Stage Challenge: 3 Weeks to Go!

We've just finished an epic day of rehearsals - 3 hours of full cast this afternoon. Luckily we managed to fit in some photo taking too!

Nearly the whole cast!

Everything is coming together nicely. Next week is finishing and polishing the acting and dancing. In week 2 we'll be working with the sets for the first time, and then week 3 is costumes and final dress rehearsal before the school.

Not long to go now!

Check out these shots of us rehearsing today:

Starting right - warm up time!

Livi and Senuka rocking their duet

Livi and Senuka practicing the lift

Jazz dancers rocking the jazz walks - attitude guys!

The knee drop - jazz dancers

Finale time - a bit blurry because everyone was jumping. 

The hope dancers working on their fan roll.

The models are learning how to work it.

Everybody jump!

Look we can spell! SC for Stage Challenge!

More photos (and slightly less blurry ones) coming soon!.

Aerobics Trial Team

Congrats to the 12 girls who made the Aerobics Trial Team, which was announced today:

Abby, Brooke N, Brooke R, Emily P, Alani, Hana, Libby, Sharlotte, Keeley, Rhona, Eleanor, Bella

From here, these students will begin training and learning the choreography for their routine for the first four weeks of term, after this the team will be reduced to it's final numbers.

So the hard work has really only just begun!

Aerobics Trials

Because there's never enough going on at school (hehe), we've started aerobic trials this week, well actually last week. Today we had the second of three aerobics trials and it was awesome to see so many enthusiastic girls ready to sweat it out.

It's pretty hard to explain aerobics, but Ms J-V describes aerobic gymnastics as jump jam grew up and met cheerleading with a bit of dance thrown in. We focus on 4 main areas in our trials, stamina (being able to keep going), flexibility (aiming for our splits), strength (how long can you support your entire body weight with your hands?), and leaps/jumps (splits in the air? Sure no worries!).

We start off with lengths as a warm up, bringing in different aerobic steps - ponies, chasses, flicks etc., then move on to skipping for 2 mins. Next it's stretching individually followed by practicing our strength moves, then flexibility and leaps. At the moment we're just working on learning the round up routine. This is our "feel the floor" opportunity at the beginning of each competition.

We've got one more trial to go before the training squad is announced and the training can begin!

We Love Stage Challenge (that's why we're so busy...)

We are definitely a little behind with our Stage Challenge updates, but it's just because we have been so busy rehearsing!

Brooke N directing the Emotions Scene.

So what have we been up to?

Well, rehearsals are in full swing! We've finished learning most of the dancers and the finale is looking spectacular.

Student leaders practicing their choreography for the Fear Dance.

Our fantastic rehearsal leaders Livi and Bella and our awesome student director Brooke N have been working hard, making sure we know what we're doing and are performing at our best. Our year 9 mentors (Tabitha, Julia, Ashlee, Chelsea and Emily) have been coming up from the college after school to help support our leaders.

Some of our super awesome dancers and one of our fantastic year 9 leaders.

Ms J-V is stepping in now to help with polishing and spacing our performances, while Whaea Lena is helping us with our drama and faces.

Doubt dancers in rehearsal.

As well as learning our dances, Livi and Brooke N have been teaching us how to warm up properly.

 After 4 weeks of individual group rehearsals, we have started putting the performance together and it's looking pretty impressive. We've still got lots of work to do, but we're looking forward to giving our friends and families a sneak peek at celebration evening next week.

Stage Challenge Update

It's only week 2 and already we've got so much done for Stage Challenge!

On Monday this week we held open auditions for our dancing and acting roles. It was such a fantastic group of students who turned up for the audition and we were so pleased to be able to find a role for everyone who wanted it.

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning were our lead auditions and boy do we have some seriously talented dancers out there. It was tough for Ms J-V and Whaea Lena to choose, but in the end they did. Congratulations to Livi who is the lead girl and Senuka who is the lead boy. Well done also to Lauren, Demi, Brooke R, Brooke N, Bella, Madi, Avneet, Lockey, Toby and Abby who have smaller lead roles in Stage Challenge.

We're relaxing (well kind of) for a few weeks now while classes go to camp, but we'll be all go with rehearsals starting week 6!

Stage Challenge Update

Second to last day of school and we're more excited than ever about next year. We've finished interviewing for jobs and all the positions are filled. We just need to tell the backstage hands tomorrow!

We've done really well this term - finished choreographing all the dances except the boys hip hop dance (teaching Ms J-V hip hop was interested - just as well Livi knows what she's doing!). All the costumes are desgined and we've worked out where we're going to get them all from and which ones we are going to make.

The teachers in charge of different parts have all been organised. In the Performance Team we have Ms J-V as director and teacher in charge of the dancing, and Whaea Lena looking after the drama. In the Design Team we have Mr Mac looking after the set design and construction and Mrs H looking after the lighting design. In the Backstage Team Mr Simmonds is heading up backstage and Miss Fitzgibbons and Miss Mckenzie are looking after costumes and hair/make up. And Mrs Lowe is heading up the Fundraising Team.

Here's the team so far!

Performance/Creative Team
Ms J-V, Whaea Lena, Brooke N, Isabella, Livi, Lauren, Emily M

Design Team
Mr Mac, Mrs H, Natalie L, Natalie S, Amber, Jessica, Charlotte, Catelyn, Angus, James, Dylan

Backstage Team
Mr Simmonds, Miss Fitzgibbons, Miss Mckenzie, Nishka

Admin/Fundraising Team
Mrs Lowe, Kesia, Abby, Ada, Shamita, Josiah, Isabella, Logan

Year 9 2014 Mentors
Chelsea, Ashlee, Emily H, Julia, Tabitha

What is Stage Challenge?

Stage Challenge is one of the most awesome things you can do at NIS! It's an epic dance, drama and design performance.

It takes us 6 months of planning, 4 months of rehearsals for one big performance in Term Two! The day is amazing, seeing all the Colleges perform.

Here are some of the photos of our 2012 performance: