Special Date In Sydney

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday September 14, 2005

By COURTNEY TRENWITH

IMAGINE making the finishing touches to a painting, then watching it spring to life.

That's what will happen to six young artists from Havenlee Special School tonight when they perform in the state final of the Wakakirri dance competition at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Sixteen students from Peterborough Special School, in Warilla, will also bounce onto the stage and act out the paintings in a seven-minute performance.

The main painting will include Australian settlers and Ned Kelly.

All of the students at Havenlee and Peterborough special schools have a disability.

It is the first time the students have made it to the final and their teachers are excited.

"I was shocked ... it's good to be in something and to be judged along side non-disabled kids and to show everybody that we can do things equally as well," co-organiser of Wakakirri at Peterborough School Sue Corkery said.

Wakakirri is a national story-dance competition that invites schools to create their own stories and present them to music in front of an audience.

Schools across the state compete in heats before some are selected for either the first-timer final or the super league final.

Ms Corkery said dance had been taught at Peterborough School for about 10 years but last year was the first time they had entered Wakakirri.

"We (also) wanted to show the wider community what the (students) were capable of," Ms Corkery said.

"There's opportunities to integrate and to develop friendships with their peers (and) they get an adrenaline rush when they're on stage."

The Wakakirri super league state final is on Friday night.

© 2005 Illawarra Mercury

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