Creative & Performing Arts
Creative and Performing Arts
Congratulations to all of the students who performed at the Year 9 & 10 CAPA Evening this week. It was a lovely evening and the students had a great time presenting their work samples for an audience of parents and friends.
Next up is the HSC CAPA Evening on Wednesday 7th August 2024 in the School Hall. Followed by Dance Spectacular on Friday 13th September 2024. Put these dates in your diary and details will be available early next term.
Our School Musical
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in making our nineteenth musical, Mary Poppins, The Broadway Musical come to life. Our talented cast, dedicated Music Ensemble, hard working technical crew and supportive Alumni worked so hard to bring this show to the school community. What a week and what a show!!!
We are all so thankful that we completed all of the shows this year and that the audiences loved it. Thank you to the parents for supporting the rehearsal process, buying tickets and coming along to watch the shows. Thank you to all of the staff who bought tickets and attended one of the shows. Thank you to our General Assistants, Mr Coghlan and Mr Storey for all of their support with our sets and props. Thank you to the Alumni who helped out; James Craven, Caitlin Kubisch and Claire Stanley. Thank you to all of the Office staff and teachers who also assisted during the rehearsal week and shows. We really appreciated your support. Mary Poppins taught us all that small gestures of kindness, rather than monetary transactions, fill our lives with joy, satisfaction, and meaning. Magic really was in the air during Week 4 this term.
Now the discussion has turned to…”What Musical will be doing in 2025?”. Stay tuned!!
Dance and Drama
Congratulations to the Dance Ensemble on their performance at In The Spotlight Dance Festival. They performed on Wednesday the 19th June at The Seymour Theatre and represented Elderslie High School admirably. The dancers have been rehearsing since the start of the year and have worked tirelessly to learn and refine this dance work. They are looking forward to learning the next dance work in a different style for our Dance Spectacular in Term 3.
Congratulations to Dancers from GMSEN Connect Dance Ensemble. Chanel Aitken, Ella Smith, Kimberley Smith and Lilly Ockers from Year 11 are part of this ensemble along with dancers from Oran Park High School and Mt Annan High School. They performed at In The Spotlight Dance Festival on Tuesday 25th June and enjoyed dancing with each other in a professional setting at The Seymour Theatre. The dancers have rehearsed together at Elderslie High School and Oran Park High School throughout the year and have enjoyed making new friends and connections within this ensemble. Next step, performing at our Dance Spectacular in Term 3.
We are thrilled to be part of the 2024 Schools Spectacular “All 4 One” We have been allocated 9 Dancers in the Combined Dance section. Auditions for inclusion in our section will take place early next term. Please express your interest to Ms Dennis or Ms Grimston-Eason. Congratulations to Kalsika Nenadic from Year 11 for her selection into Jazz, Hip Hop and Tap specialised dance groups for Schools Spectacular. Kaliska auditioned for each of these groups and was successful. She will be very busy in Term 3 and 4 attending multiple rehearsals for each of these specialised dance groups. Well Done Kaliska!
Congratulations to our Year 9 Drama class who successfully auditioned to be part of the In The Spotlight Drama Festival 2024. They have playbuilt a piece titled “Tudor Wants A Wife”, which combines their love of the Tudor period and our modern day obsession with dating shows. The festival will be held at the Campbelltown Arts Centre on Monday 5th August 2024. Tickets go on sale soon and details will be emailed to parents as soon as they are available.
The Drama Ensemble prepare for their CAPA Evening performance in rehearsals each week. They are playbuilding a piece about a school excursion to an art gallery and developing some performance art, as seen in Caravaggio’s Tableaux Vivants. We are developing our understanding of the principles of art, rhythm and movement.
Music and Entertainment
The Music Ensemble, Vocal and Instrumental are both in full swing preparing for performance opportunities this year. The Instrumental component of the Ensemble have spent most of the term working on the School Musical. The vocalists are learning some new songs to add to their traditional repertoire.
