In the last week of Term 2, our team of 56 dancers took to the stage of the Kiri Te Kanawa theatre at the Aotea Centre to compete in the annual Showquest competition.
The students leading the team were Diza Arora 13J5, Alys Cheung 13B7, and Sienna Mann 13J11. They created their theme for the performance, choreographed 53 dancers into a ten-minute routine, designed a costume look, cut the music, and created an accompanying video for the LED wall behind the dancers. With their title theme Looks Can Be Deceiving our leaders explored the idea that you cannot judge a book by its cover and that everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about, so be kind, always.
The performance was the culmination of two terms of hard work and twice-weekly morning rehearsals before school. A big thank you to Mrs Singh for overseeing these. The dancers were supported on the day by the lighting team of Steven Ros 13B1 and Wei-Zin Chan 13D3, and a team of 12 students to help with hair and makeup.
Mr Stephen Sequeira, Mrs Jacqui Hood, and I were very impressed by all our students and how well they handled the very long day, beginning at 8.45am and finishing at 10.00pm. The dancers were focused, rehearsed hard during the day, and their performance was brilliant. Our three lead dancers were Amelia Irwin 10D9, Tayla Penman-Gates 9J11, and Cara Tang 9K6. Each dancer embodied a challenge that some students face in their lives and all three gave incredibly strong and emotive performances. A special mention goes to Ella Vuksanlekaj 13J11, who sang a beautiful cover of Adele’s “Easy on Me” live on stage as part of the final dance. Sadly, we did not place this year, but the team won Best Choreography and we were incredibly proud of them.
~ Mrs McKenna, Acting Head of Dance
