2023 at DHS - It’s All About Dance
By Dance teacher, Ms Calver
2023 promises to be a brilliant year of dance at DHS and semester one reinforced this with ANOMALOUS June 3rd-4th 2023 @ DHS Tank.
ANOMALOUS was a new double-bill work created by the 2023 Senior Darwin High School Stage 2 Creative Arts Dance students, with professional mentors Nikita Dakers and Arthur Lariosa. This innovative mentor inspired double-bill product explored various textures of contemporary dance with Dakers in her exceptional work “Common-Unity” and the dynamic commercial world of dance with Lariosa in his exploration of “Mystique Elements.”
Students were able to extend their curiosity and creativity via a myriad of fascinating artistic processes that illustrated the endless possibilities of what their bodies can do – providing them with multiple pivotal learning opportunities and skills they can transfer into every aspect of their lives. The dancers learnt that questioning things could spark new ideas and that inspiration from a range of sources is an artist’s best friend. They also learnt that dissecting and analysing their movement allowed them to explore new thinking and movement patterns, and they realised that thinking outside of the box led to exciting opportunities.
ANOMALOUS invited our enthusiastic audiences to interpret/read the dance in multiple ways demonstrating how special dance, in all of its forms, is at connecting with people on a variety of levels.
Dance23 – A smorgasbord of dance took place on Friday June 2nd, 2023, at DHS Tank @ 6.30pm. it was an evening of excellent dance that celebrated and connected our Darwin dance and school community. Preparation for the performance took place in Semester 1 with DHS Stage 1, Stage 2, and Year 10 dance students having enjoyed a taste of different styles of dance learnt from previous DHS repertoire in conjunction with developing several new works by guest professional dance practitioners, challenging, and extending student learning beyond the classroom. Creative Arts Stage 2 students also showcased excerpts from their show ANOMALOUS.
Guest performances from our studios of excellence Royal Existence, Darwin Performance Academy, Studio27, Sam’s Dance Studio, Darwin Calisthenics, and Dance Construct combined with dance performances from local schools CSC and DMS and SLIDE Youth Dance Theatre bought the stage to life with their sensational and high-quality routines. Audiences were amazed by the diversity of dance on show and at the incredible talent we have within our dance community.
Congratulations to everyone involved in a such a successful Semester 1 of Dance - we look forward to more exciting performances in Semester 2!