This year 8 student has a passion for all things musical theatre, and has his sights set on becoming a triple threat.
While many of us have dipped our toes into acting, singing or dancing - it's pretty rare to have a real talent and interest for all three! Max Smith has been busy proving he has what it takes to work the spotlight with his recent wins at both SongFest '24 and the Dunedin Tap Dancing Society's King's Birthday Competition.
For his second time at a Tap Dancing competition, Max managed to pick up first place in the 12 years and over solo novice category. His routine to 'Have You Met Miss Jones' by Robbie Williams won silver earlier in the year and he was proud to take home the gold this time around!
When asked where the passion for tap started, Max explained "My thing is musical theatre, so the singing and tap fit in well - tap dancing is highly sought after as a talent".
Max also entered SongFest this year for his first time hoping for experience - the competition is open to everyone from amateur to professional singers in a variety of categories. He was over the moon to pick up second place in the contemporary category with 'I Like Food' - "It was a really funny piece and the crowd was laughing along while I was singing!".
But the success didn't stop there, with Max picking up first place for both 'Rooks Fly Homeward' in the classical category and 'My Cat Benjamin' by his teacher Elizabeth Bowman in the New Zealand Composer category. He also picked up third with 'Vem Kan Segla', sung entirely in Swedish, which he's a fluent speaker of.
Incredible stuff - well done Max!
But the year 8 isn't about to rest on his laurels, saying "it was a great experience but I know I have a long way to go".
"My dream job is to be an actor in musical theatre - I'll keep taking it one step at a time, the next step is to enter more competitions and work towards bigger roles in musical theatre productions".
After 3 years' singing lessons with Elizabeth Bowman, Max has already completed exams with distinction up to grade 4 and plans to keep it up. This year, he'll also be entering BandQuest - playing drums and singing alongside three of his friends from John McGlashan. He's looking forward to continuing to compete so he can take his skills to the next level.
We're looking forward to seeing Max out there on stage in August!
The BandQuest Regional Heats will be held August 17th at Taieri College - pop it in your calendar and come along to support the boys.
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