Holly’s Space

The Elves and the Shoemaker 

“Once there was a shoemaker and his wife; they were so poor he wondered what would become of them. One night before he went to bed the shoemaker left out his last piece of leather and, the next morning, a beautiful pair of shoes were in its place. A rich lady passed by, saw the shoes and was so delighted, she paid twice the usual price. This continued day after day until the Shoemaker and his wife resolved to discover the identity of the mysterious cobblers. Who were they? How did they sew so beautifully? And how could the Shoemaker and his wife ever repay them?”

 ’I found this blurb and this picture on http://www.karenwallace.co.uk/new-books.htm’

Last weekend I auditioned for the production “The Elves and the shoemaker”. The auditions were held where production is going to be held at ‘The Woolshed’, this is a little theatre in my hometown Te Awamutu. Anyway I auditioned for the part of an elf. I had come straight from tennis and so I went and got changed while Mum filled out the form, my nerves were starting to build up, this was the first time I’ve done something like this at The Woolshed so I didn’t know what it was going to be like. One of the main reasons I wanted to audition for this is because I really enjoy acting and because they asked for elves that are past or present tap dancers and I am in level 5 at tap this year. I grabbed my tap shoes and the lady led me in, I had butterflies, I was so nervous. I was in the room, the two ladies who were going to audition me introduced themselves and then asked me to put my tap shoes on and show them some steps. I was still so nervous but once I started doing some tap moves it slowly began to drift away. I did a couple of steps and then they said that I could obviously tap so now lets see if I can sing. I can sing but I don’t think I’m the best so I got a bit worried again. She played some music and gave me some words and I tried to sing along with it. After that it was all over and they said they would get back to me with how I went.

During the next few days after the audition I kept on wondering ‘how did I go’ ‘will I get in’. I just wanted to know straight away but then on Tuesday night the phone started ringing, my mum answered it and then gave it to me. “Hi this is Susanne” was the next thing I heard. Susanne is the lady that is organising this production and one of the people who auditioned me as well. Susanne then said “I would really like you to be a tap dancing elf in my prouction The Elves and the Shoemaker” I was so excited I could barely believe it. I was half speechless all I could say was ‘wow’ and ‘cool’. She said that she would send me out a letter on what was going to happen and when the rehearsals will start and then said goodbye, I said thanks so much bye and hung up. As soon as I had hung the phone up I shouted out gleefully “I’m going to be a tap dancing elf” I am so excited and I just can’t wait for it all. It’s going to be hard to learn it all but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be worth ot in the end.

On Friday last week I went to the Waikato show with freckles, yes it was yet again another agricultural day. This time it was a much longer drive to Hamilton and it was now up against all of the Waikato. Once we started I counted about 25 people in my ring and there were only 8 ribbons so it was going to be a hard job to get any ribbons at all.

I have always known that my calves strong point is rearing and so I couldn’t wait until it started. Finally rearing was here, all 25 of us tried to spread out around the ring but that was hard just trying to fit us all round the outside. The judge looked at all the calves and then pulled the best into the middle and looked over them again, luckily I was in that group of 11 so I definitely had a good chance of something. The judge made his decision and called for me to go out as first. I couldn’t believe that I had actually got 1st over 24 other calves.

 Since I got first I had to take my calf over to the champion ring, so now another judge looked over all the calves and then he kept on going back and forth between a jersey an Ayrshire and FRECKLES! I couldn’t wait to hear the results, but when the calf that got 2nd to me came into the ring I knew that I had won champion. Once again I couldn’t believe that I was champion. When the judge finished making his decision on the reserve champion, he called out for us to go into the middle to get our ribbons and for me a trophy that I will get my name engraved on and keep for the year, also a medal that I will be able to keep forever. The champion ribbon was different this year because they were celebrating their 75th year of the Waikato Show. So the champion ribbon was black with gold lettering and gold tassels. I was so glad that I had won it. My huge smile said it all!!!

Group day is another agricultural day except with even more competition, and also at the end of the day there is another part which is called leading group of three. In this you have three calves in a row and they all have to try and lead together at the same pace, but I’ll tell you at the end what I got in it.

In my ring this time I had about 11 people. Once again leading was first up which I got 4th in, as a dog scared my calf which made her stop. Afterwards the judge said the if I got her going again a bit faster then I may have gotten a better placing, even though it was only 4th I still think Freckles and I did a good job because we did still beat about 7 other calves.

 Up next was rearing, after getting a champion at the first day I was hoping for good results which luckily they were. The judge went around all the calves and checked over them for loose hair and specks of dirt. In this I came 2nd and so I had to wait outside the champion ring to see if the person from my ring who got first also gets the champion which they did. This means that I go into the ring to compete for reserve champion, so I went into the ring and I did end up getting reserve champion which was quite cool.

Now it was dairy type, I have never thought of freckles as an excellent calf for dairy type, but I guess she must be since she got a 2nd out of about 13 calves in her ring. This time the person that got 1st didn’t get champion and so I didn’t have to go into the champion ring.

Now was the leading group of three, in my group was me, Kezia and Caitlin, I had organised for us all to bring along our school sweatshirts so that us three would match. There were a few people before us and all of them led very well together so I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t get anything. So now it was our turn, and I thought we all led really well and none of us could wait until we got the results.

 - Me, Kezia and Caitlin starting our lead. 

After all the calves had led the judges decided on the results and the number they called out for first was ours 111, ‘The Emergency Team’! We were all very excited, not one of us could believe we had actually won. We each got a red first ribbon and now over the next year we will share the huge shield we won. This shield is also quite special for me as it has my grans name on it from 1944.

 - The judge awarding the shield to us.