College stage crew pipped for placing

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 532, 19 April 1994, Page 13

College stage crew pipped for placing

Meeting 'What Now' presenter Darren Young was one of the highlights for Ruapehu College performers at last week's Smokefree Stage Challenge, held in Palmerston North. Ruapehu' s team of 40 met the TVNZ celebrity while camera crews were filming the Smokefree Wanganui-Manawatu/Ta-

ranaki heat at the Palmerston North Opera House. Excerpts were screened on 'What Now' on Saturday morning, with further clips to be screened as documentary footage on TV2, Saturday 21 May, at 5pm.

Consensus on the day - including that of ri val teams - was that Ruapehu College' s performance, entitled 'Dance Through The Ages' , deserved far better than the fourth position allocated it by judges (who included singer/songwriter 'Dal-

vanius'.) Ruapehu College coardinator Jude Knight said the entire audience registered disbelief at the result. "There was a collective gasp when they announced Ruapehu College in fourth place - the concensus was

that we should have come second," she said. This opinion was endorsed by Jain Gaudin, principal of first place-getters, New Plymouth Girls High School. The principal of

Waverley High School that was placed third reiterated that opinion. "They both thought we had been robbed," said Mrs Knight. Performances were marked out of 1 00 then fur-

ther broken down with points awarded for concept and creativity, teamwork, style and intefpretation, and stage presentation. Despite not being placed Turn to Page 15

College stage crew. Frompage 13 higher, Mrs Knight said the entire group of performers and back-stage crew "had a ball." "They haven't come down to earth yet," she said. The group was presented with a board-mounted Smokefree Stage Challenge poster to commemorate the event, as well as receiving the Best New School Award and Head Judge's Award, presented by Dalvanius. Each participating school was presented with a video copy of their performance by TVNZ. First place-getters, New Plymouth Girls High School, stunned the audience with a totally professional and visually amazing performance entitled 'The Creation.' Placed second with a dramatic interpretation of the theme 'Good versus Evil', was Hawera High School. In third place was Waverley High School, again with temptation as the theme, taking the form of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, money and sex.