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"

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!

School is rolling along....

Phew!  It is Week 3 already!  Crazy...

We are underway with the year, and things are progressing nicely.


Stage Challenge

The Year 13 girls are working on Stage Challenge at the moment.  They have a terrific concept, and will be choreographing the dance sequences to their chosen music at the moment.  They are currently taking names for people wanting to be in the chorus as dancers.  Later they will be asking for backstage and lighting crew.


Shakespeare

We are working on our 15 minute Othello scene, and will be calling for extras shortly.  The competition is in April, and we will be performing in March at Kuranui.  The Senior Drama students are all competing to represent Kuranui at the Regional competition, so Shakespeare is the main focus in Drama at the moment.

Circus Troupe

We are also off on our camp at the National Juggling Championships on Thursday.  We will be heading out to Fairfield Primary School and teaching a workshop there as well.  On Saturday, we are running a public workshop teaching beginner juggling skills.  It should be fantastic.  Watch this space for updates.

Bands

The Senior Rockquest boys are seeking a vocalist for their band.  See Dom, Jack, James or Tom for details.  Ms Webster has also be auditioning for a junior band.  She hopes to put a Jazz band together this year as well.


Glee Club

We had over 35 people audition for Glee last week, and the first rehearsal is today at lunch.  They look to be amazing.  We have some very talented students in the school.  It is not too late to sign up for Glee..... in fact, over 50 showed up for the first rehearsal today!

Murals

The Visual Art students are working hard to complete the murals for the Turf area, which should be set up in the coming week.

There will be a lot more coming up, so keep an eye on the school notices or in Korero for details.... or on this blog of course.

Artificial Sun - Sunrise (live studio demo)

rOur favourite rock band recently went out to Warren Maxwell's recording studio and recorded 3 demo tracks for the Rockquest judges. They will then submit a DVD of themselves with the aim of being selected for National finals. Here is their first YouTube experience..... fantastical. Enjoy. And best of luck boys.

Some winning images

So, previous articles did miss these photos.  Due to the flu season, it has been so gosh darn difficult to get everyone at school...... not to mention with all the success, so people have been in the studio!

3 of the boys from "Sammy 'the wonderhorse' Dodges", who won the intercoll theatresports last week.  From the left:  James Owens, Barney Johnson and Dominic Hawke.  Absent:  Daniel Cameron and Louis Gray.

Barney Johnson, named "Best Musician" at the Regional Rockquest competition with his epic snare drum.

Artificial Sun: The Demo

So, the rockband has done so well this year... and tomorrow they are off into a recording session with Warren Maxwell of Fat Freddies Drop. They will be making their video of themselves.... this will be the last step to getting selected for Nationals in Hamilton. I hope they have a total blast and rock out. They have worked hard and deserve this totally awesome break.

Have a great day blokes!

Barney, Tom and Jack in rehearsal.

Epic Success!

This has been a blatantly epic week in the Arts.  Not only are Production and Dance NZ Made rehearsals well underway with casting well and truly in place, we have had a spectacular week for awards.

Last Saturday was the regional Rockquest competition.  "Artificial Sun", our senior rock band, have been working so hard all year to be ready for the competition.  They rocked the house with their original songs.  They took out 2nd overall, and the greatest achievement of the night was when Barney Johnson was named as the best musician of the night.  Well done Barney!  If you want to catch "Artificial Sun" in action, check out gig dates on their Facebook fan page, or check out the last Wednesday of each month at the Ascot Theatre in Upper Hutt, where they have been making routine performances to a packed crowd.

This week was the intercolligiate Theatresports Competition in Masterton.  We entered 7 teams in the 3 divisions, and had great success.  Monday night we had "The Pineapple Express" performing and coming 2nd in the competition that night.  The team was comprised of Kaden, Ale, Sian and Dan.  On Tuesday the Yr 9 team "Bad Ass Monster Truckers" also were ranked 2nd, comprised of Kate, Moana, Natalia, Isle, Camille and Aodhan.  Wednesday was a big night with 3 teams in the Senior Novice section.  "Alphabet Soup" (Wai, Zemira, Lexie, Jamie and Adam) and "Team Group Anonymous" (Alena, Chaedyn, Aaron and Jan) were ranked 3rd equal.  "The Costa Rican National Team" (Finn, Vale, Zoe and Jasmine) also competed, and despite giving magnificent performances, were unranked.

The final night was the biggie, with 2 teams in the senior open grade final.  "Neopolitan" (Arjun, Darren, Katie, Rowan and Donal) were hilarious and showed their true talent onstage.  Their word-at-a-time may not be their favourite game, but they were wonderful.  "Sammy 'the wonder-horse" Dodges" (Dom, Louis, Barney, James and Daniel) really pulled out all the stops and worked well as a team taking out the win.  This is only the 2nd time Kuranui has ever won this division, and with Makoura College, the only school ever to have beaten Wairarapa College.  Wai Coll have been such legends in the past, and really played well last night.  It is always a privilege to work with their senior students.

So it was a magnificent week, and no doubt we will all catch our breath shortly!  Well done students, and carry on the good work!

Term 3 begins!

With half the year gone, it is time to herald in the start of Term 3.

This term brings new classes to the junior Arts subjects, as all Year 9 students and the vast majority of Year 10 students change their options.  So have a good semester people, and enjoy the change.  The term also brings a new teacher to the department, and we would like to welcome Ms Beecroft, who will be teaching Visual Art with Mr Thompson.

Upcoming shortly is both the inter-coll theatresports competition and Rockquest.  We have been successful in both competitions in the past, and look forward to having another go this year.

With half the year gone, senior students now have to look towards the exams at the end of the year.  Yes, even the performing Arts have a major examination component!  So get studying people, make sure you know what it is you have to do.  And prepare.

Subject selections for 2011 will be happening soon.  Remember Year 9's, you get to pick 1 or 2 Arts options for the year.  Year 10's, you will get 3 subjects to pick for NCEA in 2011, and you may take up to 3 Arts lines if you wish.  Remember that you need to have taken the chosen Art line in the junior school to participate, and Music requires that you play an instrument.  Year 11 students will get a chance to branch out, remembering that entry requirements for Year 12 subjects are usually 12 credits in Level 1.  Year 12 students need to think about the possibility of Scholarship subjects in Year 13.  Talk with your teachers about it.  I would encourage all of you to try at least 1 scholarship subject, as you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.