We celebrate further outstanding achievements in Speech & Drama and look forward to our girls’ participation in The Big Sing National Finale, Secondary Schools’ Theatresports Competition and SMC Dance evening.

Speech Excellence
Congratulations to ex SMC student Pratheeksha Chandru, who gained the highest Distinction at the 2017 Speech New Zealand exams for her Associate Diploma in Performance, sharing this achievement with Peter Yu, a student of St. Andrew's College. Both students gained Distinction for all three modules of their diploma and were presented with trophies last Saturday in Christchurch. Prathe is now studying medicine at Auckland University and flew down especially to receive the award. We also extend our congratulations to Prathe’s tutor Dinie Bevers.

Tuakana/Teina relationships nurtured in the Performing Arts
Last week the Year 8 Performing Arts class was treated to a guest tutor. Holly Caunter from the Year 11 NCEA Drama class was invited in to speak to the class about her work for the Performing Arts Technology Standard - Application of Stage Makeup.
The Year 8 girls enjoyed chatting to Holly about her 'Queen of Hearts' makeup application. Holly used a student from the class, Paris Hague, as a model for her assessment. The Performing Arts at SMC offers many opportunities for our girls to nurture the tuakana/teina or big sister/little sister bonds. We believe in the philosophy that "everyone is a learner and everyone is a teacher". It is wonderful to see opportunities like this happening around our faculty and we are sure that both Holly and the Year 8 class learnt many things during this process.

Songs for Nobodies
Year 11-13 NCEA Drama and IB Theatre Arts students will be treated to an exclusive performance of "Songs for Nobodies' performed by Ali Harper in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre Friday 24 August. We are honoured to have Ali perform and so grateful to her for making this opportunity possible for our students who will use this performance to respond to their external examination at the end of the year. Thank you Ali!

Senior Theatresports Competition
This Sunday 26 August we encourage you to join us for great entertainment at the regional school competition of senior Theatresports. The SMC heat starts at 2:30pm and will be held in Studio 1, E Block, in the NASDA building, 130 Madras St. Our girls have been training since the beginning of the year and we wish Bella Belcher, Kaitlin Burden, Elizabeth Cross, Feya Durkin, Sophia Lawrence and Rosie Milne all the best.

Physical Theatre workshops
Next week we welcome Alys Hill into our Drama department to work with our senior NCEA Drama and IB Theatre Arts students. Alys has trained and worked internationally with Zen Zen Zo, and will be workshopping a combination of different physical theatre techniques which will enrich our senior girls’ drama skills and theatre repertoire. The workshops take place all day Wednesday and Thursday August 29 and 30, with a final session Friday August 31 after school.

Big Sing National Finale
We wish the members of our senior combined chorale, the “Amanda Choir” all the best for their upcoming performances at the Big Sing Choral Federation Competition, to be held at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington August 30-September 1. 18 singers from St Margaret’s and Christ’s College have been practising very hard for the competition with their Director Rosemary Turnbull and will compete alongside choirs from all over New Zealand, culminating in a gala concert the last night.

NCEA Dance Evening: A Moment in Time
We welcome our community to join us Saturday 8 September at 7pm in the Charles Luney Auditorium for an evening of dance presented by our Year 11-13 NCEA Dance students. The work showcases the girls’ own choreography alongside that of Dance Head Candice Cain and will also include performances from our Middle School and Senior Dance Companies. All welcome with a gold coin donation.

Alice! photos
Our talented photographer Petra Mingneau has set up an independent website where photos from our production of Alice! can be purchased. Here is the link to the gallery where you can see the images and purchase them straight from the website: https://petramingneau.smugmug.com/ALICE/n-Rk3V2P/

Percussive storytelling workshop for Year 1-8
This term, Canterbury University are hosting Cory Hills, a member of grammy-nominated percussion ensemble the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. As part of his visit Cory has offered to do some outreach with local students. His program is called Percussive Storytelling, and it brings storytelling and classical music to kids in fun and accessible ways. Cory has presented more than 470 programs to over 110,000 children in 8 different countries and released two children’s albums and two children’s books. Workshop themes are centred on traditional, multicultural folktales that Cory either writes himself or adapts from existing stories. Cory also talks to the children about how to craft stories, where the instruments are from, and how he created the concept. Cory will be joining us at SMC to present a session for our Year 1-8 girls Thursday 13 September, Period 6, in the auditorium. The price will be $3 per student, to be charged to accounts.