Wakakirri announces Victorian Secondary Story Dance Challenge winners

Victoria’s Secondary Challenge winners for the 2018 Wakakirri Story Dance Challenge were Hoppers Crossing Secondary College, Dromana College and Mount Erin Secondary College. Each school impressed the judges with their original Story Dance productions expressing students’ thoughts, ideas and aspirations.

All three high schools are now in the running for Wakakirri’s coveted national Story of the Year Award.

Wakakirri’s National Panel representatives – Andrew McFarlane, Jason Coleman and Christopher Horsey – all commended the schools for their strong storytelling, dance ability and dramatic action.

Nine finalist schools from around the state were invited to The Palais Theatre on September 11 to perform their award-winning Wakakirri Story Dances for the chance to be nominated for the coveted national Story of the Year Award. (A Story Dance is a short performance telling a story through a combination of dance, drama and creative movement.)

Each school explores poignant themes and relevant issues. Dromana College’s performance ‘383’ examines the way society is ignoring the ongoing issue of homelessness in Melbourne, and the impact we as individuals can have on repairing this issue. The college was also recognised with the Best Raising Awareness Story Award.

Hoppers Crossing Secondary’s performance ‘Race of Life’ acknowledges that “everybody is dealt a different card in life”. The school was awarded the Best Motivational Story Award for their message that through working hard, building resilience and not allowing circumstances to bring you down you can still be in the “race of life”.

Mount Erin Secondary were recognised with the Best Australian History Story Award for ‘Vietnam - The War Within’, a performance exploring how the Vietnam War brought the brutality of war into Australian homes through the story of a young soldier forced to fight a conflict he didn’t understand.

Wakakirri’s Story of the Year Award will be announced on Waka TV on October 17, schools will be watching the announcement live via YouTube.

The Wakakirri Story Dance Challenge will return in 2019. Registrations open October 2018, see website for dates and registration info (subscribe to Wakakirri for up-to-date info): www.wakakirri.com