Performing Arts
Communicating with the Specialist Team
We look forward to partnering with you in 2021, and welcome your input:
Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au
Thank you to all of you for getting your State School Spectacular forms back in on time. By now, your son or daughter, will know if they have been successful in gaining a place in this years VSSS. I will be attending several Teacher Professional Development meetings (by zoom) over the next couple of weeks and hope to be able to provide more information about our songs and dances soon. A media release form needs to be signed by each participant and a hard copy of this has been sent home. Please return this to me as soon as possible.
Foundation
The Foundation students enjoyed exploring moving to directional songs in a safe way. We used the song, 'Jumping Land' to practice making a circle and moving in different ways. This included, hoping, skipping, jumping and marching. We moved forwards and backwards and added claps and stomps. In our drama session, the students moved like giraffes, mice, melting snow, crabs, bees, leaves and snakes. I was delighted to see some excellent beat keeping skills when singing 'Johnnie works with one hammer'. We discussed 'self-control' and how we might use this on a stage. I used my 'Laughing Feather' game to demonstrate this (get them to show you). We used our creative imaginations and relaxed to the visualisation called 'Space'.
Level One/Two
This week the students explored their drama voices and facial expressions whilst working with a partner in a short improvised drama called, 'What's in the suitcase?'. The students learnt about entering and exiting a stage and the importance of facing the audience when acting. They used clarity and projection whilst improvising a story about what they had found in my 70 year old suitcase! The focus for the Level 1 students was on the use of facial expressions after opening the suitcase rather than words. They then performed in front of the class talking about their 'likes' and 'dislikes' and attempted to change their face to match their comments. They loved my 'Laughing Feather' game on self-control. We are now looking at the different names for positions on a stage and we had a great virtual tour around 'Her Majesty's Theatre' in Adelaide.
Level Three/Four
The students continued to work on and present their presentations called, 'All About Me". They took turns to introduce someone to our class and shared some fun facts to keep the audience alert and engaged. The students showed amazing self-control during our game, 'Laughing Feather' but many were challenged by the game, 'Honey I love you but I just can't smile'. I introduced the students to 'blocking' and the names of places on a stage. This included 'center stage', 'upstage', 'downstage', 'stage left' and 'stage right'. We played the drama game, 'Re-set' which required the students to follow directional instructions whilst on a stage and finish with their best pose. We laughed a lot! We are beginning to work on fairytale sequencing with a plan to rehearse and perform short scripted plays.
Level Five/Six
The students were informed that our production for 2021 is, 'The Wizard of Oz'. I think the chatting and noise that followed indicated that we have some pretty excited students. We have been spending time working in small groups to do a 'read-through' of our script. This will help the students become more familiar with the different characters and help them to decide which part they might like to audition for. I was amazed at the bravery some students showed during our improvisation game, 'Grandma's Cake' as well as their ability to think fast and use their 'drama voice'. We had lots of fun and I can't wait for us to start preparing our production for you.
