Wide-eyed and amazed describes the audience
attending the fifth Rotary Club of Mangere Showtime extravaganza at the Mangere
Arts Centre over four days on September 10-13.
The spectacular opening act by the Mangere
College’s Kapa Haka group set the pace and tone of energy and excitement for
the showcase of youth talent in the performing arts in New Zealand’s Mangere
community. Mangere Showtime has become entrenched into the local
community calendar with a strong support from all of the local schools, and has
the community’s gratitude for taking the raw talent of their youth while providing
a platform for refinement, which in turn opens up new opportunities for these
performers to progress their artistic talents.
One evening was specifically set aside for students
needing to perform in front of a live audience as part of their National
Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) exam assessment. This produced a variety show with all sorts of
instruments and types of performances to a high standard that kept the audience
fully attentive throughout the show and provided performers with a real
audience’s reaction. This was the dream of former president Des Johnson and he
drove Showtime in its formative years. In 2014 this musical showcase was
grown further with the introduction of “The Next Step Project”, a new
initiative that will enable eight selected performers to be mentored as they
develop in their chosen performing arts.
Performances were videoed and placed onto
vimeo.com/user7025957, so they have been played around the world.
More: www.mangere.rotarysouthpacific.org 
