Harmony day

Student Reflections

On Wednesday, last week we celebrated Harmony Day and I’m here to share with you what I enjoyed. Firstly I’m going to tell you about the Cook Island dancing. Peri, Bella, Charlize and Cain were the ones that ran the activity. First we all watched them do the dances, then the boys did their dance, the girls did their dance and then we did the dances together.

Secondly, was the Indigenous workshop with Aunty Merm, an elder from Mullum Mullum. First she sang the greeting song, “Wominjeka, Wominjeka, welcome to our land” as the first verse. Then she showed us a possum skin, an emu feather, an eel catcher, a possum blanket and a coolamon, made from the glossy inside of a eucalyptus tree.

Thirdly was the Chinese dancing the workshop and the show. All the shows were beautiful with hip hop, contemporary, lyrical and Chinese dancing. Sandy, Chloe and Elizebeth did an amazing job dancing. The workshop allowed us to try Chinese dancing and learn a  part of the choreography for the hip hop dance.

Finally the lapathon, graffiti wall and coin trail were great fun. You got to choose how many laps you ran around the school, then add to the graffiti wall, then run another lap then go and help with the coin trail.

Harmony Day this year was fun and a little different to other years. I would rate it 10 out of 10.

- by Elliot

I enjoyed everything about Harmony Day but the thing I enjoyed most was the morning performance of the Chinese dancing because it was so graceful. Their costumes were so beautiful, especially an aqua coloured blue that was worn in a dance where the concept was that she was dancing in the Spring. It had long sleeves that hung loose around her forearm and a flower that was placed on her chest. 

I learned a lot of different things about other cultures and one of them was from Aunty Merm, learning about Aboriginal cultures. They use possum fur as a lifelong blanket with a lifelong story. Inside the possum skin coat were drawings and symbols.

We also did a lapathon, to fundraise for Caritas. I ran around four and a half laps of the school for the lapathon. We made a graffiti wall, as well as donating money to the coin trail which was very long, though I do not know the winning class. 

Harmony Day was amazing, learning about so many amazing cultures. I loved it all. 

- by Sheridan

On Harmony Day I did a Cook Island dance for everyone in the school. I enjoyed seeing other people doing our cultural dance and learning it. I made a good list in my head who did the best Cook Island dancing. Kim, the LSO, was a natural dancer and she was one of the best dancers. Sherie, an LSO, did really well, swaying her hips to the music. All of the staff were really good. Ruby, already knew how to do the Cook Island dance because my grandma taught her when she was at Primary School. I was doing the Cook island dancing with Peri, Charlize and Cain. Charlize did the female dance with me and as Cain was the only boy, he did a male dance. Charlize and I were also the backup dancers. We were doing the Hula behind Cain. When my Grandma, Peri, was teaching Cook Island dancing she was able to use the hula skirts. The skirt Charlize was wearing was Ruby's hula skirt. 

I loved the Chinese dance also. The girls did such a good job as they moved slowly and calmly. They were very brave. I loved how the dance was calm and soft. I loved the props they used and I really liked the costumes they wore as well. It is great to learn more about the Chinese culture.

I didn't get to see the Indigenous workshop but I heard it was very interesting. The students got to hold possum fur and learn more about the Indigenous culture.

Harmony day was amazing.

- Bella C