Youth Week
Northern Territory Youth Week (or NTYW) is an annual celebration of young people across the Territory and involved a range of activities last month. The NTYW 2019 Ambassador was Darwin High School’s own alumna Rochelle Cabry. Included in her calendar of events across the Territory was a visit to her old stomping ground, the DHS campus.
Julia Quinn, Dance Teacher
[hi] tech
‘It was stunning and edgy.’ – Lorna Murphy (parent)
To end Term 1, DHS Stage 2 dancers in collaboration with Youth Week Ambassador and local independent choreographer, Rochelle Cabry, presented [hi] tech as part of the Youth Week program, celebrating ‘living in colour’.
[hi] tech took 3 weeks of rehearsal and was a remount of the technologically driven work created by Cabry, an ex-DHS student, for SLIDE’s Short Works Program in 2018. The piece looked at the obsession with technology and our connection to our phones and devices. The work will be on show again for the Stage 2 Dance Moderation performance, Odyssey, in September.
An unexpectedly large audience supported the event with both DHS and DMS students, DHS parents and local dance artists in attendance. A big thank you to Lighting Technician, another ex-DHS student, Tom Lydiard, for his evocative lighting design.
It is lovely to see the work and training gained at DHS come full circle with dance artists returning to practice and share their skills and knowledge, enriching our Dance programs further.
“I’m not an expert on dance but my mum took me to the Australian Ballet once and I found [hi] tech way better and fun to watch. It was also really professional looking.” – Taylah Ballestrin (student)
“It was great to see so many young people coming down and getting involved in a youth week event. You could see the passion and commitment in the dancers who did a great job putting together a complex performance in such a short amount of time.” – Mitchell Aldridge (Independent Dance Artist)