Wakakirri’s 2018 performance season is in full swing, with 235 schools and thousands of students taking to the stage at professional theatres across Australia to perform story dances that reflect their thoughts, ideas and aspirations through dance and drama.
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Last week in Wollongong schools from around the region performed at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
Students walked the red carpet with VIPs including show host Casey Burgess (Hi-5) and Wakakirri’s national panel representatives Joshua Horner (So You Think You Can Dance) and Sally Hare (Opera Australia).
All the participating schools put on spectacular performances and six of them won regional awards for their efforts. Two of these schools are nominated for the coveted national Story of the Year Award.
Gerringong Public School won the Best Motivational Story Award for their performance ‘Journey’, which tells the story of a lonely girl who escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound.
Tullimbar Public School earned the Best Cultural Celebration Story Award and a Story of the Year nomination for their Story Dance production ‘Banjo Tells a Tale’, reimagining the tale of how Banjo Patterson came to write Australia’s best known ballad, Waltzing Matilda.
Mount Warrigal Public School is also nominated for Story of the Year and took out the Best Thriller/Action Story Award for ‘Cursed’, a performance about a town haunted by a ghost and one brave upstander who chooses to ask her what she wants.
Mount Brown Public School won the Best Biographical History Story Award for their retelling of the little-known story of Sophie Blanchard, and Macquarie Fields Public School won the Best Drama Story Award for their Story Dance exploring the rapid spread of negative messages in the media over time.
Wakakirri’s Story of the Year Award for the Primary and Secondary categories will be announced on Waka TV on October 17, schools will be watching the announcement live via YouTube.
AWARDS
Mount Warrigal Public School
Cursed – Story of the Year Nominee / Best Thriller/Action Story Award
A town is cursed by a ghost and plots to banish her. When an upstander suggests asking her why she is there, everyone calls him crazy. He sets out to find the ghost, surrounded by doubts and uncertainty. Will fear hold him back, or will the hope in his heart help him to free the town of the curse?
Tullimbar Public School
Banjo Tells a Tale – Story of the Year Nominee / Best Cultural Celebration Story Award
There are more recordings of Waltzing Matilda than any other Australian song. Waltzing Matilda is our best-known ballad. It’s known as our unofficial national anthem. We tell the story of Banjo creating the ballad but imagine if the squatter’s son wanted to join the swagmen and their easy life.
Gerringong Public School
Journey – Best Motivational Story Award
A wondrous tale about unexpected friendship. A lonely girl escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound. When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous kindness can set her free. Can it also lead her home and to her heart’s desire?
Ingleburn Public School
Don't Be Afraid To Fly… – Best Celebration Story Award
This item depicts a transformation of traditional educational norms into an inspiring world of inclusivity and individuality. One ‘risk taker’ empowers students to relinquish their constrained ideals and engage in a gratifying celebration of individual talents and uniqueness… Don’t Be Afraid To Fly…
Macquarie Fields Public School
News Flies – Best Drama Story Award
Our story explores the rapid spread of negative messages in the media over time. Different news mediums have focused on negative messages that are flying out to our audiences. Our story is about making a stand and delivering positive messages to the world, so that our news is uniting us!
Mount Brown Public School
Up, Up and Away – Best Biographical History Story Award
Sophie Blanchard, an extraordinary woman who is often forgotten… In Eighteenth Century France, Balloonomania hit. Sophie defied the odds and took to the sky solo, steering her own course. Sophie devoted her life to following her dream believing that “There is a limit. And that limit is the sky”
