2 areas.  We have such a great year to look forward to in 2011, given the talent in the junior school, as well as our top performers.

The big awards were a shock to the winners (but not to their fans) and were as follows:

• Greatest contribution to Dance - Zemira Hayvice
• Greatest contribution to Visual Arts - Samuel Pepper
• Greatest contribution to Music - Barney Johnson
• Greatest contribution to Drama - Waimarama Phillips

 Congratulations to all the evenings winners, and know that the school is incredibly proud of you all.  It was wonderful to see the diversity of talent in the school, and it was a wonderful position to be in to have so many great acts perform.

Sam Pepper - Visual Arts

Waimarama Phillips - Drama

Zemira Hayvice - Dance

Barney Johnson - Music

Wordless Wednesday

Preparing for the examinations... this is not going away people!

Right.  Cultural Awards is on Thursday evening.  The night will be AMAZING!

7:00 - 9:00pm in the Auditorium.

All welcome to come along and support your peers. 

Awards will be issued for all of the Arts areas- Visual Art and Photography, Dance, Drama, Music and Kapa Haka.  There are the 4 top awards going out as well..... let's see who gets those for 2010.

During the evening, expect to see the following performances:

• Junior performance Dance troupe
• Maaki, Travis and Anthony with their crowd pleasing Dance NZ Made routine
• Shakespeare National Performance by Waimarama and Katie
• Artificial Sun performing and original song
• Theatresports with Dom and his selected team

Waimarama and Barney will finish their Cultural Leadership roles for the year by hosting the night and giving a speech about the Arts and their lives.

Also, with external exams looming, we are offering study advice in the department. 

Monday 1 November- Practise questions from past exams
Tuesday 2 November- Useful tools and study tips
Thursday 4 November- Practise questions from past exams
Monday 8 November- Mindmapping
Tuesday 9 November- TBA

Cultural Awards 2010

With the Cultural Awards next week, here is a little something to expect from the night.

We will be posting out invitations on Tuesday, probably letting the students receiving awards know as well (though they will not know what for).  Dress for the evening is formal, or in full school uniform.

The night will involve presentations from the year, from Stage Challenge to the Production to Shakespeare to Rockquest.  It is always the highlight of the awards season in my view.

This year, Waimarama Phillips and Barney Johnson will host the event.  They will be giving a speech about the Arts at the school and why this has helped them so very much in their lives. 

Each student will be issued all of their awards alphabetically.... this could involve one certificate, or a handful of trophies.  However, blues and the top 4 awards will be presented by Mr Shepherd at the end of the evening.

Blues are the top award available for students.  Some students will receive a "Special Award" for outstanding participation, performance or dedication in a particular area of the Arts.  Blue awards come with a badge to be worn on ones blazer, which denotes that the student has reached a high level of performance, dedication and committment to one or more areas within the specified Art.  Blues can be gained for Visual Arts, Dance, Drama and Music.

Our top awards are the following:
The Sally Jaine Cup- Greatest Contribution to Music
The Greatest Contribution to Drama
The Roger Thompson Trophy for Contribution to the Visual Arts
The Christie Higginson Trophy for Contribution to Dance

These awards denote the person who has given the most of themselves in this area, and striven to achieve beyond the normal.  They have gone on to great and wondrous things.  Past recipients have included Melissa Reeve, actor, Shannon Karatiana, singer, and Dawn Bregman, dancer.  We are proud of all of the top award winners, past, present and future, and we are sure that those gaining the awards in 2010 will be no less than brilliant.

Wordless Wednesday - There's no place like home....

It's all over....... bye wizard!

Well, it's over.  Strangely.  The costumes are in the wash, the props room is clean, the classroom is returning to normal and the set is in deconstruction.  Amazing to think that just last week we were performing for the first time!

Thank you so much to Ms Webster, Mr Thompson and Miss Pratt for their help and support with the set, the music and the dancing.  Thanks to Mum and Katrina for help with the costumes and props.  Thanks to Joshy and James on Lighting and Sound.  Thanks to Zemira for choreographing and Christina for Stage Managing.  It would have been impossible without you all.

And a big thanks to the whole cast for giving up so much time, and energy, and doing such a great job on stage.  It was amazing to see the diverse group of you pulling together when it counted.  Well done. 

Here are some images from the last 2 nights in performance....

