Stories

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū is here to keep us basking wonderment all season long with the All Art All Summer programme. Some of the sensational exhibits are already up and running, but the season in earnest kicks off with the Hello Summer! Family Fun Day on Saturday 5 December featuring Levity Beet, lei-making, waiata, spin art and tours, All Art All Summer runs through to March 2021. It will include a whole range of exhibitions, performances, music, family days, workshops, shopping and more. Here’s what we’re most looking forward to: Judy Darragh and Sean Kerr: In Kahoots 28 November 2020 – 21 February 2021 Combining artificial intelligence, highbrow concepts, lowbrow humour, dance and retro pop music, In Kahoots is an unforgettable summer experience, unique to each visitor. Pauline Rhodes: Blue Mind Saturday 28 November 2020 – Sunday 7 March 2021 The new exhibition puts the focus on our...

This summer of festivals is looking to be a massive list of homegrown hits, if the talent on display at the Aotearoa Music Awards are anything to go by. Benee and The Beths were the big winners on Sunday night, between them taking home the top prizes for Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist, Album of the Year and Best Group, and several other gongs. Catch The Beths playing Nostalgia Festival at Ferrymead Heritage Park on February 13, 2021 and Benee is one of the headline acts at Electric Avenue in Hagley Park on February 27. Te Pukaemi o te Tau (Album of the Year): The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers Te Waiata Tōtahi o te Tau (Single of the Year): Benee - 'Supalonely' Te Roopu Toa (Best Group): The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers Te Kaipuoro Takitahi Toa (Best Solo Artist): Benee - Stella & Steve Te Kaituhura Puoro...

With The Sleeping Beauty arriving in Christchurch next week, we're amped on ballet and already looking forward to what next year will bring us. Luckily for Kiwi ballet lovers, RNZB has just announced its performance schedule for 2021. From February, Royal New Zealand Ballet will bring hope, magic, emotion and a little bit of mischief to theatres across Aotearoa - created by some of the country's, and the world’s, best-loved dance masterminds. Giselle Isaac Theatre Royal, June 4 – 5 RNZB’s immensely popular production of Giselle, one of ballet’s timeless classics, returns. Stolen moments, secret passion, and innocence betrayed - former RNZB Artistic Director Ethan Stiefel and distinguished principal dancer, director and choreographer Johan Kobborg’s acclaimed production of Giselle first toured New Zealand in 2012 to sell-out audiences, returning in 2016 to great acclaim. Performed in China, the USA, the UK and Italy, and turned into a feature film by director Toa...

Head on over to Ferrymead this weekend for the first taste of Pizza Republic. Pizza Republic is launching this week featuring a wicked pizza menu, with all the traditional hits and a whole range of creative new additions. Owner Mike (AKA The Big Cheese), who started in hospo as an 18-year old wine waiter on the West Coast, has spent over a decade working a pizza joint in Ferrymead. There are a ton of things worth making your way to Pizza Republic for, like happy hours on Thursdays and Fridays, Family Fiesta deals on Sundays and What Up Wednesdays. For competitive folk, the highlight of the new menu might just be 'The Big Cheesy', a collosal 75cm pizza that comes in Beef & BBQ, Margherita and Pepperoni. If that's not worth getting your mates together for, you're too hard to cheese. pizzarepublic.co.nz

Cinema Italiano Festival launches tonight at Lumière Cinemas and runs until November 18 with 18 amazing films made with all the mastery and character you'd expect of Italian cinema. Here is festival director Paolo Rotondo's pick of five must-see flicks. 1 - Amazing Leonardo / Io, Leonardo It's 500 years since the death of one of Italy's most important sons – Leonardo da Vinci. This film brings beautiful storytelling and imagery to the retelling of the master's life. The creative re-enactments make it accessible, particularly the Sistine Chapel scene, where da Vinci is depicted as a sort of film director, directing his models like actors and in the process voicing his thoughts and motivations. 2 - Loro I've picked two films by the same director – Paolo Sorrentino – to highlight. A lot of people say this guy is the heir to legendary Italian director Federico Fellini. With this film, we're...

It’s the biggest, most epic dance club you’ve ever been to, and more. A thrill of anticipation and excitement rippled through the packed floor of Auckland’s Spark Arena, as host General Lee welcomed the Auckland Symphony Orchestra and conductor Peter Thomas to the stage. It must have been a strange feeling for the classical musicians, filing to their seats in their professional blacks to the deafening applause and cheers of a 6,500-strong crowd. Fitting, because there was nothing usual about this performance. Synthony is a unique musical, visual and dance spectacular, with club anthems of the last decades transformed into a swelling orchestral tidal wave of furious musical power that you can’t help but be swept up in. The show kicked off with DJ sets from Greg Churchill and Otosan, and the crowd was amping by the time the orchestra took the stage. From the opening strains of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Right...

