Term 1 2015

Time really flies by so quickly, and with that, another term comes to an end.

Last year we farewelled Ms Lewis from the Dance Department, and this year we welcomed Ms Melchior into the whanau as her replacement.  So Dance has been ahum with changes and new directions for the last few months.

We started the year with a bang, being involved in the Greytown Arts Festival.  Nicki-Marie Campbell and Nicky Carlisle used their Circus skills to busk in the town centre, the musicians opened for "Tunes of I" and the Drama Department put on a 25 minute Flash-mob Shakespeare performance in the park, a combination of love scenes from 5 Shakespearean plays.

Keziah Stonnell as the Fool

The Cast of "Loves Labours Won"

Connor Fenwick and Nicki-Marie Campbell from "Taming of the Shrew"

Connor Taumoepeau as the Duke from "Twelfth Night"

Amber Spicer and Thor Elley as "Anthony and Cleopatra"

Then we were straight into the Sheillah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools.  We rehearsed and performed "Henry VI, Pt 1", the Joan of Arc story from Shakespeare.  Though this was unplaced, we did win the 5 minute section with "Richard III" so we will be off to the national competition in June with Egan Tearle and Zoe Thurston performing.

The cast of "Henry VI, pt 1" led by Natalie Bennett as Joan of Arc

Term 2 brings more action with the Production getting underway, which will hopefully be "South Pacific"... we are just waiting on the rehearsal scripts.  Rockquest will again be a big thing, and the Music classes are getting their bands sorted.  In a few weeks we will be having the Junior Show Offs event which will showcase the skill in the Junior school.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Wordless Wednesday: Dance

Playing with Fire

As part of the Level 2 Dance curriculum, students have to perform an Ethnic or Social dance.  This year has seen a huge number of performance options.  We have had Chinese Sword Dancing, the Highland Fling, Rarotongan Dance and now Samoan Fire Dancing.

Anthony Fa'afoi and Daniel Carlisle both completed this Dance assessment in front of the main offices, with Oliver Healy on the fire extinguisher.  Travis Brown and Dominic Hawke completed a musical performance on the Congas during the performance.  It was a terrific way for 3 subject areas to work together to a students strengths in performance.  The performance counted as part of assessments for Dance, Performing Arts and Music, which was terrific.

The Boys at Dance NZ Made

We were amid a throng of girls chorusing the ol' chant, "We wish the boys at our school would dance!!!!" when our boys team walked onto the stage.

Crowd pleasers from the start, the boys put on a great performance.  Travis Brown choreographed the routine.  His dancers were Wiremu Aitken, Eli Thorenaar, Dallas te Rangi, Anthony Prince and Setty Sammonds.  We thought we should share their routine entitled, "Taniwha o te Ao" (Monsters on Earth).

Dance New Zealand Made

This was the 3rd year that we participated in Dance NZ Made, and again, we had a great time.

The event is held in Palmerston North, and focusses on Dance, unlike Stage Challenge which also includes Drama and set design elements.  We entered 4 teams in the competition this year.  Ms. de Croy choreographed 2 of the dance routines, both in a contemporary style, the Year 11-12 "Sensations" and the Year 12-13 "Darkness and Light".  Travis Brown choreographed the boys' Hip Hop routine, entitled "Monsters of the Earth".  Jamie Howatson followed in her Stage Challenge role as choreographer and put together, "Our Toy Story".

All the routines were well receieved by the audience as well as our competitors.

While we were unplaced in a competition of many, many schools and routines, the students all had a fantastic time and performed and behaved admirably.

And it's all been remarkably busy again....

While a theme of this blog has become, "Being too busy to blog", we would love to change it all.

There are photos to follow, which are waiting on a set of genius's's's to recover from a memory card that insisted on dying at the worst-possible-moment.  These include some of the magnificent things we have had a chance to do recently.

At the end of last term, the Year 12 Drama class put on their performance of "Mother Courage and her Children".  While the Epic theatre form is a complete departure from what our students were used to, it was ultimately quite successful.  Mother Courage was played by Dominic Hawke, which was a supreme surprise to us all during the audition phase.  He was a beautiful Mother Courage.  Zoe Renor performed admirably as the mute Kattrin, and Chaedyn Dukes was a stand-out performer as Yvette.  Oliver Healy was particularly proud of his sign, which was particularly nice.

