AMTC 2014 Training Weekend #Projects

I am so excited about mentoring the group of South African candidates for AMTC SUMMER SHINE 2014 held in Orlando, Florida this July.
The AMTC website describes the mission and heart behind the event:
Actors, Models & Talent for Christ is a non-profit ministry. It is also a mission and a movement of performers from all over the world who feel called to the fields of arts, entertainment and media.
AMTC equips, prepares and promotes God’s talent to become positive role models in an industry that influences our entire culture. Kids, teens and adults chosen from auditions perform for the world’s leading agents. Since 1982, God has built a 32-year legacy within AMTC to launch His performers.

This weekend in Centurion, we had two full days of training and preparing our incredibly talented group of candidates for this amazing event, hosted at the magnificent Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando. Every year these candidates are screened and approved during SATCH (South African Talent Championship) provincial and gala events, SATCH being the only approved channel that feeds the South African entries for AMTC. I feel so grateful and honoured to have been asked by SATCH to coach and supervise the wonderful SA talent during their journey and experiences at the AMTC event in July.

The candidates undergo more training, styling and photo shoots once they arrive in the US, and will be showcased in many categories in the fields of acting, singing, dancing and modelling in front of 50 to 100 top film, fashion, music and theater executives—from both mainstream and Christian media. At SHINE, each day is packed with workshops by industry experts and the event finally concludes with one-on-one interviews for the performers with these industry executives. Having myself taken part in the event in January 2013, I have a very good sense of what goes into the preparation and the final execution at the SHINE event.
I hope that each one of them will have a similarly phenomenal experience, as I was blessed to have.

I am so looking forward to my trip later this year and will keep you all posted with the happenings in Orlando!

Blessings,

BPSE 2014 '96000' - Where Your Treasure Lies #Projects

We were so blessed with a wonderful group of incredible talents this year and if I may be so bold - I believe each one of them had a deeply impacting and life changing experience in the short space of time together - approximately 70 jam packed hours in 2 weeks. The Broadway Performance Showcase Experience workshop is intense, it is hard work, it is intimate and it is grueling.. but somehow it has the power to positively influence young individuals in such a significant way, something we can't orchestrate or plan - it just happens. 

At BPSE, you experience unnerving auditions, grueling vocal sessions, exciting studio recordings, exhausting dance rehearsals, detailed acting, plotting and staging and finally putting together a production in a top class theatre and learning what it takes to put up a musical theatre production from start to finish. But more than that, you experience the unity and bond of a tight-knit cast, how wonderfully positive and uplifting we can be in this industry and how many others share your passions, your talents, your dreams and hopes. A BPSE Grad will never forget the experience, the friends made and the lessons learnt. 

This is what one of our talented cast members of the BPSE 2014 production '96000' had to say a few days after our final day of the Broadway Performance Showcase Experience.

Roelien Prinsloo Message

Three of our candidates have been scouted by agents (can not reveal names yet) and will most probably be contacted and signed in the next month. One of our candidates was all set to go and study to become a chartered accountant and now stands on the edge of a major career and life changing decision having been ignited and inspired to follow his heart and passion. Many of our candidates are about to leave school and enter tertiary education, and have received invaluable input and guidance in their degree, diploma and institution choices. 

I believe one of the most valuable and memorable parts of our workshop to be the two hour Q and A session with high profile industry professionals from various job designations, sharing their hearts as well as their years of invaluable knowledge, expertise, networks and personal learnings. Every year it leaves me inspired and moved and excited about our industry, the people in it and especially those about to enter the wonderful world of theatre, screen, music and the performing arts.

BPSE has grown to be more than just an idea or a project, it has become a formidable team, passionate about providing this platform, in this way, to the many young impressionable artists out there; it has become a family of BPSE Grads all linked by what they love to do and committing themselves to be the very best versions of themselves.

We are so #grateful for a very successful two weeks of BPSE 2014 and the final performances of '96000 - Where Your Treasure Lies' at the Atterbury Theatre. 

To know more about the annual Broadway Performance Showcase Experience hosted by FADCreationS click here. 

These great pics from the production are courtesy of Photo Elements. 

Chat soon, 

Shooting Range #MeMoments

So my neighbor across the road, happens to be an award winning veteran shot and is a member of the Gauteng Pin Shooting Association (GPSA). We have often chatted about going shooting, but a few weeks ago talking turned into an invitation. Uncle Percy took me to the shooting range in the area where we stay, and where he is also a weekly regular and something of a legend. Well, what an incredible experience!

I am so lucky to have experienced my first time handling a weapon with someone so incredibly skilled, both at shooting and coaching. I not only handled a weapon, I handled six different weapons and can't even begin to guess how many bullets we shot. Uncle Percy also makes his own larger caliber ammunition at home, so we collected and saved all the used casings for him.

I wish I could tell you the precise names and details of each weapon I shot with, but I would be doing a lot of guessing... The first hand gun I shot with was a .22 pistol with a wooden grip and I was allowed to insert the magazine...cool. I also shot with the larger .22 semi-automatic (on my knees) which made me feel really bad-ass! I was shown how to load the .22 bullets into its magazine. Uncle Percy has a personalized Smith and Wesson .45 pistol with his full name engraved on it, it's so beautiful and is the weapon he carries (unloaded) on his person at all times. It has the largest 'kick' of all the weapons I handled and wasn't as scary as I expected. There was also another black pistol of .357 caliber, a revolver (which is fun and tricky to hammer back every time) and a standard 9 mm pistol that I shot with.

For my first time we stuck to shooting pins mostly, which was such fun! It is the most rewarding thing to see those pins fall to the ground, and according to Uncle Percy I have a natural talent and I listen well to his instructions. I shot all of my pins first time with my first couple of rounds, and realised when I started missing and only hitting on the second shot, that it was generally when I doubted myself or took too long to aim well and take the shot. Fatigue is also a factor after a while, and Uncle Percy took the time to explain breathing, holds and stance to me. It's safe to say I am totally hooked!

I do not think I am someone who will ever own a gun or keep one in my home, BUT knowing how to handle and load a weapon in life is a great skill to have and I think quite important.

On top of that I have a huge interest in growing these skills for action acting and adding it to my skill-set as an actress.
I do think that I will find ways to continue my action, weaponry and combat training in the future. Think Evelyn Salt, Elektra or Aeon Flux... I wanna be bad-ass!!



I'll keep you all posted on my #actiongirl progress!
Chat soon,