Rotorua Weekender

Talent keeps shining through

From K-pop to creative fashions, our locals are doing plenty of cool things

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Hi everyone, I hope you have all had a great week and are keeping well. Those who know me well know that I’m a fan of K-pop music, and my favourite artists are from the Korean pop genre.

It has been very interestin­g over the past few years to see more and more people drawn into the world of K-pop.

For me, it’s the always catchy music and insane production value of the music videos that get me hooked.

It’s also impressive how every group usually has full dance routines (often quite technical) that they are performing for the whole song while singing and rapping — even in live performanc­es.

Imagine the fitness and lungs these performers have!

The training they undergo with their companies before debuting is insane too — sometimes for years with no guarantee that it will pay off or they will make it to the stage.

It has been awesome to hear about Rotorua’s Ngatahi WebsterTar­ei making it back onto New Zealand show K-pop Academy for season three.

She was on season two as well, and it sounds like she has so much fun during the filming and performing. And it’s super special that she was able to incorporat­e te reo Māori into one of the songs, making it trilingual.

What a cool opportunit­y this show is for some of our country’s talented youth.

I went along to the Recycle the Runway event last Saturday and what an awesome time it was.

The creativity and execution of the designers that entered garments was incredible, and it was such a fun night with all the performanc­es in between.

A big congratula­tions to Julie

Voss who was the designer that took out the supreme award.

A big thank you also to all those who went and supported the event, while also raising funds for Dress for Success Bay of Plenty.

You can read more about the event on the next page.

We have been having an abundance of amazing theatre shows happening around the city recently, and another one is coming up with the Rotorua Little Theatre presenting Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web.

A bit of a murder mystery is right up my alley, especially when you add in comedy, and I’m sure this is the case for many of you too.

Find out more and how you can head along on page 5.

There are so many other congratula­tions in order with locals doing cool things and getting the recognitio­n they deserve.

Read on to find out about the winner of the inaugural Rotorua Matariki Dish Challenge and to hear from Olive Ona about being the North Island regional winner of the Nestle Golden Chef Hat.

There is plenty more to see in this week’s edition, including who the Harcourts Dancing for Hospice judges are, who the contestant­s are for Miss Rotorua 2022 and informatio­n on an Anne Frank exhibition.

Don’t forget to keep those thumbs ups and downs and readers’ photos rolling in.

Take care, Shauni

 ?? Photo / David Rowe Photograph­y ?? Garments were made out of all sorts of materials for Recycle the Runway.
Photo / David Rowe Photograph­y Garments were made out of all sorts of materials for Recycle the Runway.
 ?? Shauni James ??
Shauni James

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