DieMATIE WOENSDAG 1 FEBRUARIE 2017 | GR ATIS
SES-EN-SEWENTIGSTE JAARGANG | NO 1
LET’S DANCE Maties kicked of the year with a bang at the annual Vensters festival. On the photo Metanoia and Sonop are showing their moves.
Minerva and Huis Visser walks away with crown
Vensters festivities kickstart the year 2017. While the men’s residences Eendrag and Helshoogte chose to follow their own welcoming week program, other residences followed the recommended MAD²-program, which included a short performance by different partnering residences/PSOs repeated throughout the evening.
funded by Eendragters,” said Ben Moolman, prim of Eendrag. Helshoogte prim, JC Meiring, explained their HK and newcomers went on a very successful camp to promote comradery. “Then on the night of Vensters we went to show our newcomers how the productions work and explained exactly why we did not take part. “By not competing, we saved thousands of rands that we can make available to our residents, perhaps in the form of bursaries,” said Meiring.
The rebels Eendrag worked with MAD² and Rietenbosch Primary School in Cloetesville to create a new production rather than to partake in the point system used for Vensters. During intervals their first years also performed. “We transformed our dining hall into a promotional area where we presented all our community projects for the year as well as the residences Omsienfonds, a fund for Eendragters
The traditionals The rest of the residences chose to do a traditional Vensters and provided a grand finale to MAD² week, formerly known as JOOL, with theatre-style productions performed by several residences and PSO’s. Partnerships and rivalries between competing students have been the motivation for excellent productions, making use of professional lighting, music and even fire breathers. Every partnership uses their own
ARLEEN STONE
W
ith a new look and a titillating theme Vensters served up a good start to
Winners 1 Huis Visser & Minerva 2nd Huis ten Bosch & Kerkenberg 3rd Meerhoff & Serruria and Osler & Huis Neethling st
residents to help choreograph their dances, record the voices needed for the characters in the production and to market their performance as the next winner of Vensters. This year the title went to Huis Visser and Minerva (#MVP – Minerva Visser Productions) for their production, “I Hear You”, drawing on the theme for MAD² 2017, “Let’s Talk”. “I Hear You” saw students mimicking an episode from the famous reality show, The Voice, which filled the crowd with laughter. Celebrity look-a-likes of Idols judge, Somizi Mhlongo, DIY queen, Suzelle DIY, and American president,
Donald Trump, graced the stage with convincing performances. The three contestants never stood a chance as Willemiena de Villiers ordered them to pay fees before allowing them into the finals. Vice prim of Huis Visser, Estian Maree, said the best moment of the entire process was when they found out they had won Vensters. “We were all still chilling on the stage when the announcement came through and then everyone started singing ‘We are the champions!’. “Obviously, the Huis Visser guys just had to send voice notes to our friends from Huis Marais to inform them that we beat them,” he said. The two residences claimed that teamwork, fun and good “gees” was the reason for their win. As promised, Vensters touched on several current and concerning topics on the Stellenbosch University campus, giving an enlightened view on how students need to both talk and listen in order to work together towards an inclusive future.
How JOOL became MAD2 In 2012 the traditional JOOL was replaced with MAD2, an acronym which stands for “Making a Decision to Make a Dif ference”. In September 2011 Die Matie reported that af ter debates about JOOL, the prim commit tee decided to adapt the format of JOOL. Elements like building floats, Akkerjol and Trollies fell away. The commit tee felt JOOL became too competitive, the costs was too high and the time spend on building floats was too much and said MAD2 would be more cost ef fective.