One thousand five hundred students, 65 schools, two nights, Step into the Limelight returns to the AIS with a bang. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
The ACT’s biggest school-aged performing arts showcase, Step into the Limelight, has sold out the AIS as cast and crew finalise the last preparations ahead of performances on Thursday and Friday this week.
The showcase will feature more than 1500 students from 65 schools performing dozens of group and individual shows.
Everything from singing to aerial performances will be on show to demonstrate this year’s theme, Enter the Unknown.
This is the first year back at the AIS for the showcase since 2019, after it was put on hold during COVID.
Organiser and principal of the ACT’s instrumental music program, Joel Copland, said it’s a display of the passion and dedication of students.
“It’s something that these kids hopefully will never forget, being involved in something with this level of production, with an orchestra, with the featured dancers, the featured singers, all the lights and sounds, the buzz around it is really special.”
Running rehearsals for hundreds of students at a time is a challenge. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
This year is also special for Joel, it’s his first time organising the show, and he’s made some big changes.
Where in past years every school prepared and performed its own event, this year he’s unified all of them, so every performance will be a mix.
It’s a big opportunity, but Joel also admits it’s a lot of hard work.
“It’s unreal … all the other featured vocalists, the orchestra, the mass dance there in the middle, that sound hits you.
“I think you can’t help but be proud of those kids and all the teachers who have been involved in bringing it together.”
The showcase will host a number of new events this year, including the community choir, which Joel will conduct, the First Nations dance ensemble, and a drama ensemble.
Performer Sofia de Oliveira Cruzado, from Kaleen High, is one of this year’s performers.
She’s a veteran of the showcase; she got her start in the massed choir. This year, for the first time, she’ll be a feature performer.
“It’s extraordinary. It’s so much bigger than last year and the year before that, which is awesome.”
Sofia bubbled with enthusiasm when she described the showcase. As well as being one of the lucky few who get to be featured vocalists, she will also get to do two solo performances.
She says that the experience is extraordinary, but there’s one thing she’s looking forward to on opening night more than anything.
“Feeling the stage lights again, that’s the thing that I fell in love with.”
Year 10 Sofia de Oliveira Cruzado loves performing. The showcase will be the biggest show she has ever done. Photo: Nicholas Ward.
Though it is a student showcase, there is nothing amateurish about the production’s rehearsals.
Tuesday was the technical rehearsals, and the high production value of the performance was on full show with light displays, cacophonous soundscapes, and even dazzling aerial acts being run through their paces.
Behind the scenes, the show’s many stagehands and technical staff worked hard to get their side of things in order and make sure everything went off smoothly.
“We have been doing some moving crash mats for the aerial sequences, which was a bit scary because we have to hold the aerial silk while someone’s on it and then let go,” stage crew member Nina Thompson from Dickson College said.
For Nina, who first became involved in primary school, this is an opportunity to do something she enjoys and gain work experience.
From the same school, her friend Charlotte Weatherford, who also worked as stage crew, said she had wanted to get involved in Step into the Limelight for years.
“Meeting all the new people, and how everyone has a different role, everyone has to come together to make it work, so it’s really like parts of a jigsaw puzzle.
“It’s kind of like the fruition of all your works coming together. So it’s really cool, and it’s just really great that everyone gets the opportunity to do this kind of stuff.”
From stagehands to performers and teachers, no one at the showcase takes their role lightly.
The passion of everyone is evident in the stands, behind the scenes, and in the wings where student shuffled their feet trying to remember choreography, lines, or pieces of music ahead of the weekend’s performance.
This year’s performance will be one of their largest, and organisers are hopeful that the future events will be even larger.
Step into the Limelight is an art showcase that has been running since 2007. It hosts both the performing arts showcase and an art exhibition.
Earlier in the year, the showcase’s sister exhibit, an art exhibit held at the M16 gallery in Griffith, showcased a huge variety of pieces.
For more information, visit Education. For tickets, visit trybooking.
