This year the Dance Department took six trips to amazing Dance shows: Station by Freshman’s…
Drama productions have been in full swing! Following on from Y13 production of Animal Farm at the end of last term we’ve recently seen the end of production season with the Y11 production of Karanga i te Pō (A Cry in the Night). Thank you to Robert Pollock and Beth Kayes for putting on such incredible shows this year. Heart and humour has been evident in all work and effort from behind the scenes to stage.
Coming up are Dance productions with the first WSC Annual Dance Showcase in Week 10!
A very special concert led by Margaret Robertson and Trina Sellers will feature on Friday 24th August at 6:30pm in the School Hall. WSC-NpoW Chamber Group and Friends are fundraising for the charitable trust ‘Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust New Zealand’. Please mark this date in your diaries to support an excellent charity ‘Our musicians want to help other young people this winter by offering the gift of music in exchange for a generous koha’. Get along to enjoy a night of fantastic music, and help our musicians support their charity.
Finally, Dance, Drama, Music and Art students are clearly extending themselves in learning outside of the classroom with trips to shows, workshops & conventions. Participating in these rare opportunities is crucial to support creative and critical thinking, ideas generation and further advancement of work currently underway in class. Well done to all students getting involved and for your efforts outside the classroom. Learning from industry professionals will enhance your experience at school in so many ways preparing you incredibly well for life beyond the school gates at teriary level.
Kirsty Britton – Arts Coordinator
DANCE – Workshops, Guest Tutors and Shows!!
Dance students of all levels have been getting a taste of the ‘real world’ of dance with guest tutors and holiday workshops.
Year 11 and 13 Dance students wrapped up Term Two in a fun Matariki workshop with Touch Compass Dance Company. The session was led by renowned choreographer Rodney Bell, recent PhD graduate Suzanne Cowan and Catherine Chappell, artistic director of Touch Compass. After a shared lunch, the students were led through a series of short processes to explore movement inspired by the qualities of each of the stars in the Matariki star cluster. Our students noticed how inclusive the tutors were and enjoyed being given short tasks to explore ‘for the fun of it.’ For their teachers it was wonderful to see students creating and dancing with professional dancers.
Six Dance students attended the Unitec Winter Dance Workshop in the last holidays to get a taste of the tertiary dance programme. Robert Bloomfield, Kanako Hara, Eva Fuemana, Rahiri Maihi, Eleanor Tubman and Izrael Whippy enjoyed 3 amazing days of contemporary technique, muscle and bone, street dance and choreography with some of NZ’s best dancers and choreographers.
Year 13 Dance student, Kanako Hara, writes:
All the classes were so exciting. My first class was contemporary technique class with Ms Hannah Tasker Poland and there were quite a lot of new things for me such as rolling over the shoulder and turning many times. Some were quite tricky, however they are good challenges for me. The next lesson was a partnering class with Mr. Michael Parmenter, and it was a nice opportunity to communicate with other students as I could talk to almost every student. The class was very practical such as how to make connections in short moments. In fact, I used the skill of partnering I learnt at Unitec in my own choreography for school. The last lesson was a repertoire class with Ms Jahra Rager. I enjoyed her class very much. Her dance style is interesting. She explained the hidden meanings of each movement like this movement should be like watching your enemy and so on, and it helps me to memorise her choreography. This workshop was great opportunity for me to experience different kinds of dance. I enjoyed a lot!
Meanwhile, Harriet McCarthy was given a scholarship to New Zealand Dance Company’s holiday workshop. She spent a week learning, choreographing and performing dance, alongside the company dancers, inspired by the Auckland War Memorial Museum exhibition ‘Are we there yet?’ The week culminated in public performances at the Museum and Pah Homestead.
The Year 11 Dance class is loving working with guest choreographer Tupua Tigafua as he creates a quirky class dance on them. Tupua, a dancer who has performed with New Zealand Dance Company, Black Grace, Mau Dance and Footnote, has the students dancing with their eyebrows, ‘grabbing’ hamburgers and saying ‘huh?’ – all in rhythm! Look out for this joyful dance in the September Showcase.
