What do you do when a persistent global pandemic continues to 'switch off your stage lights'? You make drama in the shadows!

The delayed return to school and the state-wide ban on incursions meant several events planned for the first two weeks of Term had to be cancelled or rescheduled - or we had to do what we do best in the Arts: get creative!

Through the generosity and agility of the Slingsby Theatre Company, the Years 7 to 12 girls were treated to a screening of one of its highly acclaimed past productions, Emil and the Detectives. This ensured their learning program was not jeopardized, while Slingsby worked on filming their latest visiting work, This tree is a story (about everything, including you, as told by me), which they also made available to us.

Slingsby’s shows are characterised by their innovative approach to storytelling - small casts play a multitude of characters and work with inventive techniques such as shadow play, miniaturised sets, projections, sound and audience participation in order to heighten the wonder and imagination of their stories.

Our students were captivated by both performances, which has made them think about how they can apply the range of staging techniques in their own theatre-making and challenging their understanding of what is possible as they develop as artists.

Andy Packer and Slingsby’s commitment to working with and developing young artists and schools was demonstrated in their offer to run the planned workshop remotely, via Zoom. Years 10, 11 and 12 students collaborated in small companies to apply Slingsby’s techniques under Andy’s guidance.

Each group was armed with scissors, card, a white projection surface, a torch, and their imagination to create a short piece combining narration, miniatures and shadow play which told a coming-of-age or getting-of-wisdom story in Slingsby’s style. Even Andy Packer was impressed with what they came up with in just 100 minutes - through experimentation, prototyping and testing ideas, and thinking about the impact they wanted to have on their audience. It was also a rare opportunity for the girls to make art with students in other year levels.

The Year 12 students will now develop a concept for a hypothetical Slingsby production as a major assessment, while the Year 11s will take their learning into the workroom to see how they can apply Slingsby techniques and approaches in the development of their company’s maiden production which will be presented as part of their company launch later this term.

Year 10 students will present their original Commedia dell’Arte performance on the same night and are also inspired to use shadow and miniatures to help create the world and atmosphere of their play in a style which traditionally uses minimal props and almost no set.

We will look to have Dr Corinna di Niro return to us later this year when the Semester 2 Year 9 girls take their course in Commedia. The Year 9s and 10s were fortunate to have local actor, teacher and Commedia performer, Mr Andrew Crupi, work with them at short notice in developing the stories they will present this term.

Looking ahead, the Year 12s are deep in rehearsals for their major production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls, which will be presented in Week 3 of Term 2. Written in 1982 and set in Britain during Margaret Thatcher's rise to power, the play examines the roles available to women in the modern society of the early 80's, and the roles women had to play to be successful in a ‘man’s world’. It also focuses the spotlight on the cost of ambition and the influence of Thatcherite politics on feminism. Churchill’s plays are intentionally challenging in their structure, language, themes, and politics.

But this is a Year 12 class who can, and are ably, rising to the challenge. This will be a Year 12 production not to be missed.

Aldo Longobardi
Head of Drama

Music

Music - Cancellations and Preparations

This term, we were hoping to hold our Grooves on the Greens concert, which was a huge success in 2021. But, due to the delayed return to rehearsals, and the many absences all ensembles are enduring, we will not be able to.

We are busily preparing for other concerts for this year, such as our Annual Showcase of Music, which will be held for the first time at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, with the exciting theme of POP! Through The Ages, and our annual Jazz at the Gov concerts (the artist is still to be confirmed, but Ms Lenartowicz has organised something very exciting this year!) We are also excited to embrace the return of the beloved Generations in Jazz - this year as a hybrid format - which will include a Gala Awards concert on Thursday 16 June.

Engaging through Social Media

Music is intrinsically collaborative, and benefits from a strong sense of community, and diverse perspectives. Social media is also more prevalent for musicians in marketing and sharing their work. For this reason, the 2022 music year will be focused on celebrating all genres of music, by using social media to connect the Wildy community.

Taking inspiration from the Berklee College of Music’s innovative Instagram account, the music leadership have started the What Does Wildy Listen To? initiative. These set of stories feature various students and staff at Wildy, and showcase their favourite songs, and reasons why they connect to them.

Girls have also readily adapted to outdoor rehearsals - accompanied by the rich, guttural timbre of leaf blowers - to keep the musical spirit ablaze.

Jacinta Chronowski-Wong
Year 12 Music Representative

Instrumental and Vocal lessons are well under way, despite the COVID-19 disruptions. If your daughter’s tutor is in quarantine, they may wish to teach online - a great way to keep lessons going.

Thank you for the communication between you all - and for informing the music office when your daughters are going to be away - we really appreciate this.

Our outside ensemble lessons, mentioned by Jacinta, display our true resilience and ability to adapt. Fortunately, changes to restrictions have enabled students deemed ‘classroom contacts’ to attend extra-curricular activities. Our girls can attend all rehearsals if they are asymptomatic.

Tune into 99.9 FM on Monday March 7 at 6.00pm to hear a special 2021 Australian Music Examinations Board Awards Concert, featuring performances from the 2021 Adelaide Eisteddfod Award winners. Wilderness School has two students who will be featured - Isabelle Yu (Year 12) on Cello and Annika Ganesh (Year 7) on Piano.

We congratulate these two students on their wonderful success.

Anna Lenartowicz
Head of Music

Art

Introducing the Art Committee

The Art Department is excited to congratulate and welcome Lucy Gu and Madeleine Forde as our Middle School Art Representatives this year. Lucy and Madeleine have been very busy establishing an Art Committee, with the successful applicants including Jada Driver, Georgia Haines, Marissa Tee, Graziella DeMaria, Felicia Xing, Miaomiao Yu and Zoha Raza.

The Committee will be to broaden students’ accessibility to Visual Art. It is keen to facilitate opportunities for sharing and experiencing artwork, by organising and promoting a variety of arts initiatives for others to participate in.

We look forward to supporting the initiatives the Art Committee brings to our community.

JamFactory Collaboration

The Year 9 Inspire: Creative Product Design students have attended the first of two workshops at the JamFactory. Supported by ceramic specialists, Xanthe Murphy, Mirjana Dobson and Hannah Vorrath-Pajak, they learnt fundamental skills needed to make vessels on the pottery wheel, and flatware using slab construction and mould forming.

By connecting with a globally-recognised centre of excellence, students are being exposed to contemporary, unique design ideas, and learning from the best emerging creative talent.

Practising these processes in our newly established pottery room in our Art Centre, the students will begin to refine their skills. Next term, they will establish their own ideas before creating their own individual, unique ceramic products, which we hope to showcase later this year.

Brooke Porter
Head of Art