Friday 24 October 2014

Something to celebrate

As a Drama teacher, I am fortunate to work with imaginative, intuitive and creative student artists who share their skills in a variety of fields. Each student will have their own reasons for wanting to be involved in a production or ensemble, but I'm sure most of them share the view of Australian writer and comedian Dan Ilic that being "lit and amplified" can be quite addictive. I know what he means.

Tonight’s awards celebrate the achievements of several students across the middle and senior schools. Most of the awards recognise outstanding skill within a particular field associated with each discipline, however, the drive, determination and character of each recipient is also considered as part of the selection process. Thousands of decisions are made when a performance is being crafted. Crucially, as is the case for all of our performers and crew, at some point each student had to make the decision to be involved in the first place. Then they have to do the work. Because creating a performance takes time and effort. It often evolves slowly, almost indiscernible from one rehearsal to the next, until suddenly you realise that there is this thing you said you would be doing at a certain time on a particular day and there will be hundreds of people watching and waiting. Most will be there to cheer you on, but human nature has revealed that there are at least a few who would be just as happy to watch it all go wrong. Every person who creates something enters into this environment.

A number of students have been involved in productions for the first time this year, and it is fair to say that they, along with the more experienced hands, have flourished in the creative and supportive environment created by the casts and performance teams. Any good artistic endeavour at this level generally requires plenty of support from home too. Sometimes you don’t make your entrance until it is time to be in the audience, but that alone can make all the difference to the confidence of our young performers, so thank you for supporting our students, your children, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, family and friends in their pursuit of excellence. The arts are fantastic environment to learn skills associated with taking risks, pushing boundaries and generally having a go, and given the vulnerability that is often required to produce quality work, the support of parents and family is vital.

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