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
It has been another busy two weeks in Performing Arts. We had our very first VSSS Dance rehearsal as a host school. We welcomed Selby and Macclesfield Primary Schools to rehearse with us and I was very impressed with the stamina and focus shown by all of the students. Dancing from 10am until 2.30pm is no easy task! Well done. Some of the rehearsal videos are now on the VSSS Dance google classroom so you can start rehearsing at home. A very big thank you to Kim Van Hoorn who will be running our weekly rehearsals every Thursday at 2.30 to 3.30pm. Please take note of the dates below:
VSSS Dance rehearsal (at school): 22nd June 10am to 2.30pm
VSSS Choir rehearsals (Melbourne Town Hall): July 21st and August 11th
Technical rehearsal (John Cain Arena): 9th and 10th September
Performance Day (John Cain Arena): 11th September (usually required 11am to 10.30pm)
Production Help Required
I am looking for people to help me with the following:
- Sewing of simple costumes
- Designing and printing our Performance Program (which we sell on the night)
- Photographer
- Prop makers/painters
- I also need any emerald green fabric you can donate
Please send me an email penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au if you are able to help with any of the above. I will seek backstage help closer to the event.
Some of our class time has been impacted by Naplan and swimming but we have been flexible and adaptable as usual.....great qualities to nurture.
Foundation
The Foundation students rehearsed their songs and dances for school production. We continued to work on various stagecraft skills such as facing the front, looking out at an audience and spacing themselves in a line. We discussed the scene that they will be appearing in and I read the script to them so that they can learn when to 'chirp' on cue. I am looking forward to inviting the grade 5/6 actors into one of our lessons so the students can meet Farmer Mac and Farmer Donald. We also sang the song, 'Old McDonald had a farm'.
Level One/Two
The Level One students continued to learn more choreography for their song, 'The Witches Ball' and the Level Two students continued dancing to 'Ease on Down the Road'. Some of the students will be using props in their dance so we have started to introduce those into our movements. This involved conversations about safe dance practice and line spacing. We played 'Rock Stars' (which is a weekly request from these creative students) and completed a short Portfolio task.
Level Three/Four
The students continued to learn more choreography for their song, 'Dancing in the Street'. There are a lot of students on stage for this particular song so we have had lengthy discussions about spatial awareness and line formation. We have experimented with creating some interesting shapes and I was inspired by one student who said to me last week (when things were getting tricky), 'Don't give up Miss Lang....you thought having scooters on stage was hard....but you did it'. Such beautiful words of encouragement. We played our fast thinking game 'ABCD' to encourage team work and cooperation.
Level Five/Six
We have been using our performing arts class time to not only learn the 5/6 level dance and finale but also to help each other learn lines. The students are beginning to understand the importance of remembering lines so that they can free their hands (of the script) and add more gesture and movement to their character. The grade 6 students began working on a 'Character Profile' which required them to reflect on their character's personality, likes and dislikes. This will be used to inform their voice and movement when acting. Our crew were busy hunting all prop requirements as noted in the script. We are now rehearsing Act Two.
