Boekenhout
MELINA MELETAKOS
Boekenhout stole the show at this year’s Serrie, the biggest cultural event on the University of Pretoria’s calendar. The residence triumphed in the men’s category and was also crowned the overall winners of the competition, while Madelief succeeded in coming first in the women’s category.
Boekenhout’s unique Titanic Engine Workers theme saw them doing a brilliantly synchronized routine which was coupled with loud, fervent singing. They cinched the position of favourites after ending with the Titanic theme song “My Heart Will Go On”, which saw members of the audience waving their glowing phones in the dark. Boekenhout’s Serrie coach, Zane Groenewald, said, “We worked very hard. The guys wanted it; we really needed this in res. We got off to a bad start this year. This is a big thing for us.”
Madelief wowed audiences with their MMA Cage Fighters theme. Making excellent use of flashing lights and props such as a cage, Madelief’s impressive acrobatics saw them end their performance to numerous standing ovations.
With an incredibly high standard maintained throughout the performances, other stand-out residences were runners-up Magrietjie with their Twin Towers Rebuilt theme and their inventive use of props like scaffolding and power tools, as well as a dancing Statue of Liberty and a bomb-strapped terrorist. Second place in the men’s category went to Sonop, whose routine was a crowd pleaser with their Streets of London theme. A stand-out feature of the performance was the Sonop band.
Miss South Africa 2011, Melinda Bam, one of the judges, said, “I think it [winning] is a combination between having an intriguing musical performance, having the right props and the right theme. It’s a combination of all the different components; it can’t be just the wow factor at the end of the show. It has to be consistently wow.”
Organized by Student Culture (Stuku), Serrie was a sold out show. Chairman of Stuku, JC de Jager, said that the results were fair and that everything went smoothly backstage and behind the scenes. “I think that every single year [it’s] not only the standard [that goes] up, but the whole layout of Serrie changes, it takes on a new form. I can’t wait to see what’s going to come up next year,” he said.
At the time of going to print, Madelief was unavailable for comment.
Photos: Eleanor Harding & Hendro van der Merwe
Sonop
