JUVENILE TALENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1937, Page 8

JUVENILE TALENT

PRIMARY SCHOOL FESTIVAL

Children from nineteen primary schools of Wellington, city and suburbs demonstrated their talent to an audience that almost filled the. Town Hall for the first night of the second I annual primary schools' festival last '"Festivals such as that begun last [night serve three purposes. .They afford to parents an opportunity of seeing and hearing the accomplishments acquired by their children, in conjunction with others, they give the I participating children a chance to prove their mettle on a public platj form under concert conditions, and they give to the temporarily non-per-forming children an idea of what is being done in schools other than their own" Added, to this the present festival has a fourth object, the swelling of the funds of the Otaki Children's Health Camp. In every, object -last night's programme was a complete success, . , , „ ■■ ~ There were sixteen, items ort the programme, many of. them of more than one piece. Bach item was provided by a group of children from a different school, none of which was mentioned by name on the, programme. * ' . , -Two choral numbers by a mixed choir of boys and girls, "You Spotted Snakes" and "Five Eyes," with two other items as well, were perhaps the best in the earlier part of though the wide range of the programme made comparisons aiflicuit, a percussion band of tiny performers daintily clad gave a charming performance, and a team of boys and girls won thunders of applause with a physical culture act of acrobatics and tumbling. Two verse-speaking numbers were effectively presented by a choir of well-trained girls. Another popular item was a display "of physical exercises by a team of girls whose vivid green costumes infused a note of colour into the programme. A dainty ball dance was something novel, and humour was provided, by the only item on the programme that did not involve much teamwork, a burlesque in which four boys depicted the horrors of unpractised dentistry. But the best item of all was a fancy dance entitled "Rhythm," in which a ballet of small girls gave an almost perfect exhibition of the difficult art of concerted tap dancing. Theirs was an exceptionally good performance. In declaring the festival open, the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said all parents would agree that there could be no better way of developing a spirit of friendly competition and appreciation of good music, art, and literature than by such festivals as the present one. He hoped that all the children competing would obtain from the festival an understanding of how much there was to be gained from the dis-i cipline of learning to play their parts thoroughly and well The Mayor expressed the thanks of the citizens to all those in the various schools who had helped in the organisation. The progra'mme was as follows:— Folk dances, "Lovely Wulka," and "Turning Dance"; choral, "To Spring" (Gounod); "J3egone, Dull Care" (Traditional); and "Fairest Isle" (Purcell); fancy dance, "Rhythm"; percussion band; choral, "You Spotted Snakes" (Armstrong Gibbs) and ."Five Eyes" (Armstrong Gibbs); physical culture; folk dances, "Goddesses" and "Jenny Pluck Fears"; choral, "Londonderry Air" (G. Shaw) and "La Donna e Mobile" (Verdi); physical exercises; choral, "Peace'* (Schubert) and "Greeting to Spring" (F. A. Challinor); a ball dance; verse-speaking, "Memory" (Lisa Cross) and "A Hungry Fox" (Unknown); rhythmic dance; dramatic, "The Dentist's Den" (Unknown); action Song, "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" (Somerset folk song); folk dances, • "Ribbon Dance and "French Reel." • , The festival will conclude with a different programme tonight.