New performing arts centre opened at Jeppe Girls
On November 30, 2018, at the final assembly of the year, Carolyn Steyn surprised the school with a birthday gift of R1.7-million.
This gift was transformed into a performing arts centre to honour her love for theatre, music and the stage, the place she found her talent at the school in 1977. On October 15, 2020, she donated a further R250 000 towards the sprung floor for the centre.
The building of the centre was completed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a reminder to all who use this facility that nothing is too difficult for the brave. The recent opening of the centre was a joyous celebration of music and dance. Hlabelela welcomed Steyn and her guests with a beautiful a capella song and dance.
Steyn then cut the ribbon to declare the centre officially open and unveiled the plaque commemorating the occasion. Timothy Moloi delighted with a performance of The Prayer by C Bayer-Sager and D Foster before the guests moved inside. Gonçalves thanked Steyn for giving current and future learners the space to learn, explore and create.
She also thanked the architect, Marc Aitken, for the role he played and Ian Clasen of Quoin Construction who headed up the building of the building. Steyn gave a very personal speech on why she chose to come to Jeppe Girls and her experience at the school.
She was painfully shy at school but was sent for elocution lessons by her mother so that she could learn how to speak well. She did well in speech and drama Eistedfodds and decided to audition for the lead role of Joan of Arc in her matric year. To her surprise, she was chosen for the role and was awarded a Best Actress prize that year. She then completed an honours degree in speech and drama at Wits University and went on to pursue her dreams.
“Drama completely changed my life,” said Steyn. “I firmly believe that expressing ourselves through music, dance and drama is essential to everyone. Acting and speech and drama gave me the confidence that I needed. And that confidence is needed in life in general.”
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Steyn said that her mother was a wonderful opera singer who could not realise her dreams because of circumstance. She said her mother would have been proud to see the addition of the performing arts centre at the school. She encouraged the girls not to let anyone belittle their dreams and to use their love of the creative arts to realise their strengths.
Steyn invited 10 of her friends who were fellow learners at Jeppe Girls to share the opening of the centre with her, as well as her sisters Colleen Teklenburg (also a Jeppe Old Girl) and Sharon Barkhuizen who attended Queens High.
Dr Kruger, head of music at the school, thanked Steyn for the huge difference that the centre will make to the lives of the girls and the staff. The performing arts centre will be used for drama, dance, orchestra, choir practices and performances and music exams. It will also be used for the Philip Moore Music Competition, which opens on July 31 this year.
The guests enjoyed a musical performance by the Uhlume and Izimpande choirs as well as a medley by the Jeppe Marimba band and a performance by the Jeppe Dance squad.
The head girl and deputy head girls presented Steyn a booklet of thanks made up of messages from each class.
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