KZN takes top honours at national performing arts competition
Koketso Mere, a grade 12 pupil at Westville Boys' High, walked away with top honours at the competition, beating more than 3000 competitors to be awarded Senior Grand Champion of South Africa, achieving the highest individual score in any category at the competition.
Fifty-three contestants from across KZN competed during the April school holidays at the South African Championship of Performing Arts (SACOPA), the largest competitive showcase of performing arts talent in South Africa, held at the Rustenburg Civic Centre in the North West province.
Provincial teams competed in a number of performing arts disciplines, namely vocal, dance, acting, modelling and variety arts, for a chance to be selected for the South African team to represent the country at the World Championships in Los Angeles, at an event dubbed the Olympics of Performing Arts.
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Koketso Mere, a grade 12 pupil at Westville Boys’ High, walked away with top honours at the competition, beating more than 3000 competitors to be awarded Senior Grand Champion of South Africa, achieving the highest individual score in any category at the competition.
Candidates qualify for the KZN team through a series of stringent auditions, adjudicated by dance, vocal and acting specialists and professionals in KZN. Once selected, they are invited to compete at the national competition. Of the nearly 15 000 entries performed over 10 days at the national event, 7 of KZN’s top performances were chosen to perform in the final showcase, an enormous honour.
In addition to Koketso’s unprecedented achievement as senior grand champion, KZN achieved 60 gold medals (1st place in category), 40 silver medals and 24 bronze medals, as well as producing overall category winners in the following disciplines: vocal male (aged 13-15) – Kyran Taylor, vocal male (aged 16-24) – Koketso Mere, dance female (aged 16-24) – Diyara Prakash and dance male (aged 25+) – Bonga Hlongwane. BeatBreakerz Unite, a group dance initiative by innovative choreographer Keegan Barnes was awarded overall dance group champions, aged 13-15. 49 members of the KZN team qualified for the national squad, and Koketso, as senior grand champion, won an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to compete for his country in July 2018.
Auditions for the next round of regional qualifiers take place in September this year, at the Roy Couzens Theatre at Westville Boys’ High . For more information contact Donna da Costa at donna@sacopa.co.za or visit the SACOPA website for more details (www.sacopa.co.za)
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