The group of talented students, in their section, were announced the Shoalhaven regional winners of the Wakakirri Story Dance Challenge.

The theme of their performance was homelessness and their efforts stunned the judges at performance night held recently at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre.

The performance’s title was ‘Invisible’.

Vincentia High won the prestigious Spirit of Wakakirri section, which is awarded for best all over teamwork, attitude and showing the true spirit of Wakakirri which is inclusion.

They are now in the running to win the national prize which will be announced on October 17.

The South Coast Register recently meet up with some of the performers - here is what they had to say.

Jaymee-Lee Joines

“It was all about homelessness and making people aware of homeless people,”  Jaymee-Lee said.

“We had four scenes - we had one where our main character Hayden lost his job, one where he was in the middle of this ruckus and people walking past him and he thought “where am I in this world’, then there is a homeless scene where he comes together with homeless people and then we get the to finale.

“In the finale all of us come together, meaning the world is coming together to get people to help.”

The team planned for the performance for six months.

“We were all really happy with the end result,” Jaymee-Lee said.

Eva Mackay

Eva said the performance was a collaboration from the students and teachers like Ms Nolan and Ms Amor, along with Graham Dyer.

“A lot of us helped with the dancing and putting the backdrop together,” Eva said.

Eva said the experience got them thinking about homelessness and how lucky they are to have a roof over their heads.

The students also produced a backdrop film to go with their Wakakirri performance.

In the performance, they had people in suits walking past homeless people which depicted the invisible theme.

The video was shot in Nowra.

The students now have a better understanding of homelessness and hope to play a role in helping homeless people in the future.

The students have already been proactive when it comes to homelessness.

“We had a drive at the school where we collected donations of clothing and blankets and get things to donate to the Shoalhaven Homeless Hub,” Eva said.

Charlotte Compagnoni

“It was pretty exciting and we all got to work together as a team and create a story to dance too,”  Charlotte said.

It was Charlotte’s first experience with such an event.

Charlotte said it was great to win the regional section and they were all excited about their chances of winning the national competition.

Brianna Armstrong

Brianna was also a novice when it came to something like Wakakirri.

“Most of us danced but we had a singer who also danced in a couple of scenes as well,”  Brianna said.

“I was really nervous before we got onto the stage.”

Brianna had plenty of support in the audience, including several members of her family.

The awards were….

They received a glowing report from the judges on the night and awards for:

best lighting and call

best public speaking

best inspirational story

excellent construction and clarity

excellent solo dance

excellent solo singing

excellent theme and concept and

excellent visual effects

Support crew deserves lots of credit

Throughout the process, the students were guided and supported by teachers like Ms Nolan and Ms Amor, while Graham Dyer also gave valuable assistance.

Ms Nolan said a decision to pick a theme of homelessness was made last year after a discussion with some of the students.

“There had been a lot of articles in the paper about the rising prevalence of homelessness and about the Nowra Showground and how people could only spend a few days at the showground,” she said.

“The kids really wanted to use Wakakirri as a platform to raise awareness about homelessness.

“We did look at other options as well but everyone felt passionate about raising awareness about homelessness.”

Ms Nolan said she was impressed with the maturity the students showed when it came to highlighting such a topic.

“They were really mature and passionate about the way they wanted to tell the story,” she said.

Ms Nolan said the students made her proud.

The school's Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) donated money to help get more students involved in the project.

“It’s a commitment time wise but it's also an expense to be included with Wakakirri,” Ms Nolan said.

“We wanted to make it inclusive to the whole school community this year and approached the P&C for sponsorship which enabled us to bring the costing down.”

She would like to thank the P&C for its support.