News and Publications > Newsletter Content for SMC > Arts News Term 3, Week 2

Arts News Term 3, Week 2

	1 Aug 2024
	Newsletter Content for SMC

MARY POPPINS Photos to purchase via SMUG MUG

What a ‘practically perfect’ way to wrap up Term Two with four supercalifragilistic performances of this wonderful musical. Students and staff alike went into the term break feeling proud, if a little exhausted, and relishing the memories made over the last term and a half.

Photos from our incredible photographer, Petra, are now available to purchase via SmugMug. Click the link below to see all the photos and make your purchase!

If you want to buy a large bulk amount, you are welcome to email Petra to discuss options.

EMAIL: info@petramingneau.com

Link to Smug Mug

https://petramingneau.smugmug.com/MARRY-POPPINS/n-vxjP6h

All the best, Jazz Band!

We wish all the best to our Jazz Band, which will be travelling to Blenhiem next week for the annual Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival.

They will participate in competitions, workshops and public performances across five days of jazz immersion, where they will build upon their skill and repertoire and make great connections with other South Island schools.

Thank you to Amanda Woods, Chris Walker, and band leader Lana Law for their support in travelling and performing with the band. We can’t wait to hear all about it!

Chamber Choir off to the Big Sing Cadenza

There are more travelling musicians representing SMC. This time, our Chamber Choir will head south to Timaru for the annual Big Sing Cadenza, where they will participate in competitions, workshops, and a gala performance over three days.
What a marvellous opportunity for all 24 students travelling to gain more performance experience. We wish them all the best as the #takethefloor.

A huge thanks again to the staff involved: Rachel Wilford, our Choir Director, Amanda Woods (Head of Music), and Margaret Jack (supporting the team on Obeo!) for all your support.

DANCE SUCCESS
Over the July school holidays, many dancers from SMC performed and achieved success in different dance competitions. We are excited to share Nova Gainsford, Coco Brady, and Sina Avia’s achievements from the New Zealand Dance Award Finals. We look forward to sharing more successes from these competitions in future newsletters.

Nova Gainsford

New Zealand Dance Awards - Nationals

Team Awards

**Best Jazz Group overall - all ages NZ wide**

3rd Hip Hop - Intermediate

4th Jazz - Senior

3rd Jazz - Intermediate

3rd Lyrical - Intermediate

2nd Production Groups - Any age

Solo Awards

Gold awards in all dances

Jazz

Lyrical

Contemporary

Evolution Dance Regionals

4th - Jazz

5th - Contemporary

3rd - Lyrical

Placed 7th in the Elite category for overall best dance - Lyrical.

Coco Brady

New Zealand Dance Awards - Nationals

1st place, elite gold, national champion Senior Musical Theatre Group

1st place, elite gold, national champion Production Group

1st place, high gold, national champion, Intermediate Lyrical Group.

Sina Avia

New Zealand Dance Awards - Nationals

1st place, elite gold, national champion Senior Musical Theatre Group

1st place, elite gold, national champion Production Group

1st place, high gold, national champion, Intermediate Lyrical Group.

Abi Croft

New Zealand Dance Awards - Nationals

2nd Jazz

3rd Lyrical

3rd Musical Theatre

Scarlett Austin

New Zealand Dance Awards - Nationals

2nd Jazz

3rd Lyrical

3rd Musical Theatre

Congratulations to Nova, Coco, Scarlett, Abi, and Sina.

Congratulations to Stella Lee

During the first week of the school holiday, Stella competed alongside many outstanding and inspiring NZ dancers at the New Zealand Dance Award Finals. Stella was awarded the 2024 Petite NZ Top Dancer title and was privileged to wear the most beautiful Korowai, which represented high prestige and honour.

Stella has also competed in Jazz, winning the 2024 Petite Jazz Scholarship and the top prize.

Her results were:

1st Petite Top Dancer

1st Petite Jazz Scholarship

1st Musical Theatre Solo

1st Jazz Solo

2nd Lyrical Solo

2nd Classical Ballet Solo

What an incredible achievement, the whole school, especially the Junior School are so proud of you.

SMC representing in the Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir

This July, current Year 12 students Alice Penney and Juliet Grey travelled to Auckland to participate in the World Choir Games. The World Choir Games is an international choral competition that resembles the Olympics in the choral world, with over 11,000 singers from over 30 countries travelling to Auckland to participate in this event.

