Oh la la - Wanaka turns French for the day as we anticipate the world premiere of Le Sud by Dave Armstrong. The two performances at 7pm and 9.30pm at the Lake Wanaka Centre have sold out. Those lucky enough to have tickets are encouraged to dress up in French costume and there will be prizes for the best dressed.
Wanaka is embracing the French theme with may cafe's offering plat du jours and window dressing in red, white and blue.
All shows today and the extra show on Monday 4 May are sold out.

Highlights of Thursday were the continuation of the Aspiring Conversations programme. Glenn Colquhoun captivated the audience with his poems in what festival director Philip Tremewan said was "the best session yet" . Joe Bennet amused and delighted in his own inimitable way.

Aspiring Conversations continues today with Christina Lamb with 2 sessions at 10.30 and 2.30pm. On Saturday Jim Bolger and George Fergusson will be speaking at 1.30pm and 3pm respectively. Advance tickets are $10 and door sales are $5 and we are giving away 2 pairs of tickets to each talk. Simply email in to info@festivalofcolour.co.nz titled Aspiring Conversations with your name and a daytime contact phone number and we will draw the winner at 5pm today.
Tale of a Dog enchanted 3 full houses of children and the Late Night Club opened at 11pm with the smoky soulful voice of Vebka. More late night clubs tonight and tomorrow.

The Army Band continued to delight in their performance with Tango dancers Fabio and Ana Robles. The only chance to see this amazing combination is in Clyde tonight. We are giving away 2 pairs of tickets - email info@festivalofcolour.co.nz with the title Army Band and we will draw the winners by 5pm.

Tomorrow's programme highlights

Aspiring Conversations continues with Christina Lamb. Her talk about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Zimbabwe at 10.30 has door sales only.

Local musician Ben Eastwood plays at 5pm at the Infinity Crystal Palace. Advance tickets $10 and door sales $5

Oh la la. Le Sud has it's world premiere at 7pm at the Lake Wanaka Centre and a second showing at 9.30pm.

SJD are fresh from a national tour and bring their rumpus of synthezisers, guitars, sequencers, heart breaking melodies and lyrics you'll love to the Infinity Crystal Palace at 8.30pm. Tickets still available at $32.

Late night club - DJ Anton Carter digs deep in the record crate to provide a musical journey from the 1970's Viking Records styles through to the latest sounds of now - all expertly interspersed with spoken word and time-based visual bytes by artist Michel Tuffery.

All of these, and tickets for performances over the next few days can be booked in person at the Lake Wanaka Centre box office, open from 10am until 7pm, www.festivalofcolour.co.nz and (03) 443 4178.

Ticket availability

The website home page will be constantly updated during festival week with information on the latest ticket sales and which shows still have availability, so make sure to check this out.

And do remember to check our ticket exchange board in the foyer of the Lake Wanaka Centre. where people can buy and sell tickets they can no longer use - you might just get lucky for one of these sell out shows.

Be inspired … Be astounded … Be in Wanaka … Be there.

 The next Festival of Colour takes place on 28 April to 3 May 2009 and is generously supported by Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust of Otago, Creative New Zealand, Infinity Investment Group, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Aurora.