Immanuel Lutheran College in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast were celebrating end of year and as part of their alternate program with Rhythm Culture coming in for year 7, 8 & 9 cohorts. The group were experiencing a drum and dance school performance and interactive workshop.
The Space
We were delivering a 1-hour interactive school performance and workshop. we were performing the show and workshop in the beautiful worship centre of the school. The stage was wide and flat, wooden with a very high roof. The students sat on tiered seating in a curved formation. There were big sliding doors and lots of airflow. It was a really lovely space and they had a huge Christmas tree.
The School Performance
We began the school performance with dances and rhythms, Djole and Soli. We had two dancers performing with one dundun drummer. This lasted for about 10 minutes and then we went directly into the dancing. All of the students stayed in their seats for the very beginning and then they stood on the spot to learn the dance. The Year 9 boys especially got into it with their big voices which was really great.
The Incursion
So, our plan was to have an audience for the school perfomance, a dancing group and a drumming group. We would then be switching over for each session. We had about 210 kids and the house was pretty packed so our original plan worked well we didn’t have to change anything on the spot. Sometimes when running workshops you need to mix things around due to space requirements and student numbers. It’s always nice when what you plan prior to the session, you can go ahead with. Usually you end up having to adjust the workshops or adjust the performances at the last minute which is also fun and allows for some great ideas and creativity to enter the workshops spontaneously.
Mixing It Up
For the dancing part, they were all really confident and they didn’t even feel like they needed me to stand there and and do it with them. We had the drummers doing their breaks and the rhythm grooving along beautifully. The dancers were doing the corresponding dance to the rhythm. The swap around from drum to dance to audience went really smoothly for that many kids in the space. It was a really easy space to work with and the kids were great, so well-behaved happy and really motivated.
The Finale
For the finale we got them into a big circle and and we did our dancing scarf. We had about 5 students in the middle and they did some dance moves with Bec and and also came up with some of the Moves themselves it was really great to watch.
Again another awesome school. Teachers got really involved. The power and the energy with that many kids drumming and dancing it’s just too much fun.
Thanks for having us Immanuel Lutheran College!
