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"It was fun. We had after school rehearsals and we changed a lot of things, but in the end it was perfect. After the performance I was still trying to catch my breath. My mum loved it and so did I. Thankyou to everyone who helped." Lucy Robertson, Year 5 |
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"We have gone on a wild ride in the past term with all this wonderful practice, but it was nothing compared to our performance at Her Majesty's Theatre! All the Wakakirri team met in the hall at school to get ready and everyone was nervous with excitement. All the Space Workers and Cadets looked like they were from Pluto. When we arrived at the Theatre, we went to our dressing room, which made us nervous, just waiting in the tiny rooms, and everyone thought, "This is the big day!" Sean Goldfinch Year 5 |
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"It's not the first performance I've ever done but it will be the best. All of the members of Wakakirri met in the hall all revved up like V8's. Most people got their hair done, strange and spacey. In town we had a dress rehearsal and it looked great. All the emotions backstage -- happy, scared, sad and surprised, but the pizza for tea changed all that!" Aaron Finan Year 5 |
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"Wakakirri was a really good, fun and scary experience for me. I enjoyed it when we got our make-up on, it felt cold and slimy. We had our make up done in a dance studio close to the theatre. The princess had a lot of pink and the boy had foundation on his face with black freckles. The flame dragons had an orange, red, yellow and black face. I think I had a great day." Karlia Vinall Year 5 |
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"I was really nervous waiting in the dressing rooms for our performance. Our group was fifth and when we were just about to go on stage we had to line up and wait. I was so nervous I got a stomach ache, but I was fine. When we got on stage it was so much fun. I had a really good time. I would love to do it next year" !!! Isobel Wakefield Year 5 |
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"When we walked up to the stage we had to be silent. While we waited in the wings for our turn I had butterflies in my tummy. Finally we were on stage. I couldn't really see anything because of the bright lights but we all did our best. At the end of our performance everyone was clapping. This was an excellent experience for all of us! Amelia Vardas Year 5 |
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This year, for the first time, Happy Valley School participated in the Wakakirri National Story Festival. This festival is a non-profit event that runs creative and performing arts competitions in front of live audiences in metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia. The vision of the Wakakirri National Story Festival is to inspire students to be creative and open minded about the world around them. Wakakirri is a word from the Aboriginal Wangaaypuwan people of Australia meaning "to dance". The name was chosen at the inception of the event in 1992 to give the event a uniquely Australian context and feeling. There are six
separate story competitions. They are:- All categories focus on creating, exploring, telling and sharing stories. Happy Valley entered the most popular category, story-dance. In this section, students tell a story, lasting between 3-7 minutes, combining a blend of creative dance and acting to pre-recorded music or live pop vocals.
Happy Valley School became involved in Wakakirri after teachers, Carol Atherton and Trudie Petho introduced the idea to Year 4 & 5 students, early in Term 1. Approximately fifty students accepted the challenge and the group began their exciting Wakakirri adventure. After watching a video of previous Wakakirri performances, the students and teachers discussed different story ideas that could be developed into a story-dance. Finally the group
decided on a story called "Hero." Year 5 student, Kate Moore
provides the following synopsis.
Having chosen a story, students were assigned parts and the cast began practising dance movements. Gradually over many weeks, the performance slowly came together. It was a busy time for staff and students. Sets, costumes, lighting, make-up and a host of other things needed to be designed, organized or made. Finally, after much hard work it was time for the real thing. A performance in the heats at Her Majesty's Theatre on Friday August 19th. This was a day of extreme excitement, anxiety and nervous expectation. However, our students came through and executed a near faultless performance. In fact, it was good enough to be invited back for the state finals in October! A truly astonishing feat, given that it was the school's first experience with Wakakirri.
The State final was held on Thursday October 20th, at the Entertainment Centre. Once again, the students performed a spectacular and dynamic interpretation of their story. The comments and feedback from everyone was extremely positive. The judges awarded our students a bronze medal. It was a truly exhilarating and proud moment for everyone involved, and one which the children will remember for many years to come. The school would like to congratulate and thank everyone who was involved in Wakakirri 2005. Firstly, to Carol Atherton and Trudie Petho who master-minded the performance. Their dedication, commitment and patience were truly inspirational. Thank you also to Kevin Jesshope, Simon Mueller and Barb Williams for their involvement. A big thank-you also to all the parents who gave their time and help to make Wakakirri possible this year, particularly Faye White and Kerry Smolarek.
Finally, a very special thankyou and congratulations to the wonderful Wakakirri students in our school. Your efforts in this venture were outstanding. The cooperation and teamwork you displayed were a credit to you, your parents and your teachers. Well done! You were the true "heroes" in this story.
Back to 2005 School Highlights
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