The Year 12 Music students are working hard to prepare their performances for their Higher School Certificate practical exam which occurs in September. Their pieces are shaping up to be very engaging, and they range from solo piano classical pieces to ensemble numbers in Rock and Blues styles. We are all looking forward to the Yr 12 CAPA evening in August, when the students will be showcasing their performances. The Yr 12 Music students have also been enjoying some ‘higher leverage strategies’ during their lessons. These include card games to reinforce the concepts of music and the use of hats and masks to identify the structure of songs. We are exceptionally proud of the students who have been taking advantage of the regular performance opportunities that have been arising in our community. Congratulations must go to Noah Douglas and Jessica Furnari for their excellent performances at the Secondary Principal’s Conference. The feedback from those in attendance was very positive.
During Week 8, Elderslie High School Music students performed at the MWLP VETsteddFOOD at Julia Reserve in Oran Park. Over an hour’s worth of musical items from varying genres were performed by Noah Douglas, Jessica Furnari, Kathy Gramelis, Angelina Buakao and Leah Mizyed from Year 12, Kaylee Wakefield from Year 11 and Maxwell Buakao from Year 8. Well done to all students involved, including Keira Plumridge from Year 11 who ran the technical aspects of the event for the week as part of their Work Placement for Entertainment.
Congratulations to Jasper Browne from Year 12 on his selection for the Technical Crew for Schools Spectacular “All 4 One”. What an amazing opportunity to put into practice all of the skills learnt in the Entertainment course and as part of the Event Management Team.
Visual Arts
This term, Year 8 Visual Arts students completed an artwork for The Arts Unit program, Operation Art. This is an initiative of The Children’s Hospital and the New South Wales Department of Education. The program includes exhibitions and workshops for teachers and students. The CAPA Faculty had the difficult job of selecting two artworks to send in for the competition. Congratulations to Ryland Bright and Lucy Tucker for their amazing artworks. We hope their artworks will be selected in the HOSPITAL 50, that will be gifted to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Year 12 Visual Arts students are in the middle of developing their bodies of work for the HSC. It is a long, exciting, arduous process from developing the initial concepts, experiments with media and many discussions with their teacher. They must create an artwork which will show, not only their ability with a chosen medium, but their understanding of a subject/concept and how they can convey this idea through their artmaking practice. Some of the students have chosen to make works that are very subjective - a portrait of a mother, two large drawings that represent loneliness, paintings of childhood memories, drawn images of beloved grandparents and a sculptural work which will represent sea life and how we must work toward its preservation. Others are creating works full of colours and textures that create a strong visual impact. In particular a carpet covered in the detritus of life and a sculptural work using the beauty of sea glass. This year there are a number of students creating video artworks. One about skateboarding, using movement and colour, another based around a gentle piece of music and a third based on a poem. These all have the potential to be visually exciting. This is a challenging course which allows young artists to present their ideas and technical abilities in an artwork of their choosing. As their teacher I congratulate these students on their hardwork and dedication. We hope parents will come to see these works at the HSC CAPA Evening in Term 3 - you will be awe struck by the talents of these young artists.
Public Speaking and Debating Update
On Friday 10th May, Elderslie High School hosted the local final of the Plain English Speaking Award. Carlee Bell and Jasper Browne from Year 12 competed in the event. Both Jasper and Carlee presented 8-minute prepared speeches on interesting topics that are very relevant in our society today. The second part of the competition involved the impromptu division. Competitors were given a previously unseen topic and they then had three minutes in which to prepare before giving a three-minute speech. Impromptu speaking can be incredibly challenging, both Carlee and Jasper presented impromptu speeches on pertinent topics and delivered them exceptionally well. Thank you to Alysah Bliss and Ella Santa Maria from Year 8, as well as, Mikayla Marshman and Alicia Peterson from Year 9, for chairing the competition. Jasper then went on to represent the school at the Regional Final at The Arts Unit in Lewisham on the 28th May 2024.
The Year 11 & 12 Debating Team, consisting of Carlee Bell, Jasper Browne, Callumb Jenner, Xavier Laundess and Tyler Lloyd, won their Round 1 and Round 2 Debates against Fairfield High School and Turramurra High School. Unfortunately we were defeated by Ulladulla High School in Round 3. We used our lifeline and went on to defeat Sefton High School in our repêchage debate. Next up we debate Elizabeth Macarthur High School in the fourth round. Best of luck!
Ms Dennis & Ms Santos
