THE COMPETITIONS

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 30 August 1929, Page 9

THE COMPETITIONS

CONCLUDING DAY. PROGRAMME FOR THIS EVENING. The last day has been reached in the Hawera Competitions Festival, and it. has been signalised by much very good work in all sections. New records in day attendances have been put up by the society. The standard of work to-day has been very good, and the various finals for the evening with other events will make a programme which is certain to attract an overwhelming audience. To-night will see recalls in dancing —Character, skipping, and sword dance, fling, reel and hornpipe; music —girl's song, soprano or mezzosoprano solo, violin and piano solo; and the following events : Vocal solo and accompaniment, operatic solo, vocal duet (ladies), and instrumental trio; elocution—boy or girl under 10, and Shakesperian selection.

JUDGES’ REMARKS,

Elocution

Professor Walker said the work of the young competitors was again very good and showed much promise. In the humorous selection lie said that I Hit'll the recall competitors improved considerable in the evening. Mr Claris was inclined to be a bit slow. He scored 79 and Mr Thomas 72. The judge earnestly advised competitors to make better selections in the humorous section. He said there was a very wide field of good work from which to choose.

Dealing with the. recitation for girls under 12, he said much of it was particularly good. Faulty phrasing was, .however, fairly common* and he reminded them that it was necessary to recite according to the sense of the piece. Generally speaking, he said the choice was good, and in this respect was better than tlieir elders.

Joyce Knightbridge: Pausing might be improved, sympathetic rendering, and nice feeling and fine expression. Eileen Kelsen: Very pleasing, good voice; a promising competitor. Doris Gilmore : Nice- style and good voice, inflections astray in places. Recitation, not humorous (under 18). Nancy Turnbull: Good voice and expression, but transitions rather abruptly. Veronica. Quin: Rather too soft at end, and a few mispronunciations. Vivien Jones: Very sympathetic and a good effort. Joan Thomas: Good voice and very promising. Remarking on the impromptu speaking, he said it was fairly good, and the winners had scored 84 and 82 marks respectively. i

THE DANCING. Miss Gibbs said that the work in the hornpipe was not very good on the whole, and she hoped there would be an improvement. She urged the children always to look to their shoes before they went on the stage. In the fling the footwork was generally good and neat, but more attention could still be paid to this. Several of the performers showed distinct promise.

•Jean McAsey.—Feet nice and neat and firmly used. Tegg.V Denman. —'Feet untidy, but has a nice style. The standard in the dance duo, she said, was quite high, hut, unfortunately. in, some cases the duo did not balance, one being good and the other indifferent. The winners had, however, worked together well. June Goodwin and Audrey McLaren. • —Expression well used and worked well together, with good time; a bright performance. Joan Thomas and Trevor Hunter. — Expression nice, but arrangement not. too interesting.

Folk dancing, she said, was very interesting, and she was glad to see it taken up strongly and to see the excellent entry. It was good for children, but there was one thing lacking. The youngsters took things too seriously, whereas everything should be done happily and joyfully, putting their whole work into the dance and showing that they enjoyed the work. Hawera Convent. —Costuming most attractive and brightly danced. Gained three marks on time.

Te Roti School.—Worked exceptionally well together and danced very brightly. Operatic dancing, she said, depended very largely on finish and technique. The performers generally did well. Joan Thomas.—Should keep the feet in, but body used well on the whole. Gwen Mahoney.—Shows much promise and is a nice little dancer. The ehai-aeter dancing was a very good class and all made a good showing.

The winners were: Given Mahoney.—A very spirited performance. Joan Thomas. —A good character and caught the spirit well. Tfrevor Hunter. —Costume effective and a good characterisation, with nice expression. Hornpipe. Jean MoAsey.—Shows promise: good time. Norma Nixon.—Neat- footwork and will make a nice little dancer. SWORD RANCH (under 18). Recalls.—Doreen Nairn and Jean McAsey. Also competed.—Margaret Lawrence, Con Coolasley, Phyllis Lee, Ron Scales, H. Hann, Flossie Purson, Bess Wilson, Monica Webster, Patricia Edwards, A. Aldridge, C. Roebuck, peggy Denman, Nora Rothery. PIANO SOLO I (open). ! Test, “Liebestraume” (Liszt). Recalls.—Miss M. Mackie, Mi’s. A. M. Young, Miss K. Hynes, Also competed.—Miss R. Mills, Miss D. Swadling, Miss G. Lees, Miss Betty Ryan, Miss J. Lander Miss K. Hynes. W. R. Chapman. CHARACTER. DANCE (under 12). Recalls.—Christine McLaren, Junne Goodwin. Also competed.—Molly Petersen, Joyce Burns, Mavis Reid, Norma Thomas. HIGHLAND REEL (under 18). Recalls.—Con Cookslcv (Palmerston North), -Doreen Nairn (ilawera), Monica Webster (New Plymouth), Joan McAsey (Normanby).