Performing Arts
Communicating with the Specialist Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2023, and welcome your input:
Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au
Wominjeka!
Junior and Senior Choir
Our junior and senior choirs will now be singing together every week (most Thursdays session 5). If your child is in choir, it would be great if they could bring a plastic display folder so they can collect the lyric sheets for our current songs. Choir is open to students from years 1 to 6.
Upwey South's Got Talent
We have now set up the Google Classrooms for those of you who would like to submit your acts for USGT 2023. To upload your entry you will need to log in to your google account and click on 'google classroom'. In the top right corner of the page you will see the + symbol which will enable you to join a 'new class'. You then type in one of these codes:
USGT Junior (prep to 2) - classroom code: mn4aklt
USGT Senior (3 to 6) - classroom code: ww6ghvk
I have added 'Upwey South's Got Talent' as an Assignment and this is where you need to upload your entry. You will need to know your google login details (all classroom teachers have a list of these) to enter. Please do not add your act to the classroom 'stream' page. It should be added under the 'Classwork' tab.
Remember, you can only enter one act and you can only enter in one category (junior or senior). Please be mindful of where you film your act and take care not to 'accidently' include someone in your filming. The entries will only be viewed by Upwey South teachers and students and will not be publicly shared. I look forward to seeing all of your TALENT and hopefully a variety of weird and wonderful things such as tricks with your pets, magic tricks, trampolining or show off your skills on a bike, skateboard or roller skates. Of course I also look forward to seeing acts from all of our talented singers, dancers, actors and musicians. Entries will close at the end of week 4 of term 4. The winners will be announced at the end of term 4.
First Call Funding
On Tuesday last week, 26 lucky students from Year 4 and 5 attended our very last event as part of our 2023 First Call Funding Grant. This funding has allowed us to attend a multitude of arts events including ballet, opera, dance, theatre, drama workshops and we even got to rock out to the Aussie band, 'King Stingray'. Wow....how lucky are we?! Our Performing Arts captain , Mila Biggs, wrote this reflection for us all.
Hi, I’m Mila and I’m the Performing Arts Captain.
On Tuesday the 10th of October some lucky grade 4s and 5s got chosen to go on a drama excursion and I was one of them. We had a very early start! Once we were on the bus everyone had this little butterfly in their stomach with excitement and nerves.
When we arrived at Hamer Hall we had something to eat before going in. We made our way into this little room which had this small stage, to get started we had to get into two small circles. We were handed a small ball and had to throw it to everyone and needed to remember who we threw it to for the next round. The next round got trickier because the teacher added in another ball. The next game was musical statues, every time one of us would freeze the teacher asked us what pose we were making
The teacher told us that actors sometimes use animals as a reference, we then played another game of musical stages and when we froze she would say an animal to act like for example a chicken. It was so funny!! The music stopped again and she asked Miss Lang to show hers, it was brilliant.
It then got better as we got to use the costumes. We all chose what we wanted, I was Queen Rosemary. Then we performed a fashion show, one at a time we walked up on stage doing a pose and introduced ourselves.
Once that was over she said that we were doing a show, it was the bachelorette and bachelor. One boy and three girls were chosen then one girl and three boys, they had to perform in a dance contest and did a persuasive talk.
Once we left Hamer Hall we went to this awesome park and played for at least an hour. Then it was time to go back to school so we all jumped on the bus. It was such a fun, creative day. I loved it!!
Aus Music T-shirt Day
This year we will be celebrating 'Aus Music T-shirt Day' on Thursday 30th November. This is an annual day of fun and awareness to celebrate Aussie music and raise urgently-needed funds for music workers in crisis. It is coordinated by the Australian charity 'Support Act'. You can log onto their webpage to read all about the amazing work that they do for Australian performing artists - https://supportact.org.au/about-support-act/
On this day, students are invited to bring a gold coin donation and wear an 'Aus Music T-shirt'. It can be an Australian band t-shirt or an Australian solo singer or even a t-shirt from a musical theatre show you have been to in Australia. This will be a great conversation starter about the Australian music industry and the importance of social and emotional well-being. I am proud to say that this stemmed from a conversation with one of our school's Performing Arts captains, Shakked, who asked me about having a day to celebrate the 'power of music to make us feel better'. I hope you can join in with this important day.
In the Performing Arts room:
Foundation
The Foundation students have been very busy continuing to learn their choreography, song lyrics and melodies for the end of year Christmas concert (7th Dec - lock in the date). We have been working on moving in 'clockwise' and 'anti-clockwise' directions, facing the front and remembering to sing AND dance at the same time. Our mirrors in the new Performing Arts room are proving to be a fantastic additional 'teacher' and maybe a little bit of a distraction as well. It is always lots of fun seeing their smiling faces in our mirrors. We have discussed the meaning of the lyrics to the West African song, 'Funge Alafia' and the meaning of the phrase 'music mash up' which definitely has nothing to do with potatoes! If you have time at home, it would be great if you could practise the 'Nutbush' dance with your child. All will be revealed!
Year 1/2
The students in Year 1 and 2 have been continuing to learn the choreography to the iconic dance the 'Nutbush'. If you can find a few minutes over the weekend it would be SO amazing if you could practise this with them. See if they can teach it to you! I know there are multiple versions but our version sounds like this:
"tap to the right, tap to the right, tap to the left, tap to the left, tap to the back, tap to the back (right), tap to the back, tap to the back (left), knee up, knee up (right), knee up, knee up (left), flick (right) flick (left), out cross out together"
The students in Year 2 enjoyed reflecting on their end of term 3 excursion to see the Bangarra Dance Theatre perform, 'Waru - journey of the small turtle'. We listened to the beautiful song, 'Kasa Kab - Turtle from Corroboree' and rehearsed the dance that we learnt during the performance. We are looking forward to performing this for you at our next assembly. I will send home more information about this. The Year 1 students have done an amazing job at learning the lyrics and melody to the 'Christmas Conga' (check out our Conga lines in the photos) as well as the song and the extra dance steps for 'Funge Alafia'.
Year 3/4
The students in Year 3/4 recently completed their Portfolio Task for Performing Arts and have been finishing off their assessment task by performing the choral drama piece 'Chips' in their small groups. It was great to see them collaborate and add their own unique voices and gestures to their characters. This choral task definitely helped to develop their listening and re-acting skills. We have started working on learning the lyrics and choreography for a four song finale for our Christmas concert as well as the having lots of fun learning the 'Xmas YMCA'. We look forward to performing these for you at the end of the year.
Year 5/6
The students in Year 5/6 have been continuing to rehearse the choreography for the 'Nutbush' and their Christmas finale. The students used their creative thinking caps to provide lyric ideas for a song we are writing together. It was great to hear them sing their creation this week with much pride and enthusiasm. Some students have even been offering choreography and staging ideas which fills me with such joy! We look forward to singing it for you soon. Some students have chosen to be a part of a Christmas orchestra which has certainly been enhancing their listening skills and their musicality. The year 6 students have started to think about their graduation songs and it is always an honour to help with this preparation.