Dom Hawke as Mother Courage

Our Ukulele Orchestra had the chance to perform on TV as part of the Rugby World Cup Roadshow.  And the senior Performing Arts class worked on providing facepaint for the crowd.  It was a lot of fun, as well as taking random Unicyclers, which became the focus for many a photo.  The best aprt was looking like the ultimate "Where's Wally" comic!

Supporting Georgia

The auditions for the school production went ahead, with 38 people auditioning for the 8 key roles!  Ms Webster is currently adding roles to her original production.

Term 3 brought in the Education Review Office, and the Year 13 performance of "Once on Chunuk Bair".  James Owens was born to play the role of Frank, and Darren Dingle did a fantastic job of playing Colloney.  Katie James once again was relegated to a character who dies, this time in the first 2 minutes, then re-appearing as Otaki George.

The Senior Dance classes are gearing up for "Dance New Zealand Made" later this term, and the routines are looking amazing.  Ms de Croy will now be hunkering down beneath a pile of costumes.  Jamie Howatson is once again choreographing a routine with a dedicated bunch of dancers, assisted by Danielle Kennedy.

Theatresports has suffered a delay, mostly due to snow, but it looks positive for the intercollegiate event for Year 11's tonight.  We have 4 Year 11 teams this year, though with the weather, this may drop to 2 teams in the competition tonight.  We have to defend our title tomorrow night in the Senior Open grade competition.

The Rockquest again went well, with 2 bands competiting.  The Intermediate band did well, and the Junior band was a stand-out.  We have a great deal of talent in the Junior College. This year we were unplaced, but had some of the youngest competitors in the division.

Wearable Arts is on Friday night, which is held at Kuranui this year.  There are a number of entries from all the schools, which is a delight to see.  The Dancers and Circus troupe have been working on entertainments for in the background, and are quite excited about the event.

Watch this space for theatresports results, and to see how Katie James goes at the National Shakespeare in Schools Production in the school holidays.  Also, a big hello to Pakuranga College in Auckland, who could become the next big excitement for Senior Drama at Kuranui!

Junior Arts Classes

With the Junior Arts classes due to finish their current rotation, it seems timely to update the blog with a Junior Show Off's update.

The Year 9 Dancers were really awesome, getting down with Justin Beiber.  The Year 10's danced and even did a cheerleading routine which was new.  Ms de Croy has made her mark in the Dance department, and we are glad to have her.  In other news, Ms Pratt came in the other day and is looking totally amazing, and Eloise is incredibly cute.

The Year 9 Drama class performed their Circus routines, which were clever and highly skilled.  Brad Dingle and Joe Garratt were stars with their comic routine with juggling and a unicycle.  Mereana Hunt and Hannah Dare were the stand-outs with their plate spinning routine which had everyone amazed.  And Murphy Cater and Rama Tapp have come such a long way with their diabolo work this term.  I was proud of each of them.

The Musicians never fail to amaze.  This year the junior band played 2 of their original songs, which were phenomenal.  Marlon Moala Knox was a surprise stand-out on piano accordion.  And seeing the students who have just learnt to play an instrument get up and perform is heart-warming to see.

It was a great night all round.  We have a stack of multi-talented students in our junior school.

Junior Musicians in rehearsal

Toyah Churton prepares to go on stage

Stage Challenge 2011

This year Charlotte Taylor and Jamie Howatzon ran Stage Challenge, with Katie James.  They devised the concept, choreography and ran rehearsals.  It was a MAMMOTH task to undertake, but they did fantastically well.  The interpretation was around good parenting told through the story of "Where the Wild Things Are".  We picked up 6 awards, including the best use of Drama and the Stage Challenge Spirit Award.

The cast and crew of 92 were amazing, both in rehearsal and on the day of performance.

Thanks also to the South Wairarapa Arts Council and South Wairarapa Rotary Club for their generous donations to our stage challenge performance.

Ilse Botha as Max in the Forest

 

 

Charlotte Taylor as Max with Katie James as the mother

Photo's courtesy of Renee Cheesman

The Inaugural Concert on the new Piano

The inaugural concert for the new piano is coming up soon.  Monday 11 April this year, we will be holding a variety concert including Dance, Drama and Music, to show off and thank the donors of the funds for the new piano.

