Good Start To Competitions Society’s Festival

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30129, 13 May 1963, Page 7

Good Start To Competitions Society’s Festival

Many hundreds of hours of practice and tutorship culminated on Saturday in spirited demonstrations of dance, music, song and drama: talented juniors from many parts of the country competed in the first 35 classes of the Christchurch Competitions Society’s festival.

On Saturday evening, at the first of the programmes of general entertainment by class winners in the Civic Theatre, the patron of the society (Mr H. Cordery) formally opened the festival. He described the festival as a wonderful educational and competitive opportunity for children. There will be general entertainment programmes each evening of the competition. The theatre on Saturday was well filled by an audience which enthusiastically applauded the wide variety of items presented by the most successful of the day's competitors. Attendance at the four halls where competitions were held throughout Saturday was also very good, the secretary (Mr O. H. Houison) said. Several hundred visited all venues. The judges in nearly all sections considered the first day's standard high. The adjudicator for ballet and tap dancing, Miss P. Trimmer (Wanganui), said the technique of competitors generally was very good. Some performers in the tap section, she said, were the best she had seen in contests of this type. More than 200 persons packed the Girl Guides’ Hall for the harmonica and pianoaccordion contests throughout the day. The largest section in the festival, the piano-accordion solo with competitors between 12 and 14 playing their own selection, was contested by 39 boys arid girls. The event took all afternoon. A high general standard, particularly in the harmonica section where some performances were excellent, was reported by the judge, Mr C. L. Martin (Christchurch). The winner of the harmonica solo, Yvonne Dallow (Christchurch), was outstanding, he said. A common fault was the choosing of pieces which were too difficult. Disappointment at the small entries for mime was expressed by the speech and drama judge, Mr G. J. D. Hooper (Lower Hutt). Development of miming skill was vital for intending actors and in other centres these classes were generally popular, he said. In the two restricted recitation classes he judged on Saturday morning and afternoon. Mr Hooper said he found the standard fair. Commendable naturalness was shown in the eight to 10 group while, with few exceptions, contestants in the

older groups over-dramatised their work. Generally, voice production was very good and there were no poor selections. said Mr Hooper. Although singing generally reached a very high standard, the men’s performances were consistently better than the women's, said the judge for the vocal music section, Mrs G. Gibson (Wellington). Exceptional tonal quality was demonstrated by many of the contestants, the result of excellent teaching, she said. The artistry and feeling expressed by many of the men contestants in the sacred song class drew high commendation from Mrs Gibson. A general fault, she said, was weakness in intonation. With the majority of the restricted and novice classes decided on Saturday, the 38 classes which will be judged today and others throughout the week will be contested by generally more experienced performers and competition is expected to be very strong. National dancing events begin tomorrow in the Caledonian Hall. Results, with the home towns of competitors from outside Christchurch in parenthesis, were:—

SPEECH AND DRAMA (Lutheran Hail) Recitation.—Ten and under 12: Suzanne Robb 1 Marie Tracey 2. Pauline Tilley 3. Eight and under 10: Judith Banks 1. Karen Chalmers 2. Rosemary Bartlett 3. Humorous Recitation.—Twelve and under 14: Adriyana Markotich 1, Cheryl Hunter 2, Pamela Horniblow 3. Sixteen and over: Bruce Williams 1. Hidden Speech.—Under 14: Brenda Sargent (Ashburton) 1. Jeanette Luke 2, Adriyana Markotich 3. Fourteen and under 16: Peter Stokell 1, Patricia O'Sullivan 2. Craig Ashley 3. Mime.—Under 12: Rosina Browning 1, Brenda Sargent (Ashburton) 2, Mary Moran 3. Twelve and under 16: Merelyn Bull 1. Jillian Bartlett and Jeanette Luke (equal) 2. Dialogue (two competitors).— Under 12: Allannah O’Sullivan and Stephen Ballinger 1. Sharon Heaney and Vivienne Clark 2, Pamela Spencer and Karen Chambers and Maria Henderson and Julieyana Markotich (equal) 3. Twelve and under 16: Vicky Brown and Patricia O'Sullivan 1. Adrienne Hancock and Linda Jones 2. Character Recital.—Sixteen and over: John Ballinger 1. VOCAL MUSIC (Begg’s Concert Hall) Radio. —Men: C. Whitta and A. Bachop (Dunedin) recalls. Women: Mrs M. Ebert and Miss H. Max (Nelson) recalls. Miss R. Hannan (Dunedin) 3. Restricted.—Men: C. Whitta I. E. Paynter 2. G. Millar 3. Women: Miss J. Brightling 1. Mrs G. Elmey 2, Mrs S. Cook 3. Gilbert and Sullivan. —Miss R. Harman (Dunedin) 1. A. Bachop (Dunedin) 2.

Own Selection.—Mr A. Bachop (Dunedin) 1. Sacred Song.—Men: J. Cahill 1, W. Williams 2, G. RusseU and R. Macann (equal) 3. Women: Miss D. McLean (Dunedin) 1. Miss G. Millar 2, Mrs A. Cossins 3. Vocal Duet.—Mr G. Russell and Mr J. Cahill 1. Mrs S. Cook and Mrs B. Kench 2. Musical Comedy.—Miss S. Black 1. New Zealand composer.—Mrs M. Snbw (Winton) 1. MUSIC (Girl Guides’ Hall) Piano-accordion Solo. own selection.—Under 10: Marecza Shearman 1, Lorine Burt 2. Twelve and under 14: Phillip Falloon 1. Wendy Robinson 2. Barbara Biggs 3. Fourteen and under 18: Heather Mitchell 1. Teresa Wieczorek 2. Denise Cox 3. Open: Tony Clarke 1, Heather Mitchell 2, Lionel Barkle and Maureen Stewart (equal) 3. Piano-accordion Solo, test.— Under 14: Susan Lewis 1. Michael Reed 2. Lynette Vujcich. 3. Harmonica Solo, own selection.—Under 18: Yvonne Dallow 1. CIVIC THEATRE Dancing Classical Ballet.—Under eight: Shelley Hayes 1, Averill Williamson 2. Voyna Stanley 3. Under 10: Shelley Hayes 1, Patricia Frankland 2, Voyna Stanley 3. Ten and under 14: Gaylia Pearson 1. Christine Nicholson 2 Diane Lynn 3. Tap Dance.—Under 10: Evonamary Pinn (Runanga) 1. Pamela Cossar 2. Peter Murray 3. Open: Mary Wise 1, Patricia Adair 2. Beverley Cornelius 3. Song and Tap Dance. —Under 10: Judith Kiesanowski 1, Peter Murray 2. Gillian Duffy 3. Fourteen and under 16: Warren Matthews 1. Susan Marsden 2. Character Duo.—Twelve and over: Anna Coombs and Marilyn Dunn 1.