"High School Magical"

I know... another post beginning with how busy we have been!  But... it is so true!

Anyway, in the middle of all the rest of everything else that is going on.... we have one last night on stage with "High School Magical" and we are getting rave reviews from the crowd!

The show starts at 7:00pm in the auditorium, doors open at 6:30 and there is even a coffee cart and eftpos! 

The show stars Zoe Renor as Cinderella, and Civic Cruz as Harry Prince.  As they try to negotiate through High School, magical forces keep them apart.  The Villian is played by Marlon Moala-Knox who is intent on stopping Cinderella from getting together with Harry.  Camille Healy is the Fairy Godmother who works to keep them together.

The main characters are supported by a bevy of interesting characters, from the flirtacious Step Mother (Gianna Pohl) and her pool boy Reynaldo (Mitchell Harman), to the ugly step sisters, the popular Britney (Sarah Philip), the nerdy Gertrude (Izabelle Brown) and the vampire Bella (Alessandra Giorgioni). 

Some of the more interesting characters enrolled in High School Magical include the less-than-brilliant Bruce the Jock (Finn Shepherd), the moves-like-Jagger Smooth Stu (Travis Brown), the beautiful soulful voice of Skux Simon (Oliver Healy), the hog-tying antics of Cowboy Chet (Dan Carlisle) and of course, a vegetarian zombie (Nick Smith).  While trying to fit in with the Cool Chicks (Kate Philip, Natalia Austin, Moana Braithwaite and Giorgia Giorgioni), Cinderella ends up as the butt of all the jokes in school.

The show is hilarious if I do say so myself.  If the antics aren't enough, the Pantomime horse (Joel Charters and Joe Garratt) and the 4 cupids help to take the humour to a whole new level.

If you are free, and have $5 burning in your pocket, come along for an amazing night of music, laughter, entertainment and short-shorts.

The poster, designed by Civic Cruz

Finn Shepherd, Travis Brown and Oliver Healy

The Cool Chicks: Kate Philip, Natalia Austin, Moana Braithwaite and Giorgia Giorgioni

The Step Sisters: Sarah Philip, Izabelle Brown, Alessandra Giorgioni

Sugarlumps and Bruce: Joel Charters and Finn Shepherd

A couple of Cupids: Oliver Healy and Mitchell Harman

Marlon Moala-Knox and Camille Healy

Finn as Bruce with Civic Cruz as Harry Prince

Walter Barber recites for the Nerds

Bruce gets a prom date - Sarah Philip and Finn Shepherd

Oliver Healy singing... afterall, he is in the band with No Direction

Gianna Pohl waits for her Pool Boy, Reynaldo

That time we met with Gandalf

This year we performed "King Lear".  2 years ago, Finn was told he was too short to be in "The Hobbit".  This last weekend, our luck was in, and we met with the man who links both parts- Sir Ian McKellan.

Ian was in Carterton raising money to rebuild the Royal Theatre in Christchurch.  We were not far behind because we love a chance to talk Shakespeare with a legend.  A group of 10 of us headed out to see him on Sunday, sitting in the front row.

The highlights were many, but when we all had a chance to join him on stage, we thought all our dreams had come true!  He was superb onstage, humble offstage, and incredibly generous with his time with us.

We had a blast, and gained a new appreciation for a legend of Stage and Screen.

With Sir Ian McKellan from left:  Travis Brown, Oliver Healy, Mr. Buckham, Juanita McLellan, Finn Shepherd, Chris Buckham and Izabelle Brown.

Rocking out at Rockquest 2012

Ms Webster, Cody Field and Jason Ireland have been working tirelessly with the Kuranui bands to get them ready for Rockquest, and it was an epic night.

We entered 3 and a half bands.... as Sciatica was made up of 4 band members, 2 of which came from Kuranui.  Korona joined Sciatica, along with Rockquest veterans Borderline Frequency and Amplifted.  As a school we were privileged to hear the bands play before the competition, and they were epic.