An upright grand piano was purchased recently, with funds given from the Wairarapa Choral Society.  The funding was gifted to help the growing choir at the school.  We chose to purchase a performance piano to accompany our vocalists.

The concert will include invited dignitaries, members of the Symphony Orchestra playing, and all donations given to the Stage Challenge crew of 2011.  The show will be fantastic, and all should move heaven and earth to attend.

Stage Challenge 2011

Stage Challenge is well underway at Kuranui College.  Charlotte Taylor and Jamie Howatson have taken on the responsibility of creating the Stage Challenge ideas and choreography themselves.  They have been doing so well with their large cast of dancers.

Katie James and Isle Botha have been working on the introduction to the sequence and it looks really awesome.

Ms Pratt can be very proud of her dancers this year.

Rehearsal Schedule

Now that the year is well underway, the week is filling with rehearsals occupying our students.  Lunchtime rehearsals are important.  Bring your lunch as most rehearsals begin at 1:20pm.

Mondays - Shakespeare
Othello rehearsals in the auditorium

Tuesdays - Glee Club
Glee rehearsals in the Music Room

Wednesdays - Stage Challenge
Jamie's group in the Dance Studio

Thursdays - Stage Challenge
Charlotte's group in the Dance Studio

Fridays - Shakespeare
Othello rehearsal in the auditorium

Soon we will be adding a schedule for Theatresports and Circus. 

Scholarship in 2011

In the Arts Department, we have had success in the past in Scholarship assessments.  This year we were thrilled to have both Barney and Christina attempt the Scholarship Drama examination performance.  And there is good news for next year as well.

In 2011, Dance and Samoan join the ranks of subjects with Scholarship examinations.

When paying your exam fees, you get 3 Scholarship exams in the package for free.  I recommend that everyone take at least 1 Scholarship class, because it is a good experience, improves your skills, and costs you nothing.  Scholarship awards are given out in amounts from $500 to $6,000.

The subjects offered in the Arts at Kuranui where you can attempt Scholarship in 2011 are:

• Art History
• Dance
• Drama
• French
• Music 
• Te Reo Maori
• Visual Arts – Design
• Visual Arts – Painting
• Visual Arts – Printmaking
• Visual Arts – Photography
• Visual Arts – Sculpture

The best part about Arts Scholarship examinations is that the exams are prepared.  In Dance and Drama, there will be a performance of your choice.  The Visual Arts include portfolios prepared as part of a course of study over the year.

Whatever you chose, think seriously about taking a Scholarship subject or two.... the advantages far outweigh the difficulties.

Cultural Awards Winners 2010

Waimarama and Barney did a fantastic job hosting the Cultural Awards last night.  They kept the audience entertained, and caused more than a few tears with their special awards. 

The whole event took AGES to set up.  Salvatore and Daniel Cameron worked hard setting up the auditorium, Christina alphabetised and checked the certificates, Mary and Ms. Thomson sorted out the supper, and Joshy set up the lighting and sound systems, and the band boys set up the muso section.  The afternoon was filled with costumes being re-set, make-up going on, and the glittery gowns coming out.

The evening started with Wai and Barney giving their welcoming speeches and review of the year.  Then the Yr 9 dancers showed their stuff with their "Evolution of Dance" routine.  Dan Carlisle showed his talent with a cirque routine including juggling knives.  "The Collision" performed "Another Brick in the Wall" and Zoe Renor sang "Memory" from Cats.  The Senior Dancers did their "Fame" routine, Katie and Wai pulled out the 5 minute scene from "Romeo and Juliet" and Finn, Adam and Aaron renewed their scene from "The Wizard of Oz".  Thomas Uatuku performed "Nothing else matters" on guitar, wowing the crowd again with his talent.  The theatresports boys did a fantastic rendition of Louis Gray, performing "Survivor", thanks to Darren, Arjun, Daniel and Dominic.  The final act of the night was "Artificial Sun" performing "Sunrise" and "Comedown" - brilliant talent shown by Jack, Tom, Barney and Louis.

We were thrilled to have so many Blue award winners this year, especially from those students who gained Blues in 2 areas.  We have such a great year to look forward to in 2011, given the talent in the junior school, as well as our top performers.

