Te Awamutu Showcasing Talent

It is no small achievement for a small town like Te Awamutu to stage an annual competitions festival and it requires a huge
amount of time and effort over many months by those involved.

This year more than 2000 children, young people and adults will be in town for this showcase of their talents.

Competitors, coming from as far away Auckland and Wellington, will join many from the Waikato, to vie for the trophies and prize money on offer in the 52nd annual Te Awamutu Competitions Society festival which is being staged over six days.

This year the dancing section has received bumper entries - just over 200 competitors, providing over 1000 entries, will be converging on Te Awamutu. This has necessitated an extra day of competition being added to the programme to cater for the increase in numbers.

NOMINATION CLASSES

One of the drawcards for this year’s dancing competitors is the chance of a nomination for the New Zealand Performer of the Year award. All three sections (ballet, modern dance and tap) are nomination classes.

Other sections offering nominations at the local festival include pianoforte and vocal, so five competitors will be selected to represent the Te Awamutu Competitions Society at national level.

Competitions president Murray Flay says highly qualified adjudicators have been engaged to judge each section (see feature,
pages 10-11 for further details) and a team of volunteers will be working hard to help with the smooth running of the event which begins on Saturday.

“We are also well supported by the community - this support enables the continued running of this longstanding and successful festival.
“Members of the public are invited to attend the event, to enjoy the many talented competitors in dance, vocal, speech, pianoforte and instrumental.”

Venues, times etc are advertised in the classified section, while programmes with full details can be purchased at Paper Plus and Whitcoulls.