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Hoërskool Garsfontein wen eerste ATKV-Sêrkompetisie
Hoërskool Garsfontein has emerged as the winners of the first ATKV Choir Competition with their performance of Checkers Sixty60 Superheroes at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town on September 23.
Mercia Eksteen, spokesperson for the ATKV, stated, “Judges were impressed by the school’s group with their rhythms and sounds.”
She explained that the national choir mentors, Frieda van den Heever and Francois van der Merwe, had a tough time selecting the winners due to the multitude of teen groups setting the tone with foot-stomping delight and harmonies.
Garsfontein walked away with three prizes: Best production and winner of R20,000, as well as the ATKV Choir Exchange Trophy, best musicality with the theme, Checkers Sixty60 Superheroes, and best new composition for the new song, “My dream job.”
Four productions were invited to the national final. Another winner in a sub-category was Hoërskool Parel Vallei with “Newspaper.”
The group’s coach, Ruan Odendaal, explained that as head of performing arts at the school, he is extremely proud of the group.
He mentioned that the idea to use the Checkers Sixty60 Superheroes theme originated from a comment by a mother in the school who asked him who his hero in life is.
“I have often coached university groups for such competitions, but this time it was a bigger challenge for me to find a theme that the members of the group could identify with,” Odendaal expressed. “I thought how cool would it be if they could think they are each their own heroes.”
He explained that the group’s winning song, “My dream job,” was the group’s own composition and had as its theme life’s superheroes.
“Everyone is a hero to someone. And everyone is capable of being a hero to someone. Each one of us gets an excellent opportunity to do something to change someone’s life,” he believed.
For him and the group, an example of such a hero was the drivers of the supermarket chain who work so hard every day to deliver groceries on their motorcycles.
“What would we do without them?” Odendaal asked.
For him, the members of his singing group were unique.
“Each child found a place for themselves in the group. It showed in the way they accepted each other. They were not the kids from the popular group, but kids with perseverance. In my eyes, each one of them is a superhero.”
An audio recording of the ATKV Choir Final will be broadcast on Sunday, September 29 at 16:00 on Fine Music Radio.
– WATCH: This is what Hoërskool Garsfontein’s choir group production looks like: ATKV Choir Group Production Video
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