Helena College wins National Award

Helena College has taken home the National Story Award for Excellence in Performing Arts and Raising Awareness of Mental Health for their performance ‘Game Changer’ as part of the 2022 National Wakakirri Story-Dance Festival.

Wakakirri is Australia’s largest performing arts event for schools with over 180 taking part in 2022. Participating schools are inspired by the Wakakirri ethos ‘great stories inspire change’ to create and perform story-dances that reflect students’ thoughts, ideas and aspirations. 

Wakakirri Festival Director Adam Loxley said ‘The standard of performance and the stories being told by schools this year was exceptional so Helena College should be very proud of their award’.

In a world dominated by technology, gaming addiction is becoming a serious issue. This year, the our story dance explore the negative effects gaming and gaming addiction can have on the health and well-being of children. Key to the story was showing that maintaining a healthy balance between playing on devices and being socially and physically active is the key to optimal physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Helena’s performance  was described by Wakakirri panel member Rohan Senior as ‘a colourful and joyous story executed really well.’

Helena College’s performance coordinator, Adriana Martino said the College is really proud of the efforts of our amazing young performers:  ‘The students did themselves, and the College, proud. They put an enormous amount of effort into rehearsals and preparations.

Ms Martino noted that the community’s support behind the scenes was invaluable – from fundraising to making costumes and props. ‘It really is a team effort!’.

The Wakakirri Story-Dance Festival is a national program that helps schools develop student engagement and wellbeing through participation in the performing arts. Schools participate by creating Story-Dances which they perform in live theatres in capital cities and selected regional areas around Australia. Schools in remote and regional areas can participate via Wakakirri Video. Over 180 schools took part in Wakakirri 2022.

Wakakirri’s sponsors include The Victorian Government, Reconciliation Australia, Muffin Break and the McCusker Charitable Foundation.