The Smart Arts: Theatresports 2011

With the intercollegiate Theatresports competition always a highlight on the Arts calendar, a little snow may have postponed the tournament, but did not cancel it completely. This year we were the most represented College, with 13 teams entered into the competition.

Our junior teams performed admirably, and were stunning to watch. Stand out performances by Civic Cruz - completing the full splits on stage, Cameron Hawke weaving a wonderful storyline in Pop-up Storybook, Walter Barber and Emma Jenkins's Hands Interview. The juniors definitely have raised the bar on what is possible in the next few years.

In the Senior Novice division we had our most nervous groups, the Year 12's and Year 11's. Most of the teams had never performed before, but did a wonderful job. Mikaela Osborne held her team together nicely, Connor Henare will not be forgotten for his dolphin training any time soon, and the spontaneous rap by the Year 12's was insane.

In the Open Division, we had 3 teams, "Oops Crazy baby did it again", "Power Cheese" and "The Boogiemen". While the Boogiemen got off to a fantastic start with their team introduction, and energetic performances in Stunt Doubles, the judges scored them lowly. Choruses of boo's were heard from the crowd. The boys were unperturbed, as they were the reigning champions from 2010. Power Cheese were well prepared and had a great get-on-with-it attitude.

Each of the Open Division teams knew they were likely to have to challenge each other in the competition, so preparations were kept secret. Each team had 2 specialist games that the other teams did not know about. The Year 13 boys played energetic physical games - Stunt Doubles and Human Props. The Girls team played more subtle, highly specialised games - Ballet and Madrigal, and the mixed team worked with their own particular strength with words - playing Hands Interview and Song. They each brought something special to the table, and entertained a crowd, as well as their own classmates.

At the end of the day, only one team can be victorious, and the winners for 2011 were "Oops Crazy Baby did it Again". The team consisted of Zoe Renor, Chaedyn Dukes, Lexie Fleming, Sara Morasurat and Julia Dahlgren. Sadly, only Zoe will remain at Kuranui next year to defend her title.