Teaching Team
Dan Dinnen
Jane Leighton
Kristy St.Clair
Welcome to an exciting term of Performing Arts!
In Performing Arts we have three enthusiastic teachers, Dan (Monday- Wednesday), Jane and Kristy (Wednesday and Thursday).
Each grade has an hour session each week where they participate in learning experiences combining drama, music and movement under the focus of ‘Explore’ and ‘Express’.
In the Junior Classroom (Prep – Grade 2)
Throughout our junior classrooms, we are exploring how sound and movement can be used to convey various emotions. Prep students are learning how emotions intersect with the dramatic element of character, and how emotions can be conveyed through musical moods.
Year 1-2 students are extending their learning into the dramatic elements of role and action, and the musical elements of tempo, pitch and dynamics.
In the senior classroom (Grade 3- 6)
We are also exploring the various movement elements in greater detail including body awareness (locomotor and non-locomotor skills), space (levels, pathway, place), time and energy (tempo, pace) and finally relationships (reaction, connectedness, collaboration, unison). Once students have a grasp on these elements we are investigating how we can use these movements effectively to engage an audience through storytelling.
In Grade 3 and 4 we delve specifically into ‘Chorus’ and how this theatrical convention is used.
A chorus is multiple performers moving, speaking, singing as one. Chorus is used in different ways throughout the performing arts, from singing groups and choirs to musical theatre productions, dance, physical theatre and circus.
In Grade 5 and 6 we are focusing on creating moments of dramatic action, exploring how to make a meaningful ‘story moment’ come alive using elements of Movement and Music. We will be acknowledging our traditional owners, our Koorie ancestors on the land that we work and play as the original storytellers. At the completion of this term students will be working together to create their own ‘moment’, finding the essence of a story that they would like to tell and expressing their ideas through the language of live performance, incorporating movement elements explored in class and adding layers of live and recorded sound.
