Calare’s ‘Four Blue’ is busily polishing of a well-practiced routine ready to represent its school on stage next week.
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The Calare Public School’s year four class has entered the City of Orange Eisteddfod for the first time, which kicks off with the speech and drama component next Tuesday.
A week before their performance, Calare grade four teacher Kathryn Delaney said her students are just about ready to go.
“We are all busily practicing and rehearsing at school and hopefully they’re practicing at home too,” Mrs Delaney said.
The class of 27 will perform two contrasting poems they have chosen carefully to demonstrate their range of speaking poetry skills.
The Calare students will have the chance to showcase their talent ahead of the eisteddfod, when they perform in front of parents and students at the school’s open day next week.
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While this won’t be the first time the nine and 10 year olds have recited their poetry on stage, Mrs Delaney admits their usual audience – a school assembly of about 150 people – is considerably smaller than an eisteddfod crowd.
“It’s always a bit daunting walking into the Orange Function Centre and seeing the kids from the other schools in the audience, but once they’re onstage their eyes are firmly fixed on the conductor and then the performance takes over,” she said.
The annual eisteddfod offers competitive and non-competitive sections for all styles of dance, vocal, instrumental, speech and drama shows.
For several weeks, participants from Bathurst, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes and Cowra as well as competitors from Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra compete and perform, covering the full spectrum of the performing arts.
The Art of Speech and Drama component will take place from Tuesday August 7 until Sunday, August 12, the Dance Groups weekend will run August 17 until August 19 and the Vocal and Instrumental section will be August 26 until September 7.
Mrs Delaney said her students began practicing for next week’s show midway through last term and have picked up an added appreciation for poetry throughout that time with the more they’ve learnt.
“I love poetry and I always try to teach poetry in class,” she said.
“You need to say poetry out loud to get the most out of it and to perform it is a much more special experience than just studying it.”
Mrs Delaney said if it weren’t for the eisteddfod she doesn’t know where else they’d get this experience..
“They’ll remember it forever hopefully,” she said.