The Arts

The stage was set. The lights were bright. Our hearts were full as the time had come! This term saw our Senior Production of ‘Little Women’ brought to life by a double cast of incredible students. With two hours worth of dialogue, richly performed with American accents, beautiful period costume pieces, and a simple yet striking set, ‘Little Women’ was an absolute delight. Thank you to our Supporting Partner, Mainland Capital.

Portraying a tight-knit family, with very different personalities, hopes and dreams, the audience was taken on a journey of love, sacrifice, forgiveness, friendship and all the complex emotions and actions of being a family during the American Civil War. In every sense of the word, our cast formed their own family, igniting new friendships and becoming their own little whānau. Older cast members took the younger under their wings, and displayed beautiful leadership and encouragement – a true reflection of our ‘Big Sister / Little Sister’ culture at St Margaret’s College.

Over four shows, the whole production team brought everything to the stage, leaving us all inspired and proud of their achievement.

Alongside this production, there were other moments of celebration on the stage as students performed at the annual ‘Twilight Concert’. With a feeling of spring, the stage was alive with twinkling lights and colourful flowers, and the air of ‘new things’ was abundant!

The night featured Jazz, Choirs, Rock Bands, and Orchestra, to an incredibly moving drama piece from our winning Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival performers, and capping off the evening with some wonderful dance numbers, drawing inspiration from Matariki, up-beat musical numbers, and a poignant Vincent Van Gogh inspired routine.

We continue to be amazed by our students’ achievements so far this year, with a significant number of awards and recognition coming from this year’s Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival participants, including songwriting awards, best student director, winning essay entries, costume designs, and various acting awards at both regional and national level. Outstanding work from our girls, who represented the College with such professionalism and enthusiasm.

In Visual Arts we have four talented junior students selected for the annual ‘Art Stars’ Exhibition. The Exhibition is a spectacular display of Christchurch’s student art with their stunning art available to be purchased from the public. This is the first year that ‘Art Stars’ have had a Junior School section, and we are so proud of our SMC girls for their achievement and recognition for their work.

As we look forward to the rest of the year’s programme which includes celebrating our visual arts students through end of year exhibitions, and experiencing the hard work and wonderful choreography of our senior dance students for their ‘Retrograde’ dance show, we are delighted to see that our art students have not just ‘taken flight’ this year, but are truly soaring as they aim high in their quest to enrich their experiences and engage with the arts at SMC.