Dance and Drama Faculty

From the Co-ordinator of Dance and Drama

A busy end of Term 2 in the Dance and Drama Department, with lost of exciting events to reflect on.

From Ms Rebekah Humphries - Results from SPACE Dance Competition 

Congratulations to our Senior Dance Ensembles who competed at the SPACE dance competition on the 27th of June. 

All three troupes were awarded a place in each of their divisions. 

Extension Dance Company – 1st Place - Contemporary

Senior Jazz Dance Company – 2nd Place – Stage 5 Jazz Section

Senior Lyrical Dance Company – 3rd Place – Stage 5 Lyrical Section

Thank you to are amazing choreographers Mrs Tamatea, Miss Cerone and College12 students Adele, Marlena and Zahra. A highlight was the lolly bar for first place holders!

It was such a fun day out. We are so proud of them all. We wish them all the best in their upcoming competitions this term. 

Junior Performing Arts Evening - Tuesday 24 June

Congratulations to all our Kindergarten to Year 6 students on a fabulous evening showcasing a variety of items within both curriculum and co-curricular dance, drama, and music. We are so proud of all the students — each and every one of them shone on stage.

We hope they enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their work for the community.

HSC Drama Evening - Thursday 26 June

Our Year 12 Drama students had the opportunity to showcase both their group and individual works in progress for the School community. This gave our students the opportunity to rehearse their works and receive feedback in preparation for their upcoming trial and HSC examinations this term. We wish them all the best as they finalise their projects for these.  

Thank you to our Technical Crew

With all these events last term came the very talented tech crew under the leadership of Ms Wenman: Elsa (C10), Harry (G9), Harli (G9), Anna (C9), Issy (C9), Samuel (G9), Jade (C9), Remy (G9), and Isaac (G9) — a huge thank you to these students. Although it is a great learning experience, especially for theatre studies, it was evident these students demonstrated leadership, support, maturity, problem-solving, creativity, and organisation in bringing these events together. We are grateful for their dedication and hope they have enjoyed these opportunities.

Update - Dance and Drama Junior School, Term 3

We are so proud of all the Junior School student’s performances at the Performing Arts Evening, they looked fabulous on stage!

The focus for the weekly Dance and/or Drama classes in Junior School for Term 3 is: 

KINDERGARTEN

Dance: Students develop specific dance skills such as balance, strength, flexibility, and coordination through the inspiration of different Circus characters.

Drama:Students participate in imaginative based lessons that encourage improvisation through dance, music, and drama. Each lesson has a different theme as a stimulus such as ‘Lego land’ or ‘Dinosaur Dig’.

YEAR 1 

Dance: Students learning about storytelling and creating dance. Looking at dance through cultures, such as the Indigenous Dreamtime and how dance is used to pass down stories.

Drama: Students explore aspects of theatre production such as set, costume and lighting. Familiar characters and stories are a stimulus in Drama based activities.

YEAR 2 

Dance: Students compose and perform dances, using rhythm, sound, percussion & everyday objects in non-traditional performance spaces.

Drama:Exploration of the power of mime through theatre. Drawing links to other arts such as ‘tutting’ in Dance or music performances such as the Opera.

YEAR 3

Dance: Students learn how dance supports other sports and how other sports assist in developing dance skills. Students are provided with opportunities to develop skills in a range of environments, the lessons focus on specific body skills inspired by other activities such as Ninja Warrior.

YEAR 4

Dance: Students learn that social, cultural, and historical dances have a purpose. They study a range of Folk dances such as Bush dance, Tarantella, Cossack, and Mexican Hat Dance. 

YEAR 5

During Semester 2, the Year 5 students learn about culture and its role within the world. Students observe and participate in a range of activities where they experience Dance and Drama across various countries and their cultural traditions. To further develop their understanding and appreciation of these aspects’ students completed weekly submission tasks which promoted creativity, self-expression, autonomy, and communication. In Term 4, the students work collaboratively on a group project where they research, create, and produce a performance that communicates their knowledge and understating of culture and its influence on society.

Dance: Students learn about the history of some cultural or social dance styles through observation and practical experiences and experience. Such as: Indigenous, Polynesian, Capoeira, Chinese, and African. Students engage in research and composition to develop their own meaningful dance works.

Drama: Students learn about the development of Drama through the study of influential practitioners or dramatic styles. They will learn about and engage in practical workshops around the styles such as Commedia Del’Arte, Shakespeare, Greek Theatre and Melodrama.

YEAR 6

In the Semester 2 Year 6 compose, create and perform a work that communicates a clear message, which advocate a purpose and aim to make an impact. Students research and investigate an issue of choice that is important to them and our world. They use dramatic and theatrical aspects along with original movement to develop a group performance presentation around the theme “what matters to me” or “If I could change one thing about the world”.  In Term 4, students extend their film studies exploring a variety of different filmed performance styles and choose one to create their own short performance film. They learn about camera angles, film techniques and editing. Some of the options studied included dance film, dramatic narratives, music video clips and puppetry.

Dance:students create and perform artistic dance movement in response to stimuli. Learn the basic structure of dance composition. These opportunities are extended in Term Four, where students create movement for film. The unit aims to develop skills in confidence, communication, and collaboration. 

Drama: Students will engage in practical improvisation workshops and activities that introduce them to playbuilding. The lessons focus on the application of voice, movement, physical theatre, and mime to communicate a message through verbal and non-verbal devices.