Term Three is a busy term for Dance students. Here are some important dates:
Dance Scholarship Workshop
Wednesday 15 August 4.30-6.30pm
University of Auckland Faculty of Education, Epsom Campus
Unitec Activate Dance Workshops
Year 9, 10 and 11 Dance classes
Thursday 23 (Year 9) and Friday 24 August (Year 10 and 11)
Year 13 Dance Choreography Show 20-24 August (Week 5)
Monday 2.15 – 8pm Students plot lights with lighting technician
Tuesday 3.30 – 7pm Dress and Technical Rehearsal
Wednesday 9.15am Show 1
Wednesday 6.30pm Show 2
Friday Lunchtime Show 3
Black Grace trip
Year 9 and 10 Dance
Friday Sept 7 12.30pm ASB Waterfront Theatre
WSC Annual Dance Showcase (Week 10)
Mon 24 Sept 3.30 – 8pm Plot lights
Tues 25 Sept 3.30 – 8.00pm Dress rehearsal
Wed 27 Sept 3.30 and 6.30pm Performances
Thurs 28 Sept Period 4 Matinee of Year 11 Show
Year 11 Dance class loving working with guest choreographer Tupua Tigafua
Chloe Davison – HOD Dance
Karanga i te Pō (A Cry in the Night)
The Year 11 Drama classes presented Karanga i te Pō (A Cry in the Night) in weeks one and two of this term. This was a lovely little theatre in education piece designed for a younger audience, but with enough adult humour to keep everyone happy. The play was well received the the students worked hard to create a show that had both heart and humour. The audience was taken deep into te ngahere (the bush) to watch a young kiwi as she struggled to lay her egg and protect it from the many introduced nasties like cats, dogs, stoats and possums. The characters were all anthropomorphised and played with much comedy and a touch of pathos. It was a delight to work on this piece with the students who have all grow through the process. We now have the Junior Arts Festival performances to look forward to in term four!
Our senior classes also went to Q Theatre to see a fabulous production by Massive Theatre Company. This was a show by young people for young people and in the cast of five incredible young women were our very own Akinehi Munroe and Georgie Menhennet. The both gave stunning performances in Sightings, with energy, vitality, and real skill. They commanded the stage and showed our students what is required to perform at a professional level. Hopefully we will have more students who get the same opportunity in future.
Robert Pollock – HOD Drama
Musical Competition at its best!
As this goes to ‘Press’ our Jazz Band and Chamber Group are performing and competing.
Jazz Band has two outings: on Sunday August 5th, the Jazz Band and our Jazz Combo will be performing at the Pt Chev RSA in the Jazz and Blues Club schools competition. Later in the week both the band and the Chamber Group will be competing in the KBB schools’ band and orchestra festival.
Many thanks to Trina Sellers and Trudy Lile who tutor these groups and have done fabulous work with them.
Fundraising Event!
Chamber Group & Friends invite you to a concert in the school hall on Friday August 24th at 6.30 pm.
This concert will be entry by koha and funds raised will go to “Grandparents raising Grandchildren”. Please be in touch if you have any questions about this event and/or if you would like to be involved.
Margaret Robertson – HOD Music
Greetings from the Art Department
This term is setting up to be a real challenge for seniors as they continue to push the boundaries of their work and try new methods and processes to develop and extend their current methodologies through to their external work. This can be a constant source of angst for students in the Visual Arts and Art History – however the perseverance of hard work and consistent reflective feedback/feedforward can only aid students to become more confident in constructing their authentic voice.
With the school in a state of flux with the rebuild – we have had to shift some of our exterior y13 mural works to feature inside the library, with the current Year 12 works will going up around Y Block village once they are varnished.
The fantastic paintings and cans of the Y10 Pop Art classes from Semester 1 has been assessed and documented, and will be presented in the reporting process Parent Teacher interviews. These works were produced as part of a Level 1 NCEA internal standard and will also feature in and around the exterior of the Art rooms. Although it will be in happening after the seniors leave, keep an eye out for a selection of the Y9 and Y10 work that will be on prominent display during the Junior Art Festival held at TAPAC in term four.
Beyond the gates – congratulations to Y13 Arts student Eva Fuemana who participated in the Tautai Art Trust ‘Fresh Horizons’ workshops at AUT last term. This is an annual event that supports Pasifika students in the Arts with a three day workshop culminating in an exhibition at the St Paul Street Gallery. Also, at the time of writing we have 25 fortunate Y13 Art students are attending the prestigious ‘Semi Permanent’ Art conference, made possible through STAR funding. Finally, a special mention to Pearl Beesley and Lulu Nicolson for their involvement in the Elam Schools Workshops held at the University of Auckland, Elam School of Fine Arts.
Pearl Beesley painting at Elam Workshops 2018
Eva Fuemana at the Tautai workshop
“…I enjoyed working in a professional working environment, I met a lot of people with similar interests. Tutors were cool and taught us a lot…”
In regards to supporting the Arts – thank you to the parents and guardians who have already paid the student Art fees, as this enables the department to secure specialist resources and cover trip expenses. It is still possible to make payments towards the fees (y10-y13), as any shortfall from this year will impact the quality of resources and EOTC that we can offer next year.
Lastly due dates for senior external folios in term four:
Level 1 – Week 1
Level 2 – Week 2
Level 3 – Week 3 *
(*Level 3 students must pay your fees before this date, otherwise you will need to pay for your own folio to go to Wellington – $80-$300)
Ia Manuia Lily A Laita – HOD Art