Alice and Juliet are current members of the Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir, one of New Zealand’s four national choirs, conducted by Elise Bradley and Rowan Johnston. The Aotearoa New Zealand Academy Choir competed in the Youth Choirs category in the Open Competition and came home with a Gold Diploma Level 5 with a score of 24.94 out of a possible 30. They won second place in their category and have also qualified for the World Choir Games Champions Competition and Grand Prix of Nations in the next five years.

During the World Choir Games, Alice and Juliet sang many songs in many languages, immersing themselves in different languages and cultures. Their repertoire consisted of songs in Māori, Samoan, Italian, German, Latin and Old Slovenian, some with traditional actions. Whilst attending the World Choir Games, Alice and Juliet had the opportunity to be able to learn about different languages and cultures when attending different competition categories, and they listened to some incredible and international award-winning choirs from America, Denmark, China, and many more.

THEATREFEST
This weekend, the following students will represent St Margaret's College in the Local Theatre Festival, competing against nine other local Theatre Collectives and schools. They will perform the premiere of Ruth Agnew's play Ōtautahi Rocks.

The Cast:

Rose Griffiths

Tina Xu

Emily Davis

Harriet Thorp

Lucia Tully

CJay (India) Horey

Rhea Wallace

Bridget Rooney

Kylana Peauafi Symonds

Featuring the voices of:

Emily Chambers

Caitlin Ching

Our Speech and Drama teacher and resident playwright Ruth Agnew has written and directed the play which explores aspects of our city in five acts: awa, maunga, whenua, iwi/ whānau and ahau.

Please join us in supporting our team on Sunday 4th August at 2pm at Rangi Ruru Girls School Merivale Lane Theatre.

Tickets are $10 students, $15 Concession and $20 Adult

Seating is not allocated.

Bookings are not required. All tickets are available from the box office, which will be open 45 minutes before each session.

Cash or eftpos only. No credit cards.

Break a leg to this wonderful group of students.

Thank you so much to Megan Herd for supporting this group of students in their creative pursuits.

SPEECH & DRAMA SUCCESS
Some SMC Speech & Drama stars took the floor and shone bright during the school holidays, competing in the Performing Arts Competitions Society Speech and Drama Competitions.

From Saturday, July 6, to Tuesday, July 9, SMC students aged 6 - 17 competed in various drama, public speaking, and recitation classes, winning numerous medals and ribbons and some of the major trophies and monetary awards.

Trophies and monetary prizes are awarded for different achievements, such as accumulating the highest points in certain classes, or showing outstanding skill throughout the competitions. Our youngest SMC competitors were awarded a particularly important trophy; Ena and Nari Yoon (years 2 & 3) received the McCarroll Shield for Good Competitors, which is chosen by the Competitions convener and committee. The convener referred to their enthusiastic support of others and shared a story about returning slightly late from a morning tea break to find that Ena and Nari had announced the upcoming class, gathered the competitors, lined them up, then seated them in order, marked the absentees and made a plan for any latecomers. Ena also won the Under 8 trophy.

At the other end of the age spectrum, senior students Harriet Thorp, Lucia Tully, Emily Davis and Maddie Coughlan were all awarded prizes or trophies, while mentoring and supporting our younger SMC performers. Harriet took away an armful of cups and envelopes, including one of the biggest awards, the Des Marsh Memorial Scholarship. To win this, Harriet had to perform a 15 minute continuous program of a seven minute speech,a toast, and an informative reading, and an impromptu speech.

Major Prizes:

Trinity 125 Year Jubilee Trophy (under 8)
Ena Yoon

McCarroll Shield for Good Competitorship
Ena and Nari Yoon

Des Marsh Memorial Scholarship
Harriet Thorp

Yates Family Trophy
Harriet Thorp

Christchurch. competitions Society Prize
Harriet Thorp

Alan Looser Memorial Trophy
Emily Davis

Christchurch Competitions Prize (Improvisation Duo)
Alexandra Smith (with Aaron Yu)

Noeline McAleer Cup (16-19)
Maddie Coughlan

Duologue (16 and over)
Lucia Tully and Harriet Thorp

Lynn Williams Prize
Harriet Thorp and Lucia Tully

Results in Individual Classes:

