Wakakirri News

This year Belmore South Public School will be participating in the National Wakakirri festival.  This festival is a performing and visual arts festival created specifically for primary schools to teach students about themselves and others through the creating and sharing of stories.  Wakakirri challenges students to create a story, make a positive impact and share it with Australia.  Interested students were asked to go through an audition process which required them to dance, act and demonstrate their skills in team building.  Fifty students from Years 3-6 were successful and rehearsals have now commenced.

In accordance with our National Partnerships objective our story focuses on the role of reading; from the traditional storytelling of the many cultures within our school through to the use of modern technology.   The main character of our story, which will be played by Puni, is a ‘cool cat’ who has difficulty reading.  Through the use of technology he is exposed to the storytelling traditions of Arabic, Greek, Pacific Islander, African and Asian cultures which inspires him to read.  The item will end with a celebration of reading through dance.

This is an amazing opportunity for our school community and students to display our many talents at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Stay tuned for regular updates including performance date and time, progress reports and snapshots of our creative process.   Wakakirri Logo

Stars shine at the Opera House


All the hard work, the determination and dedication have been rewarded by the accolades given to our dance group and their teacher after a great performance in the Our Spectacular at the Opera House.

All the performers looked amazing in their costumes BUT it was the discipline and precision as dancers that blew us all away.

Congratulations to the group and to Mrs Papadis who created the entire piece along with her talented troupe.

Thanks to Mrs Harrison and Miss Salmon who helped Ms Papadis on the day and to all the other teachers and parents who went to the Opera House to support our team.

Enjoy this short video clip of the beginning of their performance.

Dancers moving onto Our Spectacular at the Opera House

Last Monday our dancers auditioned for Our Spectacular. They have worked hard for two hours a week for the past term and a half. 

Today there were screams and cries of delight as we told the Dance Troupe they had made it to the Spectacular. Some of the students have been trying for three years . . . you can imagine how excited they are.

One student imagines going to the Opera House and performing will be like the best excursion, a sleepover and just the best fun!

The panel of three came and watched what the dance group could do. They complimented the teacher, Ms Papadis, for her choreography of the Dance and the discipline of the dancers. They liked the choice of music War of the Worlds and the robotic theme. Above all they enjoyed the dancers crisp, effective movement. They couldn’t believe that only two of our students danced out of school.

Our success is due to a combination of factors: dance has been on our school program for the past 5 years, students have gained confidence in themselves as movers. These factors combined with Ms Papadis coming to our school have contributed to this success.

Watch the video we put up last week to see how good they are or even better come and see them perform on Friday 29 May as part of our Education Week celebration.

Dance of the Robots . . . ready for audition

 

Dance of the Robots from Gail Dyer on Vimeo.

The Dance Group has been working very hard since the beginning of the year. They have practised after school every Monday afternoon and then again on Tuesday.

They have been dedicated and responded to their teacher Ms Papadis’ dedication.

They still have another 20 seconds of the dance to learn . . . but what they have completed so far is enough to show audition committee what they can do.

The whole school wishes them well.

Come along and see them in person as they will be dancing on our Public Education Celebration Day.

Dance Group moving well . . .


The Dance Group consists of about 40 boys and girls. It seems like they fill the Hall at practice time. Ms Papadis works with the group on Mondays after school and during school on Tuesday afternoons.

The group are being very well taught they are well trained and a keen.

The group are working really hard to make it into the Granville Spectacular being held at the Opera House. The theme this year is Science Fiction. Our students are Robots dancing to War of the Worlds.

So far they have worked out the first 1min.25 secs of a 2.00min dance.