In his current comedy tour, award-winning comic Raybon Kan gives touchy subjects the kind of careful touching you'd attribute to an overworked courier driver – or an eager intestinal surgeon. He tells Cityscape about the nature of laughter, and bullfighting a crowd. How's the Raybon... Kan Touch This tour going so far? Surprisingly good, thanks. I feel like I'm hitting notes I didn't used to. If I was an athlete getting results like this, I think they'd demand a drug test. I'm really enjoying the audiences. Can you give us a peek behind the curtain? What kind of things are you going to be covering in the Lyttelton and Christchurch shows? Haha, the topics wouldn't necessarily make people want to come. But they're subjects that people tend to have a strong opinion on, and the general background vibe we're in now, the shifting lines of what you can and can't say....

Cellar Door was a big winner on the night, taking out four award categories, including the presitigous gong for Supreme Establishment. The awards were announced on Monday night at Addington Raceway & Events, presented by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand and acknowledging the region's outstanding hospitality professionals, all of whom are making a positive impact on the local café, dining and drinking scene. This year's Canterbury Hospitality Awards featured recognition for establishments that had gone above and beyond during lockdown and the Covid recovery with outstanding innovation (Riverside Market owners Kris Inglis, Mike Percasky and Richard Peebles), community spirit (The Vagabond Chefs) and a local hospo hero (Tristin Anderson, Smokey T’s). Riverside Market offered its tenants rent relief across March, April and May to help them keep their doors open. The owners also introduced Market Box – containing fresh food, meat, vegetables, fish and other raw ingredients that could be ordered...

In July 1970, the South Island Zoological Society (SIZS) was formed with a vision to create a major wildlife park in Christchurch - 50 years later, Orana Wildlife Park is thriving. The ambitious idea captured the imagination of the people of Canterbury. Within weeks of the Society's formation, it had grown from the eight founding members to over 100 people. Vice-President of SIZS, David Laughlin, says: “The Society set out to develop an open range, drive-through, zoo. Starting with almost unusable land - a dry, stony riverbed - volunteers cleared the site, initially with just hand tools. It was backbreaking work! As fundraising results increased, second hand equipment was purchased resulting in significant progress.”   On 10 September 1976, Orana’s first animals - 18 lions (including six cubs), two tiger cubs, two donkeys, two camels, two water buffalo and two Shetland ponies - arrived from Australia.  Orana’s main trump card was the...

The Breast Cancer Foundation is taking to the streets this Friday and Saturday to collect donations at 145 different sites around Canterbury. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and there's no better time to show your support to the thousands of Kiwis diagnosed with breast cancer per year, around 400 in Canterbury alone. The money raised in the Breast Cancer Foundation's Pink Ribbon appeal helps to support women going through breast cancer, fund scientific research and spread the word about the importance of early detection and regular mammograms. Chief Executive Evangelia Henderson says that while the foundation never expected to be launching the annual appeal in the midst of a pandemic, the team hope that Christchurch will show some love by donating generously to women and their families needing more support than ever. "We've been blown away by the community spirit New Zealanders have shown this year," she says. "It's their...

It's a short, one-woman performance that packs a palette of emotions into a small space. “Do I sound like someone who’s really got something to hide?" the protagonist of The Human Voice asks. She's asking the ex-lover on the other end of the phone line, and she's asking us, her audience, whether we trust her. Her demeanour tells us not to. We're so close we can see her every twitch, wry smile and tear. CSI-style, we interrogate these tells in our heads and ask ourselves whether they mean something, and what. Before we enter the hotel room where the opera takes place, the audience gathers in the bar at The George. "I'm wondering how an opera will be, in a hotel room," one woman muses aloud. "Will 20 of us absorb all the sound?" The tour manager takes us up the elevator in groups and installs us in the room, where...

If there’s only one product you invest in for your skin this spring, make it a good quality mineral sunscreen, according to Probeauty. The sun’s harmful rays are the number one cause of our skin’s ageing, (even more so than smoking or ageing itself), and these UVA and UVB rays can still reach our skin even through clouds and windows. Add to this the fact that New Zealand has the highest rate of skin cancer, and that’s more than enough reason for us to apply daily.  The majority of the cheap sunscreens found in supermarkets use ingredients such as oxybenzone, octinoxate and avobenzone to create a chemical reaction in the skin that absorbs rays, converting them to heat. However, studies have shown some of these chemicals are damaging coral reefs and could be toxic, and in addition they don’t always prevent UVA rays. Physical (mineral) sunscreens usually use zinc oxide as...