On the night, our bands performed particularly well, getting a great deal of support from the crowd.  Korona, our Junior Band, won the People's Choice Award, which was a big win considering the number of entries and the high calibre of the competitors, so well done to all the bands, especially to Korona members Bethany Patten, Joe Garratt, Daniel Aburn and Sarne McGillicutty.

Bethany Patten singing with Korona

Korona members from left:  Sarne, Daniel, Bethany and Joe

Luther McCullough, front man and guitar for "Sciatica"

Theatresports 2012

Phew!  It has been an epicly busy week with Theatresports.

We entered 3 Junior teams, 2 Senior Novice teams and 3 Senior Open Grade teams.  All of the competitors worked hard leading up to their competitions learning the games and sharing the coaches.  Then we set for performance, and we did well.

The Junior teams each competed fairly and provided a great deal of fun for the audience.  The Senior Novice teams worked well together and amazed the crowd and our Open teams, including people who had never competed before, stood up to the standard required nicely.

We ended up with 3rd in the Senior Novice section and winning the Junior division this year.  Our Open grade teams all did well, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun With Finn" making the finals.  Their ballet in performance achieved a nearly perfect score.

All in all, we had a great time and the kids went above and beyond the call of duty.  Oliver Healy worked the scoreboard all week, Zoe Renor and Dan Carlisle took turns time keeping.  Mary was brilliant, driving the school van and dropping our team home in the evenings.

We would also like to congratulate Chanel College on their win in the Theatresports competition.  This is the first time since the competition began in the early 90's that Chanel have won the overall trophy, and it was a well deserved win indeed.

Warming up backstage

"The FFG" performing for the first time - Connor, Cheryl-Kay, Jacob and Nadia.

The Year 9 team - "The International Chicken Unit"

Camille Healy and Moana Braithwaite in "Wordball" - Moana is of course a unicorn.

Finn Shepherd, Zoe Renor and Jasmine Turner performing "Gibberish Interpreter"

Ale Giorgioni (with Jasmine arms) and Travis Brown (with Finn arms) performing a riotous "Hands Interview" in the final.

The Overall Junior Champions - "The Milkshake Ninjas" in "Slow-Mo Commentary".  Connor Taumoepeau, Joe Garratt, Nicky Carlisle and Toyah Churton.

Stage Challenge 2012: Pure as Snow

Well, another Stage Challenge came to a close, well.... other than our thank-you performance next week.  It is always such a busy time around the Performing Arts Suite, so taking a break to blog is a challenge.  Between costumes, make-up and all the forms, we never thought we would get it finished.  But we did.

And I was really proud of the students. 

Kieran Tankersley and Ariane Gleeson ran the show this year, coming up with the concept, choreography, rehearsals, soundtrack, forms, fundraising, you name it, they did it!  Crazy busy.  It has been so good for both girls, not for the credits, but for all the organisational and management skills they have learned along the way.

Along with Travis Brown who helped with choreography and rehearsals, if it was on stage, these 3 had a major hand in it.  Oliver Healy deserves a shout out for his castle and getting the set there.  Cole Garratt and Jasmine Turner were stellar with lighting and backstage work.  Danica Kawana and Alena-Rose Burt were invaluable in rehearsal as well.  The committee worked so hard to get the show on the road.

On the night we took out 4 awards, for Stage Use, Visual Enhancement, Creative Thinking and Storyboard, so we were pleased with the haul.

Our congratulations goes out to Makoura College for their routine about the Christchurch Earthquake and to the overall winners, Wairarapa College for their piece about Antarctica.  It was a proud night to be from the Wairarapa.

Ariane Gleeson as Snow White

Kieran Tankersley as the Evil Queen

Travis and Setty attack Ariane in Rehearsal

Ariane and Travis in Rehearsal

Those under the Queen's Control

The Finale

The final moment

Wordless Wednesday: National Youth Drama School

One of our students, Zoe Renor, spent her Easter holidays at the National Youth Drama School in Hastings.  She had a great time, as you can tell in the pictures.  She is the one in the hat at the front of the triangle.