The big awards were a shock to the winners (but not to their fans) and were as follows:

• Greatest contribution to Dance - Zemira Hayvice
• Greatest contribution to Visual Arts - Samuel Pepper
• Greatest contribution to Music - Barney Johnson
• Greatest contribution to Drama - Waimarama Phillips

 Congratulations to all the evenings winners, and know that the school is incredibly proud of you all.  It was wonderful to see the diversity of talent in the school, and it was a wonderful position to be in to have so many great acts perform.

Sam Pepper - Visual Arts

Waimarama Phillips - Drama

Zemira Hayvice - Dance

Barney Johnson - Music

Another busy week in the Arts Department

Phew!  Sometimes it feels like we are the Physical Education department with all the running around we do.... It has been a long and busy and productive week at Kuranui College.

Visual Art and Photography students are hard at work on their portfolios.  Some of the Art students are involved in building the set for the production, which has been taking place in the Art room and in the Auditorium.

Drama students are furiously finishing assessments and learning lines for the production next term.  With 3 rehearsals a week, it is a tough ask for anyone, but the show is looking good at this point.  The regional champion Theatresports boys (with a hand from Arjun) performed in assembly to their largest crowd yet, getting laughs from all sides again.  Thanks Dom, Louis and Barns for that.  Then on Friday, Dorothy's house on wheels arrived in it's full glory in the Auditorium.

Dance students have had a tough ask as well, with the Dance NZ Made competition on Wednesday, followed by the Dance Showcase on Thursday night.  Talk about busy times!  I take my hat off to Ms Pratt who was spectacular and kept the girls all focussed and looking fantastic for 2 shows in a row. 

Year 11 Music students had their assessment performance on Thursday evening in the Music room.  Congratulations to Finn Harmon who received an excellence for his performance.  "Artificial Sun" performed in the assembly on Thursday as well, doing a great job with 2 of their original songs.

"Artificial Sun" performing in Assembly

But busy is the theme of the Arts department, and we are keeping on keeping on.... :D

Dance NZ Made

Last year we entered "Dance NZ Made" - a competition for Dance schools to show off their skills and abilities to an audience.  This year they created a whole school competition for Dance NZ Made.  We entered with a whole stack of other schools from around the North Island, from Hutt Valley High, to Karamu High, to Palmerston North Girls High, to little tiny primary school kids, to really stunning dancers from Taupo.  It was a terrific bunch of people, and a lot of talent in the room.

The day began early, heading out from Kuranui at 6:00am.  Miss Pratt had already loaded make-up, costumes and props into the cars and bus, and the dancers prepared to nap their way to Palmy.  On arrival, and a bit of BK, we headed into the Regent Theatre to watch the rehearsals and participate in workshops on different dance styles.  Hip Hop was popular, as was Contemporary Dance and Stylised Dance.

When our rehearsal rolled around, we had watched so many talented dancers and cheerleaders on stage, it was nerve racking.  However, the kids held their own, and eliciting cheers from the crowd.  Our boys were a total smash hit, with their exceptional dancing and clever musical arrangement and comic moments.

When the competition was about to begin, we were surrounded by a fog of hairspray and bobby pins.  Miss Pratt was in full diamante mode, applying make-up and fixing hair non-stop all night.  I was put on French braiding and bun holders.  The girls were fantastic at getting themselves ready, helping others, swapping shoes and tights, and remaining positive.

The dancing went so well.  On the stage the kids just brought their moves alive.  They were infectious in their enthusiasm and compelling to watch.  While the boys brought the house down with their routine, it was the Open Grade girls' team that brought home a 3rd place for their James Bond 007 routine.  All in all, it was a long 18 hour day, but well worth it, and totally a positive experience for everyone involved.  Thanks so much to Mrs Bain and to Mrs Curtice who assisted the whole day, and especially to Miss Pratt who put in so much effort to choreographing, costuming and teaching the whole squad.

Miss Pratt helping with Lydia's lift for 007

Rehearsing the final sequence of the James Bond number

Aleisha Bain in the final moments of the Fame routine

Jasmine putting on her make-up backstage

Alena-Rose helping Cheryl-Kay with her hair