The Terrace just keeps getting better and better, with premium menswear (and now womenswear) store Working Style the latest to open. The made-to-fit menswear store has launched its first womenswear range to coincide with opening its newest site: 'W by Working Style'. The range complements Working Style's menswear options, presenting workwear and smart casual for women, ready to be tailored to each woman's exact fit and customised to her preferences. At 102 Oxford Terrace next to the bustling Riverside Market, the new Working Style store is the stunning work of award-winning Canterbury-based architecture firm Prau Studio. Design elements in the new store include carefully-considered use of Travertine marble, rolled steel walls, milled brass fittings and handmade concrete plinths. Mid-century light fittings and furniture, beautiful walnut veneer and limestone chip sit easily alongside the contemporary polished concrete flooring and digital displays. As much material as possible has been recycled from the former...

Earth Organic Hair Salon believes that beautiful hair can be achieved without the use of harmful chemicals or animal cruetly. Cityscape caught up with Traci Aylmer from Earth Organic to chat about what's possible with plant-based products. What are your hair dyes made of? Our hair colours are botanical based, the product is 100% biodegradable, and the packaging is recyclable. They incorporate certified organic herbs, plants, fruit acids, vitamins, vegetable oils and phytoprotein complex. They do have chemicals in them like all hair dyes do without which they wouldn’t work, but our colours have substituted the more toxic for alternatives that are better for us and our planet. Are there any limitations in colour when using plant-based dyes? There are no limitations at all when using plant based colour. This is absolutely the biggest misconception. I worked with L’Oreal and taught L’Oreal for many years and there is nothing I cannot do now using plant-based, organic and cruelty-free vegan colour....

Renske Grant at Simply Envision is a master nail artist, and she knows that looking after your nails is essential if you want them to act as fantastic canvases for creative designs. Her recommended treatment is IBX Nail Repair, and she told Cityscape all about it. How does IBX work? It's a nail repair and strengthening treatment that repairs severe nail damage and toughens the upper layers of the nail plate allowing nail growth. It is applied to the natural nail after a tidy up (shape, buff and pushing back the cuticle). Gentle heat is used to help transfer the treatment into the upper layers of the nail plate, which fuses them together to strengthen your nails from the inside. How do you know if you need a nail repair treatment? If you have thin, weak, damaged, splitting or peeling nails, an IBX treatment would be a good option, as IBX repairs the delaminated and...

Your wedding day is a time to look timeless and true to who you are, whereas events are an opportunity to go bold. Rebecca from Mint Hair explains how to pick a style. Rebecca and Mint Hair loves making people look fabulous for their big days; whether it's the biggest day in this year's party season calendar, or the biggest day of your life. But the choices you make in each situation are different. In terms of this year's trends, Rebecca is seeing the boho style bridal hair with a focus on braids start to fade, and it's giving way to more sleek, sophisticated styles - think centre parts with smooth sides. But most importantly, bridal is a lot about the person, and less about what's hot. She wants people to pick timeless styles that fit with their personalities - styles that they'll love looking back on for the rest of...

Kylie Jenner rocked leopard print French tips this year, and Hollywood went wild for it. Millie O'Grady at Shape of Elegance, a home-based nail salon in Parklands, is an expert on the trend. Cityscape caught up with her about creating purrr-fect prints. How do you create the animal prints? All of my animal prints are painted by hand with gel polish, and sometimes include glitters and foils to add a little sparkle. The prints can be added to a gel polish manicure or gel extensions. What occasions are people getting these prints for? For every day! You can choose softer colours for a more subtle look, or go bold and choose bright, contrasting colours to really make a statement. How long do they last? Nail art will last as long as your gel manicure, which on average is about two to three weeks. Invest in a good cuticle oil and use...

We're heading into the fun-filled and carefree months of spring and summer, which means maintenance is out. For a beauty treatment that stands the test of time, sun, sand and late nights out, Nirvana Beauty Lounge recommends microblading. Defined, natural-looking brows frame the face and emphasise expressions, so a semi-permanent brow treatment is an investment worth making, and for that, the team at Nirvana recommend microblading. Microblading creates filled-in brows using a hair stroke tattoo technique, and they'll save your hours in front of the mirror. Natural-look fans will be happy to know that the goal is to make the brows look as natural as possible, and it works. If you haven't been down the microblading Instagram rabbit hole yet, give it a search; it's convincing. The natural look is achieved by using a tiny tattooing device to follow the flow of your brow hairs, and the natural shape of your...