Arts
Students are back and the classrooms are abuzz with activity! In this edition of the ArtsNews take time to enjoy memories of the Y11 Drama production He Whakaaturanga o te Mahi Whakaari o Aotearoa – A Showcase of New Zealand Theatre directed by Robert Pollock. Y11 students performed a fantastic range of excerpts of scenes from kiwi plays such as Astroman, Woman Far Walking, Foreskin’s Lament, Daughters of Heaven and Wheeler’s Luck. It was an evening of fantastic laughs and theatre!
Another success for Music! Caught Inside – Raf Hosking, Frankie Smith, Caspian Rive and Jasper Renner-Allen. They have been announced in the Top 50 place getters of the ‘2020 Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition’. All 50 will have their songs recorded and mastered for the annual ‘Play it Strange’ album for free download. Caught Inside’s song is ‘Outside Observer’.
Coming up we will have an ‘online’ showcase of amazing dance featuring all year levels in theatre! Although we are unable to host an audience at the moment the show will go on! Keep an eye out for further details on the show scheduled for Thursday 24th September.
Finally, this week teachers have been promoting subject courses, giving students all the info they need to help with questions and decisions on what study in the Arts could look like for them next year. We encourage you to look over the ‘course selection’ information via the school website and read over the exciting options for junior and senior specialist study in our subjects – Art, Dance, Drama and Music.
Y10 Option Selection – Art, Dance, Drama and Music – Half-Year
Level 1 Course Book – links to info on Art, Dance, Drama and Music – Full Year
If students have any further questions we encourage them to speak to their teachers and very much look forward to supporting them with their choices ahead of 2021.
Thank you to all students for doing your very best despite the nature of our year. Students have been flexible and adaptive to learning from home. Post lock-down we’ve been excited to see the super authentic outcomes of activities set/work created. Thank you too to our teachers who have gone above and beyond to support home-based learning and self-directed study. This year is a success because of the team effort taken to support one another.
Thanks to Vlada Morgunova – 13Art Design – for the ArtsNews Heading in this issue.
Kirsty Britton – Arts Coordinator
The WSCW Dance Showcase – change of date!!
Students will still have the opportunity to perform the amazing work they have done in Dance this year, but it may look different to our original plan. Due to Alert Level 2 it is unlikely we will be able to invite a public audience, however we know that the Showcase is an important event for our students and their supporters, so we are exploring ways students can share this performance with you online.
Watch this space!
Here are some key dates for all Dance students in Year 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13:
Sunday 20 September 9-3: Rehearsal
Monday 21 September 3.10-8pm: Plot lights
Tuesday 22 September 3.10 – 8pm: Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday 23 September 3.10-5pm: Performance 1
Thursday 24 September period 4: Performance 2
All students should start revising, developing and rehearsing the work they have produced or learnt this year so that it is ‘performance-ready’. For many students, the Showcase will be an assessment or re-assessment opportunity.
Year 11 and Year 13 Dance students have a guest tutor!
We are very fortunate to have the amazing choreographer, rehearsal director and teacher, Megan Adams, work with the Year 11 class to create a group dance that incorporates Year 13 Dance students.
Megan has been teaching students contemporary dance technique and leading them through choreographic processes to make phrases based on recipes, artworks and poems.
Look out for Megan’s dance in our Showcase in Week 10.
Chloe Davison – HOD Dance
DRAMA NEWS
We were extremely lucky to squeeze in the Year 11 Performance before our second lock-down. The evening was a showcase of classic New Zealand plays. These included Woman far Walking by Witi Ihimaera, Astroman by Albert Belz, Foreskin’s Lament by Greg McGee, Daughters of Heaven by Michelanne Forster and a smorgasbord of scenes from Wheeler’s Luck by Nigel Collins, Toby Leach & Damon Andrews.
The young performers presented us with an array of characters across the spectrum of theatre from the very serious to the highly farcical. The quality of the work was very good and a reflection of the effort put in by the students. We are blessed as a country with a plethora of highly skilled and talented writers and it has been a joy to share their work with our students. A huge thank you to all the friends and whānau who showed up to support the students in their performances.
Most of our year 11 students now have 13 credits banked with another 5 available from the devised work they are currently engaged in.
We hope to be able to showcase the year 12 and 13 students in term 4. Both year levels are currently working on scripted scenes to perform. Year 12 students are exploring the works of Bertolt Brecht and we intend to present the performances in the Ken Havill Centre for Learning. Year 13 students are looking in depth at a selection of monologues, two-handed and three-handed scenes. These include scenes from Shakespeare and Pinter, as well as
the latest plays from young New Zealand playwrights. Students will be assessed on their use of drama techniques and the selection and use of features specific to their scenes in class within the next two weeks. This will ensure most students gain a minimum of 13 credits in drama. I will the redirect these scenes and in term four the students will perform in public to gain another five credits. Look out for the performance dates in term four, when hopefully we will back to Level 1. We’ll keep you posted.
The second lock down has been difficult for many of our students, but we would especially like to celebrate our junior drama students who made a real effort to attend classes and continue their learning online. Well done years 9 and 10 Drama!
Robert Pollock – HOD Drama
Daughters of Heaven by Michelanne Forster – Act I, scene x
Featuring Katie Guenzel-Reilly and Ilana Kizildere Sakgun
Greetings from Rangitoto – Welcome back from ‘lock down 2.0’
At the time of writing – we are back after the second lock down and rearing to go. Despite the disruption – junior and senior students were able to continue learning from home through google classroom, sharing email communication with their teachers and access to resources via the post and/or the ‘mobile’ art store. If you are unable to return to school – weekly posts will continue to be communicated as outlined by the school to accommodate students and families effected by Alert 2 conditions.
In lieu of the term three senior exam/workshops (thanks to the SLT and BOT decision) – students now have valuable class time to extend, clarify and regenerate their ideas towards finishing internal works for the boards. Senior Art History students are similarly working through their internals, with one Y13 student already completing the course with UE.
As signaled in the last newsletter – we aim to showcase our senior folios in term four as part of an inaugural multi-departmental presentation of the Art, Media and Technology departments. At this point we have a tentative date next term – however watch out for the AMT (as in ‘amped’) flyers that will confirm the details.
In terms of following students ‘beyond the gate’, we would like to profile an ex-student – Brittany Smith. As a creative whirlwind at Springs in Art Photography, Painting and Art History – Brittany helped to establish the LGBQT+ group; made a wall of ‘redbull’ cans; performed adhoc DADA performances and won an Art History ‘food’ competition by painting bite marks on her arm as a survivor of cannibalism after Gericault. Brittany was recently awarded the Eden Arts tertiary award (the second ex-Springs student to achieve this) and we wish her well with her continued success in the Arts.
Lastly, in preparation for the next stage of their creative journey – Art Staff will be talking to our students about their senior choices for next year. All programmes are listed in the course book, however parents and guardians are welcome to contact the department if they have any specific questions or concerns.
Re Y12&Y13 Art Design – email Kirsty Britton britton@wsc.school.nz
Re Y12&13 Art Photography – email Ashley Heelam heelama@wsc.school.nz
Re Y12&13 Art Painting, Y12&Y13 Art History – email Lily Laita laital@wsc.school.nz
Ia Manuia Lily Laita – HOD Art
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