On the evening of Thursday 11 August, all of Year 6 took part in their Performance Showcase: Dreaming with Eyes Open. This evening offered the girls the opportunity to showcase their learning and skills across the Creative Industries, including the areas of Music, Drama and Art. All creative pieces featured as part of the showcase drew inspiration from the 2022 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week Theme, ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’.

The evening began with a beautiful and unique Acknowledgment of Country, comprising of symbolic movement and dance, which the Year 6 girls developed and choreographed whilst working with guest Indigenous artist, David Booth. Led by Mrs Ruth Shrimpton and Mrs Vanessa Abela, this was then followed by a fabulous choral performance with all the Year 6s singing ‘A Million Dreams’ from the musical The Greatest Showman.

Across the evening, the audience was also entertained with some powerful music solo performances, featuring Sirui Tang playing ‘Fiesta’ on the keyboard, Selin Cinar playing ‘All Star’ on the trumpet, Linah Kafagy playing ‘Shaken, Not Stirred’ on the saxophone, Ariarne Galbraith playing ‘Great Gate of Kiev and Sakura’ on the violin, and Evangeline Lee playing ‘Castle on a Cloud’ on the cello. These girls were truly spectacular!

The performances were broken up with a fantastic exhibition in Hender Hall offering supper and a magical display of artworks created by the Year 6 girls, which they had developed from personal and imaginative representations of their interpretations of the theme. They exhibited their work along with a short practitioner’s statement, which focused on the development of their ideas and processes. In these pieces, they were encouraged to apply and consider the art elements including line, form, shape, colour, space and texture to fully realise their imagery. Hender Hall transformed into a gallery space that could only be described as whimsical and dreamy; it was the perfect backdrop to a wonderful exhibition.

In the second half of the evening, Year 6 students were also involved in two stage plays that were performed as part of the showcase. The first performance, 'The Gingerbread Girl', continued where the tale of the Gingerbread Man left off with comedic twists and a story that ended up more Frankenstein than fairy tale, but also the promises of a 'happy' ever after. The second play, 'Goodnight Princess', was the story of a sleepy Princess Nara, visited by the creatures and characters of fairy tale worlds, who try to help her fall asleep. The students worked tirelessly in class dancing, acting and constantly rehearsing these performances, and they were excited to see the show come to life through costumes, music, lighting, sets and props on the night.

The evening was wrapped up with a whole year-level dance to ‘Dreamer’ by Supertramp—a wonderful Grand Finale to a magical night. Congratulations to all the Year 6s for their amazing creative endeavours on the evening!

Hal Bruce
Head of Creative Industries