Performing Arts Focus

A Focus on Performing Arts

Foundation Students

It’s been an absolute joy to celebrate the return to onsite learning with our Foundation students this term. I was lucky enough to be at the gate as they arrived on their first day back and I was overflowing with pride (and a few sneaky tears!) to see all the children so happy to be back at school. In the weeks since then, we have spent our time enjoying doing Performing Arts in groups. The children learnt some dance games for our Halloween disco and have been doing lots of group singing. 

Year 1/2 Students

Our students in Year 1/2 have enjoyed learning a body percussion piece to the tune of ‘The Hall of the Mountain King’ by Edvard Grieg. They learnt how tempo and rhythm add suspense to music and had fun performing it together as a group. We also learnt how to dance to Bobby Pickett’s classic Halloween hit ‘The Monster Mash’. I suspect that there will be loads of ‘mash dancing’ for weeks to come at home.  This term we aim to finish learning our concert songs and showcase our work in a unique video. We might not have the ability to make backdrops this time, however our beautiful school with its resident lorikeets and ancient trees will make a natural stage for bringing the message of ‘The Lorax’ to life.

Year 3 & 4 Students

Year 3 and 4 students have done an amazing job in learning ‘Thriller’ in anticipation for the Halloween concert. Having mastered the quintessential dance floor classic, we are moving on to exploring comedy. I must say many of them are natural comedians and we have spent lots of time in class laughing at their hilarious ideas and punchlines. We are in the process of creating a class skit for each class, so look out for that too! 

Year 5 & 6 Students

Our senior students have spent the first few weeks of this term preparing to record their class dance, which they created for their concert. We will be filming these in the coming weeks and will share all their hard work with you.

Moving forward in the term, our sole focus is on ensemble music making. Our students in Year 5 will be creating small bands and will rehearse and record a performance. Our Year 6 students will spend the rest of the term rehearsing for their graduation items, which I can assure you, are going to be absolutely spectacular.

Some Final Words about the 5/6 Concert

When we returned to onsite learning, it became apparent that if we used all our time really efficiently, we could still scrape together a performance of Alice in Wonderland that we could have shared digitally. When discussing this option with the cast (who had already spent weeks learning lines, rehearsing and dreaming about what this concert would look like), it became clear very quickly, that they would prefer to spend their last few weeks in the yard with their friends instead of preparing for a concert. I completely supported their feelings, so we took a vote and the vast majority of cast members decided not to go ahead with the concert.

We’re all obviously sad that we can’t show you all the wonderful work and creativity that went into this concert. I am so enormously proud of every single cast member, for all their dedication, creativity, sense of fun and ability to adapt to whatever this year threw at us.

We look forward to sharing our class dances with you soon. 

~ Olivia Li & Keri Spence, Performing Arts Teachers