COMPETITIONS PROVE GREAT SUCCESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18469, 22 May 1928, Page 9

COMPETITIONS PROVE GREAT SUCCESS.

JUDGES COMMENT ON STANDARD OF WORK. Judges of the elocutionary and dancing sections at the Christchurch Competitions gave their opinions as to the standard of the work, when interviewed to-day. Both said that the festival had been a great success and congratulated the society on its efficient management. “ These annual competitions are of considerable benefit to the community in creating a stimulus in the arts, and a better sense of artistic standard,” said Mr E. Culford Bell, judge of the elocutionary section. All competitors who had participated in these festivals in the right spirit had gained greatly thereby. The -work in the elocutionary classes this year had been, on the whole, fairly good, said Mr Culford Bell, particularly in the Tadies’ class, where there were a number of bright, talented competitors who were very evenly matched. The standard of the work this year compared very favourably with other years. Those competitors who triumphed did so because they had given a better interpretation. “Spontaneity is the thing to be striven for,” continued the speaker, “for directly the art is apparent, all naturalness disappears. The result is a bare elocution, which is very unpleasant. So many of the competitors made this error.” Natural Effect Lost. “They are so much concerned with trying to get little changes of inflection of pitch, or variety of tone, that they succeed in giving an elocutionary effect to their work, instead of spontaneity, a natural effect that should make one forget the reciter and see only the things described or the persons that are being impersonated." He was pleased to note a marked improvement in the “own choice” selections, and an absence of items in dialect. Competitors were always on safe ground in choosing pieces of good English literature. An increase in the men’s classes had been a very pleasing feature of the festival and very fair work had been done by the competitors. The junior entries, as usual, were very numerous, and these competitors presented some very bright work. The English of the juniors was good, although a certain amount of vowel impurity was noticeable. “The outstanding fault in the junior classes is an attempt to recite rather than to tell a story.” said Mr Bell. “Children show a tendency, also, to choose pieces of an adult nature, which is, of course, foreign to the child mind. The effect produces merely a parrot-like imitation.” Dancing. “ The standard of the dancing, on the whole, was not very high,” said Miss Eugenie Dennis, judge of the dancing section. Competitors were a little too ambitious. “ 1 would suggest that they choose simple dances and execute them well and with feeling,” continued Miss Dennis. The dancing section was inciined to be small in numbers, which was a great pit)*, as every child should learn to dance. Apart from it being a splendid recreation which brougnt heaith in perfection, it co-ordinated the mental and physical powers and developed both, creating a deep moral influence. Children should be taught natural dances; steps and rhythmical movements that anyone would make who felt impelled to move. Spontaneous Movements. “ The movements must be spontaneous,” said the speaker, “ and inspiration should be drawn from the world of nature and from all that is good and strong in human nature. Through it all thev must express themselves.” The easiest way to bring out expression was to appeal to the imagination. The operatic technique was necessary to comment, in the early stages, but it must be taken gradually, otherwise children would have the tendency to become mechanical. Miss Dennis said that technique was simply the control of the mind over the body, so that the body moved as the mind desired, and was the instrument of expression. Operatic work, she continued, was largely a matter of acquiring good habits of position, and motion, with bar work for strengthening the muscles and overcoming “ It is important that each exercise should be studied with care until it becomes a force of habit, so that when performed in a dance, it can be used easily and unconsciously.” Then the dancing should be taken in a bright and artistic setting, added Miss Dennis. Steps apertaining to each style of dance should be kept in their own atmosphere. ** If a dance has no beauty it has no sufficient reason to exist, for dance is an art.”