Drama

Term 1 in Drama has been very busy. We have had an incredible couple of weeks! 

On Wednesday 20 March, our Year 10 Drama students went on an excursion to see Romeo and Juliet. This performance was put on by WAAPA third year acting students at Health Ledger Theatre. Renowned English actor and director Michael Jenn directed the show and the students enjoyed it.

On Wednesday 27 March, Year 11 and 12 ATAR Drama students attended the 23rd Performing Arts Perspectives Showcase for 2019 at Perth Concert Hall. This showcased the outstanding creativity and diversity of student performance and provided benchmarks of excellence in Dance, Drama and Music for students. Our students were attentive audience members and are excited to start working on their OSPs and monologues in class.

On Monday 1 April, we had the Year 11 ATAR Drama production Gate 38. It is a non-traditional musical where Bollywood meets Australian drama. Each student had both an acting role and a production role. This gave them an opportunity to not only preform on stage but also manage back stage. The students worked incredibly hard and the show was a great success.

On Monday 8 April, our Year 11 ATAR Drama students were lucky enough to have Julia Moody come in and run a workshop on their monologues. Julia was the head of voice at WAAPA for 22 years until taking up a position at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (UK). This workshop assisted the students with the process of selecting, creating and presenting a monologue, one of the requirements of the WACE exam. They concentrated on one monologue each and placed it in the context of the scene and the play from which it is drawn. They then identified key lines of dialogue, the climax of the piece and the character's motivations. Appropriate performance styles and choices were also discussed and applied in order to effectively realise the character in performance.

On Monday 9 April, we had our first ever Specialist Theatre Arts performance of Way off Broadway. This was a show comprised of eight musical numbers from such shows as Annie, Hamilton and Matilda! Over 70 students from Years 7 to 12 came together to put on this show and it was incredible. A special thank you to WAAPA graduate Taylah Crothers who directed and choreographed this show.

Dance

The end of Term 1 has been busy for Dance. As a part of the Year 7 and 8 Dance programs the students were required to perform to an audience during recess.

In the Year 7 Dance program, the students have been working on fundamental Hip-hop and breaking skills through a routine as a whole class. The students were tasked with creating their own choreography in small groups and combining the two pieces together. We were fortunate to have perfect weather on the day and the students did an excellent job performing to the growing crowd.

The Year 8 Dance students have been exploring Commercial Jazz technique and choreography with Alumni student Alysha Cheetham. The students then created their own performance by combining their own dance skills with the new skills that they had learned.

On Monday 9 April, selected Dance students performed in the Specialist Theatre Arts showcase Way Off Broadway. Choreographed and coordinated by Mya Thorby, the students performed a wonderful dance to songs from The Greatest Showman.

The co-curricular program really kicks off next term with the re-commencement of Dance Strength and Conditioning which is a dance focused fitness group where we will be working towards a performance later in the year.

Jethro Pidd
Teacher in charge of Drama and Dance