18 Jun 2019
How many pieces of music have been written and performed? How many are left to write? Does dance have boundaries? Are there stories left to be written and performed?
The creative urge and capacity of human beings is boundless and so it is apt that the theme of this year’s Star Struck is No Limits.
Hunter School of Performing Arts understands the importance of fostering, nurturing and providing opportunities for students to explore and develop their creative energy. We know that, in doing so, they are more engaged in learning, more confident in taking on difficult challenges and more likely to be active participants in shaping their own future and the future of the planet.
The integration of the performing arts into the curriculum is central to the development of the so-called ‘soft-skills’ identified as requisites to thrive in our rapidly changing world, including the world of work.
Communication, interaction, teamwork, confidence in public speaking and performance, leadership, listening, innovation, creativity and problem solving are some of the soft skills that are developed through the performing arts. Star Struck is our region’s largest and highest profile expression of these as it brings together thousands of students, and hundreds from HSPA.
In our school there is year-round integration of the soft and hard skills. In the past two weeks alone, some of the achievements of HSPA students include our junior and senior concert bands winning gold at the National Eisteddfod in Canberra, and our string orchestra being awarded gold and platinum at the same event.
Our Year 10 team representing the Hunter Region at the Da Vinci Decathlon State Final, competing against 67 schools, won outright in the areas of creativity and Science. Two of our Sharp Short Theatre teams are through to the State final taking place tonight at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre. Two of our Shakespeare teams are through to the State final in the Jove Shakespeare Festival. Tonight our pre-professional dance ensemble are performing at the Seymour Theatre in Sydney.
It takes hard work, dedication, sacrifice, energy … and most important, a love of learning and a will to improve, to drive the wonderful successes seen in these public performances
We congratulate all participants in Star Struck and our students in their myriad other endeavours. A special thank you and congratulations to our dedicated and expert teachers who each year deliver such enriched opportunities for our students.
Article written by Ms Gray