Sunshine Beach State School struck gold when they recruited 42 students to join their Wakakirri team this year, taking out the Sunshine Coast Regional Finals.
Wakakirri is an Australian national Story-Dance festival for both primary and secondary schools that has been running since 1992. With it being Australia’s largest Performing Arts event for schools, involving over 20,000 students across the country, the team can be proud of their success.
A Wakakirri Story Dance theatrically tells a story using a combination of dancing, acting and creative movement to pre-recorded music. Focusing on a local role model, Sunshine Beach told ‘Bindi’s Story’, showing Bindi Irwin’s life as a performer and wildlife warrior. The performance highlighted her childhood growing up at the zoo, the tragic loss of her father Steve, her roles in television and film, and her success in America’s Dancing with the Stars.
Students from Years 4 to 6, (and a courageous young boy from Year 1 playing Robert Irwin) dedicated months of rehearsals to ensure their performance was perfect. With a menagerie of animals and an army of khaki, the story took life on the stage of the Caloundra Events Centre. The judges called the performances ‘stunning’ and praised the cast for their ‘very strong and beautifully portrayed emotional transitions’.
The Wakakirri team repeated their award winning performance for their local community at the school’s annual concert, The Sunshine Spectacular recently. It quickly became evident as to why the performance took out the top award for the coast.
