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 

Welcome back to school. I can't quite believe it is May already! I hope you all had a restful break and enjoyed an Easter egg (or two).

I am looking forward to a fabulous term two, predominantly adding the finishing touches to our school production, 'The Wizard of Oz'. Stay tuned for more information about help needed (photographer, program designer, sound and microphone assistant) and ticket sales. Please add the performance dates to your diary (24th and 25th August) if you haven't already done so. Please contact me as soon as possible if your child will not be participating as this impacts my planning.

Costume information will come home at the end of this Term but if any Year 1 parents have the chicken leggings and tops from last year and wish to pass them on to our current Foundation students, that would be super! Similarly, Year 3 students might like to donate any colourful 'munchkin' items to a friend in Year 2. Each song and dance has stayed with the same year group for 2022 as it was in 2021. More details will follow.

What have we been creating?

Our Foundation students used their creative imaginations during our whole class acting game, 'Magic Soup'. They each had an opportunity to add an ingredient to our 'Magic Soup'. Our tasty soup included stars, snails, bees, blankets, bees, carrots, cheese, rainbows, rocks, ice-cream, snakes and spiders to name a few. Our soup was topped off with a gentle sprinkle of glitter! My classroom has never looked so sparkly.  We have started to learn the lyrics and choreography for our school production class items. All Foundation students will perform in the 'Chicken Dance' and the whole school finale, 'Coming Home'. They are expanding their understanding of stagecraft skills such as entering and exiting the stage, facing an audience and using an expressive face. They have loved finishing our lessons with a game of 'Rock Star' and recently learned the Italian words for fast (presto) and slow (largo).

The Year One and Two students enjoyed listening to the story, 'Here they Come - A Day to remember', an animated story which explores the various symbols and traditions of Anzac Day commemorations. We discussed the origins of 'The Last Post' and the Year One students enjoyed colouring in a red Poppy. We continued to consolidate our understanding of various rhythmic patterns in preparation for their Portfolio Task. We have revisited the lyrics and choreography for our production finale, 'Coming Home' and have commenced their new dances, 'Ease on Down the Road' and 'The Witch's Ball'. We continued to include a relaxation in our lesson and listened to 'The Magic Swan' which was about being calm and still.

The Year Three and Four students reflected on Anzac Day and the history of 'The Last Post'. We talked about the power of music to lift spirits and watched a black and white video clip of the famous wartime entertainer Dame Vera Lynn. We then sang the song 'Lest We Forget' in unison and discussed the word 'Digger'. Students then worked collaboratively to write an acrostic poem for Anzac Day.  We discussed the various ways in which poetry can be 'performed' and not just read and how we can change the tone and pace of our voice for emotional impact. More recently, we discussed the various characters who will be appearing in the 3/4 dance in Emerald City. Each student was able to select their favourite citizen and then worked collaboratively to prepare a short drama as their 'citizen' discovering the 'yellow brick road'. We continue to learn the choreography for 'Dancing in the Street' (the Atomic Kitten version) and polish our steps for 'Coming Home'.

The Year Five and Six students worked using 'think, pair, share' on the topic of Anzac Day. We discussed the notion of music that is globally recognisable (such as Happy Birthday and NOT Baby Shark) which lead us to discuss 'The Last Post' and the history of this piece of music. We recently started our Thursday acting rehearsals (one scene down and twelve to go) and it was fantastic to see how many students had learnt their lines in the school holidays. I have been dedicating some time in each performing arts lesson for students to help each other memorise lines. It would be great if you could encourage this at home as well. We worked on 'Character Profiles' to develop a better understanding of what motivates each character and the students are now preparing a short character presentation showcasing their character's likes and dislikes. I have also added some new choreography to the 5/6 dance (as requested by a student).