Performing Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, and welcome your input:

Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au 

We have had a few shorter lessons (with junior swimming) and some missed lessons due to our Curriculum Day. We made the most of every minute we had together...singing, dancing, acting and enjoying some creative freedom. It has been wonderful to see new faces at our CHOIR lunchtime club. We meet every Thursday, 1st recess, in my room. Students do not need to bring anything other than their enthusiasm and beautiful singing voices. Our VSSS dancers and singers continue to rehearse every Thursday afternoon with our dancers participating in another combined mass rehearsal (those that weren't at Inter-schools sport). It has been a very busy few weeks.

Production Costumes: I am looking for a few helpers to assist with co-ordinating costumes for each year group. I also need a few costumes made and altered. Please send me an email asap if this is something you would like to help out with.

What have we been creating?

Our Foundation students have been working on their stagecraft skills in preparation for performing on the stage at Burrinja Cultural Center in term 3. We moved our rehearsals to the library for a little more space and the students did a fantastic job at linking arms and spinning (in different directions) with their partner. We are working on turning the volume up when chirping in the Chicken Dance and facing the front and looking 'up and out' at our audience when performing. The students enjoyed watching the Storytime version of, 'The Wizard of Oz' and learning the names of all of the characters that appear. They practiced changing their facial expressions to express a feeling or emotion. It has been wonderful to watch them grow in confidence when 'acting' in front of their peers. We have continued to work on beat keeping and rhythm matching skills through singing songs in unison. 

The Year One and Two students enjoyed the challenge of dancing with a prop during our production rehearsals. The Year One students will be using broomsticks and the Year Two students will be dancing with a brick. Can you guess what colour it might be? We have been rehearsing in the library (for a bit more space) and we have been consolidating a variety of stagecraft skills such as facing the front, spacing apart, feet forward, heads and eyes up. These things are becoming quite natural for the students now which is fantastic! The students have been working on their beat and rhythm skills by using an interactive rhythm game and next week we will be playing 'Rhythm Bingo' to enhance our musical ears.

The Year Three and Four students finished performing a short drama as their 'citizen' from the Emerald City discovered the 'yellow brick road'. We re-visited the elements of the 'Actor's Toolbox' and the ways in which actors change their voice for dramatic impact. The students used a variety of Tongue Twisters to work on their vocal clarity and volume.  We continued to learn the choreography for 'Dancing in the Street' (the Atomic Kitten version) and polish our steps for the finale 'Coming Home'. I am in the process of sorting through all of the Year 3/4 costumes and allocating characters and night splits. Could you please let me know as soon as possible if your child will not be performing in our show. This will help me plan for extra costumes that need to be made.

The Year Five and Six  students have continued to meet with me every Thursday afternoon for our production rehearsals. I have admired their flexibility and adaptability as some of them juggle moving between VSSS singing/dancing rehearsals, instrumental lessons and acting rehearsals. The school becomes a buzz of creative energy! The students had fun rehearsing and delivering Tongue Twisters with a focus on clarity and volume and some students were challenged by our rhythm game, 'Icka Backa Soda Cracker'. We continued to learn the new choreography for the 5/6 dance and practiced given feedforward in a respectful and constructive way.