Solid Gold Dance Showcase
Solid Gold are the best words I can think of to describe the incredible efforts of the Dance community of Newman College. The 2018 Dance Showcase was an outstanding display of the talents and dedication of the Dance Troupe students. The Dance Troupe students were able to showcase the three items that were taken to the Catholic Performing Arts Festival, as well as their own choreography in the styles of Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Acrobatics. The dancers have worked incredibly hard all year, rehearsing whenever they could; before school, lunch times and weekends! Their hard work certainly paid off with over 500 people in the audience, our dancers were cheered on and encouraged from start to finish!
I am so thankful to each and every dancer, to all the parents who have given their time to help throughout the year, the Senior Leadership Team, our amazing sound and lighting team and the Arts Department for their constant support. It has been so amazing to see Dance grow so much at Newman College; and this wouldn’t be possible without the support of such generous people. For so many of these students dancing is not what they do, it is who they are and we are so lucky to have these dancers share who they are with us.
Miss Stephanie-Kate Crothers, Dance Teacher
Student Reflections
Last Friday night, the Newman Dance Troupe held our end of year Showcase. The theme was ‘Solid Gold’ and the Auditorium foyer was was filled front to back with dazzling decorations to match. All 50 members of the Troupe, led by Miss Crothers, worked tirelessly for months to put together this amazing show. We gave up our Sundays, lunchtimes and had 7.00am weekday starts; we all put blood, sweat and tears into the rehearsals… sometimes quite literally!
Every item that was performed on the night was spectacular. Some of the stand-outs were all three of the performances that the Troupes debuted at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival earlier in the year (‘Enter the Circus’, ‘Connect’ and ‘You’ve got the Love’). There were also some amazing routines performed and also choreographed by some of our talented dancers and a couple of outstanding acts from Newman’s very first Year 11 ATAR Dance students. Another highlight was a solo dance performance which featured the beautiful vocals of Holly and Claudia Drinkwater.
The Auditorium was filled to the brim with teachers and staff, as well as our families and friends. The atmosphere was truly incredible with enthusiastic applause and cheering before and after every performance! The Dance Troupe itself consists of students ranging from Years 7 – 11. Despite the age differences, everyone has become such great friends and created bonds that will last beyond our school years. We are all so supportive of each other on stage and off. Everyone will give time to help another dancer learn a routine or practice a trick.
Many of those watching on the night might not have realised that quite a large number of the girls in the Troupe have never taken a Dance class in their life. Everything they have learned has been taught to them this year by our talented and very patient teacher, Miss Crothers. She has created a program that has inspired and challenged us to be better people as well as better dancers and created a community of students who came together with a shared interest and are flourishing under her guidance. We would all agree that being involved in Dance Troupe at Newman College is changing our time at school for the better.
We would like to again thank everyone who supported us throughout the year and on the night. Of course the biggest thank you of all goes to Miss Crothers for her hard work and dedication to us and the Dance program.
Elysia Harris, Year 9 Student
On Friday 26 October, we had our Dance Showcase, Solid Gold, that we have been working hard towards all year. This showcase had a variety of different performances that Miss Crothers and the students choreographed. I really enjoyed choreographing our duo with my friend and learning different choreography from other students who were assigned to make up Troupes. It was a fun and enjoyable event to showcase our talents, hard work and effort. I really loved this experience as I got to do dance with people I don’t usually dance with, make new friends and do what I love to do!