'Euphony' the theme of college stage challenge

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 641, 18 June 1996, Page 4

'Euphony' the theme of college stage challenge

"Euphony" is the title of this year's Ruapehu College Stage Challenge, which is to go on show Wednesday night at the annual ski fashion show (see page 9). This year' s theme, which means 'pleasing to the ear' first came from an idea about the mountain blowing up. But the students wanted to depict September last year in the physical sense only. So they came up with a story about what theyexperienced livingunder the mountain. Different groups of people have come and settled on the Central Plateau and they have taken five of the those groups - the Maoris, the farmers, the Army, the youth and the skiers. Each have come here for their own reasons, but in the face of disaster, many left the

shadows of Mt Ruapehu. Others stayed and worked together to overcome their fears and cohcerns, to live in respect and admiration of their mountain. As people returned, they found that their community was more closeknit. They were more concerned about those around them than before, and happier than before to unite and live in harmony no matter which group of people they identified with. Stage Challenge is acompetition for secondary schools and is now held in several countries around the world including Australia, USA, Fiji and New Zealand. It is a production using any compilation of contemporary music to convey a message on stage. The production is to be no less than three minutes and no more than eight minutes long and has a list of very particular rules. Last year, Ruapehu College went to Palmerston

North to compete in the regionals which they won. The winners of each region then go into a video final, where the best on video wins the national competition. It is this part of the show that will be shown on TV. This year a crew of 40 dancers and 15 backstage are working really hard to defend their title. The dress rehearsal at Holy Cow will be an excellent practice for the final in Palmerston North on Friday 2 1 June, but as the stage at Holy Cow isn't large enough to house all dancers, it is important to understand that the dance has been modified to suit the venue. The group is also having a "gold coin donation" dress rehearsal at Ruapehu College at 1.00 pm. Stage Challenge coordinator this year is Shelagh Buck, backstage coordinator is Ann Stuckey and dance choreographers are Kerri Gibson and Kath Campbell.