Test poem (10-12)
Olive Bascik C
Penny O’Sullivan HC
Isobel Pettigrew C
Harriet Kristiansen-Benge C
Caroline Shallcross VHC

Reading at Sight (10-12)
Isobel Pettigrew C
Penny O’SullivanHC
Olive Bascik HC
Harriet Kristiansen-Benge HC
Caroline Shallcross VHC

Prepared Prose Reading(10-12)
Penny O’Sullivan VHC
Alexandra Smith C

Own Selection Poetry (14-16)
Emily Davis 2nd
Tessa de Wit HC

Prepared Poetry Reading (14-16)
Tessa de Wit 3rd

Novice Own Selection Poem (12-16)
Sadhbh O’Neill 1st

Prepared Speech (13-16)
Sadhbh O’Neill 3rd

Own Selection Poem (16-19)
Maddie Coughlan 2nd
Harriet Thorp VHC

Duologue (Open)
Lucia Tully and Harriet Thorp 1st

Impromptu Speech (open)
Harriet Thorp 1st

Dramatic Extract (16-19)
Harriet Thorp 2nd
Lucia Tully VHC
Maddie Coughlan HC

Test Poem (16-19)
Harriet Thorp 2nd
Maddie Coughlan 3rd

Test Poem (under 8)
Ena Yoon 2nd

Novice Test (8-10)
Nari Yoon VHC
Diya Arun HC
Ada Copeland HC
Bella Ellwood C
Ada Zhao C
Maya Dwivedi C

Novice Own Selection Poem (8-10)
Nari Yoon 3rd
Diya Arun C
Ada Copeland C
Bella Ellwood C
Ada Zhao C
Maya Dwivedi VHC

Dramatic Extract (10-12)
Penny O’Sullivan 2nd
Isobel Pettigrew VHC
Olive Bascik C
Caroline Shallcross VHC

Prepared Poetry Reading
Harriet Kristiansen-Benge HC
Caroline Shallcross HC
Penny O’Sullivan VHC

Reading From a Religious Text (under 13)
Penny O’Sullivan VHC

Prepared Mime (under 13)
Olive Bascik 3rd

Impromptu Speech
Sadhbh O’Neill 2nd

Improvisation Duo (13-16)
Sadhbh O’Neill 2nd

Reading at Sight (16-19)
Harriet Thorp 1st
Maddie Coughlan 2nd

Des Marsh Memorial Scholarship
Harriet Thorp 1st

Reading From a Religious Text (open)
Harriet Thorp 1st
Maddie Coughlan 2nd

Own Selection Poem (under 8)
Ena Yoon 1st

Prepared Poetry Reading (8-10)
Nari Yoon VHC
Bella Ellwood VHC

NZ Author Poem (under 10)
Bella Ellwood HC

Light Verse (10-12)
Penny O’Sullivan C

Own Selection (10-12)
Yijia Han C
Mollie Levenger C
Poppy Prebble VHC
Millie Moffatt HC
Harriet Kristiansen-Benge VHC

Test Poem (10-12)
Poppy Prebble C
Alexandra Smith C
Mollie Levenger HC
Millie Moffatt C
Yijia Han VHC

Improvisation Duo (under 13)
Alexandra Smith 1st
Penny O’Sullivan 3rd

NZ Author Poem (under 13)
Mollie Levenger HC

Improvisation Solo (open)
Maddie Coughlan 1st
Sadhbh O’Neill 2nd

Comedy (open)
Emily Davis 1st

NZ Author Poetry & Prose (open)
Harriet Thorp 1st
Maddie Coughlan 2nd

Duologue (open)
Emily Davis (with Grace Davis) 3rd

Own Selection Poem (10-12)
Olive Bascik HC
Penny O’Sullivan HC
Caroline Shallcross HC
Isobel Pettigrew C

Test Poem (14-16)
Emily Davis VHC

Dramatic Extract
Emily Davis 2nd
Tessa De Wit VHC

Reading at Sight
Tessa de Wit C

Prepared Poetry Reading
Tessa de Wit 3rd

NZ Author Poem
Emily Davis VHC

Mollie Levenger with Commended and Highly Commended ribbons

Poppy Prebble with Highly Commended and Very Highly Commended ribbons

Yijia Han with Very Highly Commended and Highly Commended ribbons (Yijia’s birthday is five days over the cut-off date, so she was the youngest in her age group classes - what an achievement)