HOLY Trinity Lutheran College has won a top award at national performance competition.
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The school won the National Cultural Category Award at the 2018 Wakakirri competition for a performance entitled The Colour is Within.
The school also won Wakakirri’s Best Indigenous Australian Story Award at the state awards, along with the Best Creative use of the Signature Item, Best Individual Costume Design, Spirit of Wakakirri, and Best Lighting Design and Call awards.
Holy Trinity performing arts teacher and Wakakirri co-ordinator Tanya Mock said the dance piece reflected on the experiences of the Stolen Generation.
“We looked at the Aboriginal people of the Stolen Generation, and what that might have felt like,” she said.
“We did quite a bit of research. We also looked at what it’s like to be a teenager and trying to find where you fit in society.”
A total of 25 students from Year 7 to 11 competed for the school.
Mrs Mock said they were thrilled with the recognition.
“They were so excited; I don’t think our school has won a national award at Wakakirri before. I’m very proud of them; they represented the school very well,” she said.
“Wakakirri is such a great competition because it really encourages the students to refine their performance skills.”
She said the performance had been a collaborative experience between herself and the students from the start.
“It’s a unique challenge because you don’t have a script to work off like a play or musical,” she said.
“You have to come up with your own story and create everything from scratch – the students were involved at every level of the creation. It makes them think at a really deep level.”
Mrs Mock said performing arts allowed children to express themselves.
“For a lot of our students, this is their passion; it’s also a great opportunity for others to try out something new,” she said.
Wakakirri is Australia’s largest performing arts event for primary and secondary schools.
This year’s competition involved 240 schools from across the country.