Music to our ears

All our Performing Arts students spent a lot of time this term working on their High-Performance routines. The students in both Junior and Senior Music have covered music of all styles, to present enormous variations in the Showcase lineup. All the students performed at an extraordinarily high standard and had a great time doing so. From Beyoncè to Debussy, from Kylie Minogue to J-Lo, they covered it all. 

Seniors were preparing themselves with Emma-Lee Lansley, Portia England, Dillan Pollard and a collaboration with Lucy Bermingham and the senior music stream. They have worked beautifully and have created wonderful works. 

They have also been learning about devising work in acting and self-taping for audition submissions with Alexander Lee Rikers. 

It has been a jam-packed term with exams and HSC preparation as well, so students had to navigate the workload and exam pressure, which they did with such grace. 

Our juniors also had a big term of preparing for High Performance Season, creating their routines with Josh Consandine, Portia England and Dylan Pollard. They have worked hard and enjoyed intriguing and challenging choreography, along with learning more about partnering and harmonizing. They have also been developing scene work with partners with Romy Bartz. 

If you had a chance to attend any of the High Performance events, you know of the amazing result that came out of all this dedication. The works presented at NIDA on the second last week of school were excellent, and everyone involved should be proud of themselves; we certainly are. 

One of the beautiful things about passion is that it drives itself. They were never asked to do so, but a few of our young students are out and about each weekend, busking and trying their hand at the various music eisteddfods in Sydney. We are so proud of them all for continuing to enjoy their music performance opportunities and for creating new ones for themselves. 

Our senior music Stream student, Genevieve Cesarano will be releasing her first single on TikTok this week, so listen out for it and download it! It’s a brilliant realisation of many years of work and time in production. We wish her well for this and future releases. 

It’s been a wonderful Term 3 for drama ta the school. Twenty-two out of the twenty-three Year 12 HSC Drama students performed their monologues and group performances for the HSC examiners in the third week of August. Jett England submitted a stunning Costume portfolio based on the play, Antigone. At the start of every year, NESA hosts OnStage, a showcase of exemplary performances from around NSW. Students are nominated by the examiners who mark them. Performances need to be flawless to receive a nomination, and it is quite a rarity. 2 Group Performances (Sold! with Zoe Allsop Lander, Nick Annas and Edana Bauer, and “…Guns ” with Sophia Collins, Georges Patry and Ryan Yeates) were nominated for OnStage, along with of the aforementioned students receiving a nomination for the Individual Performance. Josh Evan also received a nomination for his monologue. This is an extraordinary accomplishment by these students and their nominations were thoroughly deserved.  

Both the Junior and Senior Acting Stream, as well as our talented k-96 students, all performed admirably in their respective High Performance / Starburst showcase. The talent coming through the year groups is very strong thanks to the exceptional teaching of Ms Romy Bartz and Mr Alex Lee-Rekers. Finally, a special farewell to Nick, Clara, Quynh, Georges, Eric, Jack, and Alfio, our graduating Year 12 actors. The College and Mr. Friend thank you for the talent, vibrancy and the positive energy you have brought to the Senior Acting Stream. You will be missed.