About 60 excited girls will represent Queenstown Primary School for the first time in the Stars on Stage performing arts challenge in Dunedin tomorrow night.
The years 6 to 8 ensemble rehearsed their show, "Wonderful Wakatipu", yesterday for parents and fellow pupils. The eight-minute extravaganza sees the girls tell the history of the area in dance and costume.
The Wakatipu story begins with the cast wearing cloaks as Maori searching for pounamu while one girl sings a traditional song. They wear country gear to illustrate European farming, then gold mining in the Wakatipu, to the tunes of Thank God I'm a Country Boy, by John Denver, and a family friendly version of Gold Digger, by Kanye West.
The cast sport 1980s day-glo bright ski gear to dance to Funkytown, by Lipps Inc. They mime the activities Queenstown is famous for, including kayaking, mountain biking, jet-boating, parachuting and bungy jumping, to the sound of My Delirium, by Ladyhawke.
The show was choreographed by head of arts Fee Stephenson and year 8 teacher Lara Kirk.
The troupe practised intensively over one weekend and three lunchtimes a week since last term and worked hard to make up for lost time due to snow closing the school for three days last week.
They travel to Dunedin tomorrow morning for a dress rehearsal in the Regent Theatre in the afternoon, before their evening performance. They return to Queenstown on Friday.
A handful of boys auditioned, but dropped out.
More than 30 Otago-Southland primary schools will put on a show for the non-competitive performing arts production Stars on Stage, this week.
