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DON'T DREAM IT,
BE IT
A job as a cashier may not seem like the best start for a singing
career, but if the job is at Shoprite Checkers then it could just be the
perfect start. The Shoprite Group runs a performance competition,
Shoprite Topstars, to benefits ordinary workers. It’s a talent search
that gives Shoprite employees the opportunity to actualise their
dreams of becoming a singing star.
For the 2013 competition The Shoprite Group had almost two
thousand entries from across Africa. The gala finale was held at the
Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, where eleven acts wowed the
audience and the judges. The event was managed by AmaGroove,
whose primary focus is music production. To help them with
the technical side of the event they called in CCPP Professional
Productions. CCPP is run by a man who, like the aspirant singers
of Shoprite, has taken the famous Rocky Horror Show lyric, “Don’t
dream it, be It”, to heart.
Clint Cawood founded CCPP in 2006, with the aim of: “making a
difference to the way Industry supplied and delivered service to
clients.” Shoprite Topstars 2013 was one of the year’s high-points
for CCPP as they went all out to ensure it was a fitting finale to this
unique corporate talent show.
The main challenge for Clint and his team was to create an entire
truss grid in order to position the lighting and projection exactly
where the client wanted it. Creating magic on stage takes thousands
of hours practice from the stars, and also the dedication of the
technical crew whose unsung work is so crucial to the success of
an event. AmaGroove’s Mynie Grové had this to say about the
partnership: “In tackling an extremely difficult venue CCPP pulled
out all the stops; partnering in a production that empowers ordinary
people to do extraordinary things. We all need magic to make our
visions reality: CCPP coloured our world with a professional and
imaginative contribution.”
14 PROMAG – first quarter 2014