The Wizard of Oz

Well, with our Matinee performances officially over, and today's was COMPLETELY packed!  We did not have a spare seat in the whole hall!  It was an amazing crowd of children, pre-schoolers and folks from Palliser and Abour House. 

The cast were nothing less than amazing and astounding.  It has been a long long long road from where we were, to where we are now, and I am so proud of everyone. 

Some people do need a special mention.....

Adam Lesslie has been at every rehearsal- even the ones that don't involve his scene.  He learnt all his lines, has not complained about his costume (and he has many reasons he could complain about it!), but this is not why he needs mentioning.  Adam routinely vacuums the drama room, puts other people's costumes away, fills water jugs, minds small children, does heavy lifting and mopping and sweeping, without being asked or without complaining.  He has been a total star.

Civic Cruz has been in the same ilk.  He has been brilliant on stage, singing, dancing, miming... wearing make-up..... and always helpful.  He always picks up a paintbrush and helps the set crew, empties rubbish bins, puts things away, helps people to their seats and is polite and charming in same light.

Christina Hyde has only JUST returned from Switzerland.... before her jet-lag was over, she had a script and created a stage management plan, and worked wonders with the terrific stage crew (Sophie Adams, Steph Wright and Sam Hayes).... and no one has missed a cue, or had the wrong staging or anything.  Stage management is never easy, but Christina has totally blown us all away with her willingness and experience in getting things sorted.

Dan Carlisle, Rowan Pemberton, Sarah Hall, all need mentioning for their extra work in the ushing of people and checking they are all ok.

The Yr 11 Dance class have also stepped up, committing to the whole production, even though they are only on stage for a total of 59 seconds!  That is total committment.  So thank you Aleisha Bain, Danica Kawana, Jess Hollis, Ariane Gleeson, Ivy Skelton and Kristina Curtice.  I admire the way you have just taken the challenge and rolled with it brilliantly.

Josh Hoskins, Oliver Healy and Jordan Mackie have all been at school since 7:00am for over a week now getting the set, lighting and sound under control.  They have worked tirelessly to finish tasks, design and build, and to give up their own time to do it.  The show would be impossible without such people.

So, the show is on in the next 3 nights.  Tickets are $5.... be there.  Here are some images from performance so far.

Waimarama and Ilse as the Good Witches.... slightly ditzy but good hearted

Arjun, Alena-Rose and Dom get into character

The Scarecrow, Tinman, and Dorothy meet the Lion

Tilly, who is playing Toto.

Wordless Wednesday - Performance!

The Wizard of Oz

Well, in 7 days, IT'S ALL OVER!

After a whole year of planning to get the scripts in, 2 terms of preparation, auditions, rehearsals and holidays given up for practises, the performance is finally here!  (well.... almost...)

We are performing in the College Auditorium this week....

Monday 11 October - Dress Rehearsals
Tuesday 12 October - Matinee performance at 11:00am
Wednesday 13 October - Matinee performance at 11:00am

Thursday 14 October - Opening night - starting at 7:30pm
Friday 14 October - Dress in theme if you are keen - starting at 7:30pm
Saturday 15 October - Final Performance starting at the slightly earlier time of 7:00pm

Tickets can be purchased from the office, or as door sales from 6:00pm for the evening shows.  Prices are $5 per ticket, or $20 for a family pass.

Here are some images from dress rehearsals to give you an idea of the show.......

Alena as Dorothy is threatened by Kendall, the Wicked Witch of the West

Zemira, the choreographer, teaches dance moves in the Emerald City

Finn and Aaron, Munchkin Farmers, talk about the Scarecrow

Dorothy meets Dom, the Tinman

Arjun, the Cowardly Lion, hides in his forest

Martinborough Library Holiday Programme

Well, we were called up to go and offer our brand of entertainment at the Martinborough Library for their school holiday programme, and we went.

We did 2 sessions this holidays.

The first was a Circus session where we demonstrated how to juggle, spin plates, do diabolo, and Dan even juggled knives!

Sarah shows how to spin a plate

More plate spinning chaos

And then we went back for a Wizard of Oz day, where we performed a couple of scenes from the show, dressed in costume and did some face painting.

Arjun showing his cowardly side

Alena as Dorothy and Chaedyn as Binkie Winkie with Liz from the Library and Avana as a lion

Dan paints a cowboy boot on a face at the Library

Just some pictures to make up for lost time

It has been CRAZY!

Here are some images from the last week, and I will summarise it all in a blog tomorrow.