Performing & Visual Arts News
Performing & Visual Arts Report
Celebrating the Arts – what a day (and night!)
The rain could not dampen the joy and excitement that filled our school on Wednesday, August 30th! From the first beat of the Taiko drums, sounding the 9am start of our whole school “Festival of the Arts”, to the last colourful image projected onto our stone building in the darkness of evening, our students and families celebrated, embraced and were inspired by engaging in Visual and Performing Arts.
Students enjoyed a wide variety of workshops and performances – smiling, laughing and encouraging one another while playing the Taiko drums, strumming ukuleles, playing drama improvisation games, portrait painting with creative mediums (including vegemite and coffee), sketching cartoons, marvelling at the glow puppet performance, being inspired by the soulful, sincere songs and experiences of singer/songwriters, creating colourful water wildlife watercolour paintings – and of course – dancing up a storm on the deck with our very own DJ Dash!
And that was just the day.
At night, our school came to life both on the outdoor stage and in the Bampi with the wonderful sounds and sights of student performances - including a whole school song with Auslan signing, Bushband, Chris Cavill’s student ensemble, calisthenics and a State Schools Spectacular choir and dance medley featuring guest VSSS23 soloists Cameron and Summer. Students proudly showed their parents the beautiful teacher-led workshop displays – with everything ranging from Henna Hands, soft toys, sustainable architecture models, paper slinkies, painting to clay-mation and coding. They explored interactive displays including listening to original student digital music compositions and playing the Makey-Makey fruit keyboards, to exploring the Dream Hub to see the glowing dream-catchers. The students even coloured in our historic stone building, with many beautiful designs projected in full, glowing colour!
The marquee and Art Room were home to unique 3D student creations from the visual arts program, which, along with the spectacular “Obliteration Room” were inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama. Students also enjoyed showing visitors their paintings from the daytime workshops led by Archibald Prize nominee, Daniel Butterworth, and local wildlife artist Sarai Meyerink.
And, of course, the event was enhanced by the evening performances of guest artists, the Asanti African Drum & Dance duo, singers Jesse & Chris Cavill and our Silent Disco hosts “Fun Frequencies”.
It really was a joy for me, Eliza and all the staff to witness the happiness and pride the “Festival of the Arts” generated among our students. We are grateful to all the amazing contributors and helpers who made both the daytime and evening events possible. There are too many names to list here, so please refer to Nieta’s report and the ‘Thank You’ page which will be added to our next online-published newsletter. (You can see lots of fabulous photos on the Compass link, too).
Kirsty & Eliza
But wait…there’s more! “Chookas” to our State Schools Spectacular Dance and Choir ensembles
It certainly is a case of non-stop active learning through performance for our WPS students! Next Thursday, September 7, thirty-five senior students will join over 1000 students from across the state at John Cain Arena for the first of two full dress rehearsals for the Victorian State Schools Spectacular. The shows will be performed on Saturday, September 9 at 1pm and 6.30pm and broadcast on TV later in the year.
Since March, the choir and dance ensembles have spent many hours rehearsing and preparing for this exciting event. We can’t wait to see and hear them shine and we wish them all the best for what many past students have referred to as “the best experience of my life”.
Kirsty