"Tunes of I"

   $20,000 worth of Gear 

+ 24 Hours studio time 

+ Flights/Accomodation 

+ A years supply of Red Bull 

+ Facebook

+ You

= A massive opportunity for our ex-students.

Conway Jeune, musician extraordinaire, and his band, "Tunes of I" are in with a magnificent shot at a huge prize including band gear, studio time, and the opportunity for a choice national tour.  They need votes on Facebook.  If you have a Facebook account, please go and 'Like' the following link, then vote 'Tunes of I'.  You can vote once per day.

Please vote and share the link, as Conway, as all our ex-students, would totally make the most of this opportunity.

 

And there is a bonus.... you could win $500 just for voting.  What's not to lose?

VOTE HERE

Where are they now?

After nearly 3 years in the Arts Department at Kuranui, it has dawned on me that the place is magical.  Stressful, exhausting, thrilling, tedious, annoying, exciting, amazing and talentful.  I'm not even sure if the last one is even a word.... okay, so I KNOW it is not a word.

Anyway, the Arts are really demanding subjects.  As I have been reminding my Senior Drama classes, in English you study a book, in Drama you study it, memorise the whole thing, perform it in front of an audience, and everyone knows how much work you put in instantly.  Pouring your heart and soul into something and then hearing constructive criticism is hard, for anyone, any age.  Yet, our Arts students put themselves through the rigor and pain involved, all while hearing from other students that the Arts are chill-out subjects.

We have had some very talented students passing through our metaphorical halls.  Some have gone on to careers in the Arts, and some have chosen another path.  On a random 'as-and-when-I-feel-like-it-basis' we will be throwing in a 'Where are they now?' post, because we are very proud of our students, ex and current.  It takes a great deal of guts to do what we do, and we love to see how our students run with it after they leave.

So, watch this space.... intently ;)

Private Peaceful

This post is long overdue.  Back in the International Arts Festival, we played host to the touring company, Scamp Theatre from the UK.  They set up shop in our auditorium for the day to perform "Private Peaceful" in the evening.  It was a packed crowd on a hot night, and the show was amazing!

Private Peaceful relives the life of Private Tommo Peaceful, a young First World War soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. During the night he looks back at his short but joyful past growing up in rural Devon: his exciting first days at school; the accident in the forest that killed his father; his adventures with Molly, the love of his life; and the battles and injustices of war that brought him to the front line.

During the show he used over 20 different accents to create all the characters- totally magical and compelling.  Our students had a great time interacting with the company during the day, and helping out in the evening.

National Certificates

Last year we had great success in the Arts Department.  The Dominion Post has all the NCEA results published in it today, which is timely.... but actually, we had more success than even we planned on. 

We offered a "Performing Arts" course last year- a programme focussing on the technical aspects of performance.  What we didn't realise was that students taking the course suddenly became able to attain National Certifications.

We had 3 very successful Performing Arts Students.  Zoe Renor, Alena-Rose Burt and Alexandra Fleming all gained the National Certificate in Drama, and Alena-Rose Burt also attained the National Certificate in the Performing Arts.

To gain the National Certificate in Drama, students needed to complete 30 credits in Drama and 10 credits in a supporting subfield, which was the Performing Arts course for all 3.

To gain the National Certificate in the Performing Arts, Alena had to complete 45 credits in 3 areas of Performance, which she did with Drama, Dance and Performing Arts standards.

Zoe Renor and Alena-Rose Burt

Wordless Wednesday: Strumming the ol' Six String

And here we go again....

Phew!  With another term rolling around to the close, an update seems LONG overdue!

It has just been CRAZY.

