Visual & Performing Arts News
The Arts on display at the Warrandyte Festival
With perfect weather and enthusiastic crowds, last Saturday’s Warrandyte Festival was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and showcase the Arts at WPS!
Our Visual Arts parade entry "Where Birrarung Meets the Sea" received the “Most Magical” award. Our float journey began with the fascinating creatures inhabiting the Yarra River and its banks. Leading the parade entry was the majestic ‘Big Dopsy’, the River Blackfish, designed and crafted from upcycled materials by our festival team including our talented student art leaders. Big Dopsy was named by the students as a play on the River Blackfish’s scientific name Gadopsis Marmoratus. Each student in the school added their unique touch, contributing to the glittering scales of Big Dopsy.
Surrounding Big Dopsy, the students showcased their handheld artistic interpretations of the diverse wildlife found in and around the Yarra at Warrandyte. From kookaburras to platypus, possums to turtles, the parade was alive with the vibrant spirit of the local fauna.
As the Yarra's waters merged into the sea, next the crowd lining Yarra Street encountered mythical ocean creatures, including a whimsical Little Mermaid and the towering presence of Calamari, our giant octopus created by our imaginative students. This year's entry also paid tribute to our upcoming musical production of Disney’s "The Little Mermaid," with a glimpse and sound of the enchanting sea world.
Following the parade, our students enjoyed performing on the festival stage.
While cast and class item rehearsals for “The Little Mermaid” have only just begun, our Year 1 – 4 students were able to give the enthusiastic crowd a sneak-peak of the show’s finale song “Under The Sea”. The senior students presented a swash-buckling, scaled-back version of the show’s opening sea-shanty, “Fathom’s Below”. We can’t wait to share the finished staged versions of these songs with you all at the George Wood Performing Arts Centre performance on August 29!
Chris Cavill’s ensemble, featuring students from across the school, also took to the stage, offering a heart-warming encore performance of songs from our WPS Arts Festival. It was wonderful to see the genuine love of singing Chris has brought out in these young students – sharing his musical talents and his kind mentoring.
Thank you to all the students and families who joined us in supporting the parade and performances. Witnessing the excitement and enthusiasm on our students faces as they showcased their talents is always rewarding.
Your support not only celebrates their hard work but also strengthens our sense of community.We also want to express our appreciation to the dedicated staff members who generously volunteered their time on the weekend to support our students. A special thanks to Sam McKellar who was the driver and provided the truck for our entry (as well as ferrying items and people up and down the hill!).Many thanks, too, to the Costume Dept, a division of Stage School Australia, for supporting our float. Our students are looking forward to transforming themselves into their Little Mermaid characters later in the year with the help of the Costume Dept.’s gorgeous hire costumes.
Eliza (Visual Arts) and Kirsty (Performing Arts)