From left: Ashley Toulson, Teagan Rodgers, Jaymi Holmgren, Holly Buvari, and Laura Patchell rehearse their presentation for the big day.By Jim Mynard
WE have all heard the stories of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Three Little Pigs.
But have you heard the story about Snow White and The Three Little Pigs?
Five young girls from Berwick Lodge Primary School have been invited to perform this story at the state final of the Wakakirri National Story Festival.
The festival will be held at the Vodafone Arena on Tuesday 6 September.
The sixthgrade students, Teagan Rodgers, Jaymi Holmgren, Ashley Toulson, Laura Patchell and Holly Buvari, achieved a perfect score of three gold stars, one in each of the judging categories for story, delivery and performance.
They now have the honour and distinction of being the only entry invited to perform in the storytelling category in the Victorian finals of the festival. Performing arts teacher Stephanie Stewart said: “Wakakirri was an Aboriginal word meaning to dance.”
When the Wakakirri Festival began in 1992 the original concept was story telling through dance.
But it has been expanded to include story singing, story writing, storyboarding, story film and this year for the first time, story telling.
Ms Stewart said the aim of Wakakirri was to inspire creativity in young people and encourage them to be open minded.
“Through their performance they can learn a great deal about themselves, and about tolerance and understanding, and this is reflected in our story,” she said.
“The premise of our story, which brings together Snow White, the Three Little Pigs and the Wolf as friends, demonstrates that people can change their attitudes and that with tolerance and understanding, we can all get along in spite of our differences.”
More than 200 schools will participate in the City Wakakirri finals throughout the country, including 30 schools invited to perform in the Victorian finals.
Following the state finals, selected schools will then be invited to present their stories at a national final.
The national winner will be announced on the Ten Network’s annual television special Search for a National Winner at 2pm on Saturday, 10 December.