Chaedyn Dukes and Zoe Renor performing a scene from "Romeo and Juliet"

Drama have completed their first assessment performances, just last week.  All senior Drama students participated in a performance evening, performing their student directed Shakespearean scenes.  It was magical.  We saw boys eating pies, girls dancing as fairies, girls with swords, boys with swords, girls in love, boys in love, a teenage runaway and an army soldier carrying firewood.  Nothing less than you'd expect.

Next week the Dance and Drama seniors will have a performance evening, which will be amazing I am sure.

Stage Challenge is up and running again.  Ariane and Kieran and doing so well with the choreography and rehearsals.  Mr Ryan is fundraising the required $5,000 to get our show on the road.  Oliver has the set well underway.  Ms de Croy has kept up with all the paperwork and online forms.... and I have flapped about the place mumbling things to myself.  All in all, a team effort?

The Visual Artists are excited as the first official looking drawings of the new Art Suite are up and about.  All majorly interesting.  We will have 2 new Art rooms and 2 digital spaces.  And all this will be near the Performing Arts department!  Finally we will all be together.

Ms Beecroft has been working with the Yr 9 Drama class on poi this year, and their skills are through the roof.  Tomorrow she will demonstrate fire-poi which is very exciting.

But, for now, it is time to log out and hopefully log back in soon for a proper update on all these things.

The Winters' Tale

This year has been a fantastic year for Shakespeare!  We have been working on our Shakespeare production of King Lear for the competition, and all Drama students from Year 10 upwards have been working on a student directed scene.

The Bard is the Word- that is for sure.

Recently we travelled to Wellington to see the Propeller performance of "The Winters' Tale".  The cast was all male, so it was more like Shakespeare as his audiences would have seen it.  While some of the students couldn't follow the difficult storyline, but the acting and technical effects made it all easy to understand.

We had a great time, but unfortunately had to cancel our viewing of "Troillus and Cressida" due to weather.

Rarotongan Dance

This year the 201 Dance class are working on Rarotongan Dance for their unit on Social or Ethnic Dance.  It has been a challenge for the class to get their heads, and bodies, around the subtle movements of the dance form.  However, it has been a really popular dance style.  Setty and the boys are getting right into the difficult male part of the dance.  

Shortly this class will be assessed on their work which will be worth Achievement Standard credits for their NCEA.

Wordless Wednesday: Enjoying the Show

Stage Challenge 2012

We are underway for 2012! 

This year our very talented choreographers are Kieran Tankersley and Ariane Gleeson.  The two have very different styles of dance, but the ideas and the dance are starting to gel together nicely.  Ariane is the master of hip-hop, while Kieran is more of a contemporary dancer. 

Both girls have been running auditions, and getting their choreography ready for the full rehearsals once the chorus has been set.  They have charged Oliver with the task of set construction after his masterful work with the set for 2011.  Danica and Travis have also been taking the lead, helping out with rehearsals and auditions.

The force will be out at the Martinborough Fair in March, fundraising for the cause, as they have a 0 budget to start with, and have to raise the money to get the cast and crew to Wellington, all the costumes and set, and to cover all the other production expenses.

Ariane (in the front) teaching one section for the auditions in the Dance Studio

Performing Arts in Focus

One of our new areas of education is in Performing Arts Technology.  Here senior students choose what they want to focus their time and energies into, looking at the technical aspects of performance.  We have students looking into hair and make-up for the stage, costume design, stage design and construction, directing, script writing and lighting and sound technologies.

The courses are predominantly student driven.  Most students have areas of focus within the Performing Arts (Dance, Drama and Music) and then choose their standards to align with their interests.  Ariane will be linking her studies with her work in Dance, planning and implementing Stage Challenge this year.  Oliver works tirelessly on set and stage construction, linking to his interest in Sculpture, while Zoe and Alena focus on Drama with script and concept development for the stage.

Here are a group of Performing Arts students working on a construction challenge for our 15 minute scene for Shakespeare this year.

Out of the chaos will come something wonderful

Chaedyn and Kylie model their headpieces

Wordless Wednesday: Dance