Cut Above Ruby Anniversary

Cut Above celebrated 40 years of fabulous with a Ruby Anniversary Hair and Beauty Extravaganza on Wednesday night with Mayor Len Brown singing happy birthday, a Maori haka and a 50-strong choir serenading a hair and fashion show…

Cut Above celebrate 40 years of fabulous this year.

The iconic New Zealand hair academy (www.cutabove.ac.nz) started by Gael Thompson in 1971 as a hair salon, held their Ruby Anniversary Hair and Beauty Extravaganza on Wednesday 16 February with Mayor Len Brown singing happy birthday, a Maori welcome and haka and a 50-strong choir serenading a hair and fashion show.

It was definitely the most entertaining hair show I have been to, with song, dance, fashion and a genuine feeling of achievement and respect for the Cut Above team.

The evening opened with a Maori welcome and performance and a haka on stage as the dry ice cleared.

VIP guests from Cut Above, owner Gael Thompson, politicians and celebrities received hongi in the welcome.

The fifty-strong gospel choir sung When Jesus Washed My Sins Away – perhaps the most hairsalon appropriate gospel number ever- as the many, many 2010 graduands paraded from backstage across the stage for the audience of family, friends and industry.

Stephen Joyce, Minister of Transport and Tertiary Education, gave an entertaining speech with self-deprecating humour about his own lack of hair and that "the Cut Above graduands couldn’t do much for him, but perhaps the special effects make-up artists could!" He praised Gael Thompson for the immense job she has done over forty years in educating so many.

Mayor Len Brown led the audience in singing happy birthday to Cut Above and said the students are graduating at the perfect time, with more and more film opportunities coming into the city.

Carol Hirschfeld presented Warriors star Reuben Wiki with his likeness in a statue that the Cut Above special effects students had created. The MC was quite taken with Carol, saying, "Call me!" He’s probably still waiting.

Award-winning opera singer Zane Te Wiremu Jarvis performed a rousing baritone rendition of the New Zealand national anthem in Maori and English with a backdrop of the NZ flag giving the event a feel of a major sporting event.

Zane sung again with the choir as Vanity Walk models in hair and make-up by Cut Above graduands walked in garments from Pasifika Fashion Show 2010.