By Tsjalline Boorsma (Section Editor)
Sunday afternoon in the Stadsschouwburg Middelburg. Members of the Gala Team are running around with microphones and program booklets. That evening, long gone alumni would return to Middelburg from all corners of the world. Highly respected officials from Zeeland, like the Commissioner of the King, would be present during the ceremony. The students and alumni that would be performing during the ‘10 Years of Talent’-show were already doing their sound check on the big stage, starting to feel the first tickling of nervousness in their stomachs.
Around eight, the queue outside was getting longer and longer, until the crowd started pouring in and the first guests took place in the red chairs of the big theatre hall. As I was performing with the Roosettes that evening, I had to sit with the other artists in the basement. We watched the first half of the show on a gritty TV-screen, while trying to be as silent as possible even though stress-levels were rising. After the first performance, that of Mimi’s phenomenal Surprise Orchestra, we could hear an enormous applause from the audience upstairs. The artists came into the basement one by one, holding their cellos, violins and trumpets in sweaty hands, after which they pored themselves a rewarding glass of cola from Albert Heijn.
After that followed many other performances, from dance to theatre and from sensitive harp-songs to roaring guitars. There were quite some unexpected factors that the crew backstage had to deal with, without the audience noticing anything. Just before Ted van Gageldonk was going to perform his piano piece, he found out that the keyboard provided did not have enough keys for the full range of the song. A couple of strong students then carried a piano from the basement up the stairs and the show could go on.
After all performances were over, I had a quick talk with our Dean, Barbara Oomen, behind the closed curtains on the stage. With a smile on her face, she told me how she had come across students in the audience that she had not seen in years. “There is this prince from Ghana that was in the first class I ever taught, and he is here now,” she said, before walking into the auditorium to greet more alumni.
Calin Marginean, a first semester student from Romania said: “I liked the fact that the performers were all members of our great family of Roosevelt. It is incredible what talent you can find here.” With him was Hannah Ludikhuijze, a first semester from Middelburg. She said she had had high expectations of her first gala at UCR, but that these expectations had all been met. “It was beautifully organized.” Merlijn Veltman (class of 2016) performed twice (in the surprise orchestra by Mimi and in For the Time Being), but his favorite act was the Black Sheep Sea Fruit Collective. “They just blew me away.”
Vicky Roijakkers and Puck le Roy (class of 2015) told me how they just met an interesting alumnus. “He is now a diplomat who went to Oxford for International Relations and is just finishing his PhD. It is very inspiring.” Steinar Boomsma (class of 2015) mused: “You can still feel this Roosevelt vibe between all generations of UCR and RA students.” Niels Scheele, Campuselder of Bagijnhof, just had one point of improvement: “If the Gala team would have chosen a DJ among the students, that would have been fantastic. The roof would have gone off.”
The 10th Anniversary Gala was unique moment for old friends to reunite and for new connections to be made. With so much talent at UCR, surely we will party on the songs of our own DJ soon. Onto the next anniversary Gala!
Sunday afternoon in the Stadsschouwburg Middelburg. Members of the Gala Team are running around with microphones and program booklets. That evening, long gone alumni would return to Middelburg from all corners of the world. Highly respected officials from Zeeland, like the Commissioner of the King, would be present during the ceremony. The students and alumni that would be performing during the ‘10 Years of Talent’-show were already doing their sound check on the big stage, starting to feel the first tickling of nervousness in their stomachs.
Around eight, the queue outside was getting longer and longer, until the crowd started pouring in and the first guests took place in the red chairs of the big theatre hall. As I was performing with the Roosettes that evening, I had to sit with the other artists in the basement. We watched the first half of the show on a gritty TV-screen, while trying to be as silent as possible even though stress-levels were rising. After the first performance, that of Mimi’s phenomenal Surprise Orchestra, we could hear an enormous applause from the audience upstairs. The artists came into the basement one by one, holding their cellos, violins and trumpets in sweaty hands, after which they pored themselves a rewarding glass of cola from Albert Heijn.
After that followed many other performances, from dance to theatre and from sensitive harp-songs to roaring guitars. There were quite some unexpected factors that the crew backstage had to deal with, without the audience noticing anything. Just before Ted van Gageldonk was going to perform his piano piece, he found out that the keyboard provided did not have enough keys for the full range of the song. A couple of strong students then carried a piano from the basement up the stairs and the show could go on.
After all performances were over, I had a quick talk with our Dean, Barbara Oomen, behind the closed curtains on the stage. With a smile on her face, she told me how she had come across students in the audience that she had not seen in years. “There is this prince from Ghana that was in the first class I ever taught, and he is here now,” she said, before walking into the auditorium to greet more alumni.
Calin Marginean, a first semester student from Romania said: “I liked the fact that the performers were all members of our great family of Roosevelt. It is incredible what talent you can find here.” With him was Hannah Ludikhuijze, a first semester from Middelburg. She said she had had high expectations of her first gala at UCR, but that these expectations had all been met. “It was beautifully organized.” Merlijn Veltman (class of 2016) performed twice (in the surprise orchestra by Mimi and in For the Time Being), but his favorite act was the Black Sheep Sea Fruit Collective. “They just blew me away.”
Vicky Roijakkers and Puck le Roy (class of 2015) told me how they just met an interesting alumnus. “He is now a diplomat who went to Oxford for International Relations and is just finishing his PhD. It is very inspiring.” Steinar Boomsma (class of 2015) mused: “You can still feel this Roosevelt vibe between all generations of UCR and RA students.” Niels Scheele, Campuselder of Bagijnhof, just had one point of improvement: “If the Gala team would have chosen a DJ among the students, that would have been fantastic. The roof would have gone off.”
The 10th Anniversary Gala was unique moment for old friends to reunite and for new connections to be made. With so much talent at UCR, surely we will party on the songs of our own DJ soon. Onto the next anniversary Gala!
Tsjalline Boorsma, class of 2016, is a Philosophy And Anthropology major from Groningen, The Netherlands
