ALBURY Wodonga Eisteddfod competitors worried things may go wrong when performances start this week – relax.
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Your adjudicators know what that’s like.
“I’ve had times when I’ve had a hair piece fall off or one of my jazz shoes, the laces broke in the middle of a routine,” dance adjudicator Michelle Carr said.
“It’s a learning experience, I wouldn’t get too upset about it. It happens to the best of us.”
Ms Carr, of Melbourne, will join Anne Whale (music), Lynette Blumenthal (speech and drama), Michelle Ordenes (highland dance) and Malcolm Ross (debating) in judging the 2642 entries in this year’s eisteddfod, comprising more than 6000 performers. Overall entry numbers have risen by 25 per cent on 2016, with music (up 64 per cent) and debating (57 per cent) recording the biggest increases.
Entries have come from Townsville, Traralgon, Melbourne and Canberra as well as throughout the Border and North East.
Eisteddfod committee president Deanne Burr said preparations were going well ahead of Thursday’s opening sessions.
“I hope that people coming to see the eisteddfod will see very high quality, professional with exceptional performances,” she said.
Ms Carr said she, as any audience member, wanted to be entertained by a performance and liked to see the competitors enjoying themselves. But the basics of dance remained important.
“Ballet, that’s your building block,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a tapper, a jazzer, a hip hopper, whatever you do, you need to get to the barre, get some technique and it will just help you with whatever genre you want to do.”
Ms Whale, based in the Hunter Valley, said everyone with the courage to get up and perform was a winner.
“My whole belief system is to encourage and build up self-esteem within people,” she said.
In the music sections Ms Whale will look for presentation as well as fundamentals such as tone and pitch.
“Try not to get too nervous, adrenaline’s fine, that helps but not to get nervous,” she said. “Because I’m not there to jump on them, I’m there to encourage. I will them to do well all the time. Music is about enjoyment.”