Performing Arts

Despite the remote learning period due to COVID-19, 2020 was an exceptional year for Dance students at Pymble Ladies’ College. Dance students and staff rose to the challenge of remote Dance classes and continued to connect, create and explore their passion for academic dance. Online Dance lessons involved student-led warm-ups, online classes from external dancers and choreographers, and self-composition tasks.

Year 10 is the first year in which students are able to elect Dance as an academic subject. This year began with Year 10 Dance students learning a class dance that was developed from movement signatures unique to dance pioneers, Martha Graham, Lester Horton and Alvin Ailey. The cohort also participated in numerous choreographic tasks, during which they composed a dance inspired by a story from Australia’s shared history which allowed students to learn about the process of dance composition. Additionally, the Year 10 dancers participated in a workshop with Georgette Sofatzis, a well-renowned dance teacher and choreographer who has trained with the Alvin Ailey American Dance School. This experience allowed students to develop their understanding of the historical and cultural influences of modern dance technique while enhancing their technical skill set.

The Year 11 cohort began their Preliminary Dance studies with a memorable performance at Pymble’s Bushfire Relief Fundraiser Concert – Phoenix. Their routine stemmed from classwork that focused on the ‘motif into phrase’ aspect of composing an effective dance piece. The Year 11 girls delved into the world of dance appreciation, studying and critically analysing Bangarra Dance Theatre’s work Mathinna and attending a workshop with Yolande Brown, a dancer with Bangarra Dance Theatre, in which they explored abstract movement. These experiences with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia’s leading Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander performing arts company, allowed Dance students to recognise the use of dance to convey complex social, cultural and personal narratives.

The Year 12 Dance cohort was an incredibly hardworking and resilient group of dancers who, despite the setback of COVID-19, continued to create their exceptional HSC works. Year 12 Dance students explored their artistic capabilities through the four mandatory components of the HSC Dance syllabus including Core Performance, Core Composition, Core Appreciation and a Major Study, in which all students chose to submit a Major Performance Work. Whilst creating their practical works, Year 12 had various opportunities to perform their pieces to members of staff and Dance students from Years 10 and 11, gaining valuable feedback which allowed the refinement and embellishment of their works. Additionally, the cohort mastered their understanding of Safe Dance Practice and Dance Technique through conducting numerous ‘practice interviews’, which allowed the dancers to minimise their risk for potential injury and unlock their maximum performance potential.

On 11 November, Dance students were fortunate enough to participate in Pymble’s 2020 Dance Festival, performing classwork routines, self-choreographed pieces, and HSC Major Works for the first live audience at the College since returning from Online Learning.

Ilani Roder, Captain of Dance

Chloé Clarke, Year 12

2020, what a crazy year it was!

I was fortunate enough to be given the role of Drama Captain for 2020 with the aim to encourage students to participate in any way they could to become a part of the Drama family. Despite all the challenges we faced along the way due to COVID-19, I felt the girls really connected with each other through Drama and joined in on as many activities and events as they could. I couldn’t have been prouder!

At the start of 2020, Theatre Club was introduced at Pymble Ladies’ College, giving Drama students of all ages the opportunity to watch plays that were being performed around Sydney. The students were fortunate enough to be able to watch No Pay? No Way! at the Sydney Opera House and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam at the Belvoir Street Theatre. These exciting excursions, accompanied by Mrs Sweetman and Mrs Cooper-Findlay, immersed the girls into the Drama world outside school and taught them to learn from the performers and be inspired and encouraged by them to be the best Drama students they could be.

In Semester 2, I worked with Sophie Smith, Theatre Captain, to brainstorm initiatives and exciting events for the year. We decided to keep going with the initiative that was up and running due to its success throughout the years. Sit Back and Watch Us Act is a lunchtime show with performers from all year groups who do co-curricular Drama and elective Drama. All students and teachers were invited to join, and snacks were provided. This was an initiative that kept the festivity of Drama alive and provided entertainment for other school students.

It was a tough year, but also a great year within the Drama community at Pymble! Thank you to all the girls who showed their commitment and participation throughout the year and the staff who never failed to help. Alyssa Vardy, Captain of Drama

COVID-19 changed the world in so many ways, and the performing arts became one of the hardest hit sectors with theatre closures and cancelled performances across both school and commercial venues. In true Pymble spirit and with an eye to keeping COVID-safe, we were able to still produce a wide variety of stage performances even without a traditional audience.

Firstly, the Bushfire Relief Fundraiser Concert – Phoenix, took place in March, with performers such as singers, musicians, Year 11 Dance elective students and Year 12 Drama students. It was an amazing event where the performing arts students harnessed their power to raise money for bushfire relief.

At the beginning of this year Pymble Ladies’ College brought the amazing musical FAME! to life. With a live audience, the timing was perfect as it was staged just before COVID-19 shut down the College. The musical was directed by Mr Schweinberger and produced by Mrs Turner. It was a fun, engaging and high-energy production which was enjoyed by audiences across the Pymble community.

In March, our Year 11 class was to bring Little Women to life, unfortunately due to COVID-19 our girls were unable to bring it to the stage. Pymble Ladies’ College drama festival teams performed on 24 November and showcased what they had devised and created in their classes. Imaginative, creative and joyful groupwork came alive on stage. Thanks to our amazing theatre staff, Tonya and Toby, for working around the clock during this interesting year. Also thank you to Alyssa, the Captain of Drama, for being a supportive partner during this tough year. Sophie Smith, Captain of Theatre

Ilaria Bicego, Year 7

Music at Pymble began triumphantly in Term 1 with the revitalisation of the Munch and Music lunchtime concerts, with participation in this bi-weekly event now open to elective Music students from Year 8 onwards. COVID-19 introduced some new challenges for the Music program, with the transition to online classes and the unfortunate cancellation of events such as the Elective Music Concert and the Year 8 Musical.

Despite the many cancellations faced by Pymble Music in 2020, the HSC Music Concert featuring our Music 1, Music 2 and Extension students was held at the end of Term 3 and live streamed to a virtual audience. The incredible performances of all our Year 12 students were a wonderful celebration and testament to what they had achieved over such a turbulent year. To further illustrate the success of the girls this year, three of the Music 2 and Extension students and four of the Music 1 students received Encore nominations for their outstanding efforts.

Elective and Contemporary Music students in Years 9 and 10 worked hard on their performances throughout the year and were also fortunate enough to be able to perform their final assessments as usual. The film music project and The Voice competition allowed all of the Year 7 students to experience Pymble Music as it would have been in a more traditional year and explore the many aspects of Music at Pymble. Despite the cancellation of the Year 8 performance of The Lion King, the Music students still had the opportunity to experience the effort and excitement that goes into producing large-scale performances. Overall, even with the challenges brought to Music in 2020, with the incredible effort of all Music students, staff and parents, Music at Pymble had a very successful year.

Hannah Grogan and Clare Macpherson, Captains of Music