Woodchurch High School’s Performing Arts Department are thrilled to share the success of this year’s school production of Disney’s Moana Junior! The performance told the tale of Moana of Montunui and her epic adventure to save her village from the fate of Te-Ka’s darkness! Moana who was played by Megan Ford journeyed across the oceans in search of her heritage and in an attempt to restore the heart of Te-fiti and save mankind. Staff were incredibly proud and privileged to stage a production that showcased the rich history of Oceania and that celebrated the cultures and beliefs of people from the Pacific Islands. The script was developed by Disney in collaboration with Oceanic Trust – a group of anthropologists, cultural practitioners, historians, linguists and choreographers from the Pacific Islands and pupils really enjoyed exploring ideas around different people and places. They took on the challenge of learning a different language with excitement and enthusiasm and Mr Payne and Mr Fenney were incredibly proud of the endurance our performers displayed when getting to grips with really challenging songs. We couldn’t be prouder of their commitment and focus when it came to every aspect of the show, from rehearsals, to line learning to the final performances, our pupils were relentless in their drive to let their lights shine. We staged two sell-out performances, on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th of April, and our pupils absolutely loved every second of both nights, working with absolute professionalism and poise. It was wonderful to see so many members of our local community back together again and both audiences were filled with praise for all of our performers. Miss McNamara worked tirelessly with her team of talented dancers who developed choreography for several songs and performed with complete pride and professionalism. It’s a real challenge to pick stand-out members of our cast as all pupils were truly outstanding in their roles but special mentions went to Tamatoa and her sassy side-kicks played by Freya Upton, Ella Haley and Fletcher Haughley, Moana, played by Megan Ford, Gramma Tala played by Lucy Banks, Chief Ancestor played by Alice Grievson and Maui played by Aidan Maloney. We had a few last minute castings, so well done to Bethany Davies and Harriet Youd in Year 9 and Sadie Hawkins in Year 7 who took on additional roles incredibly professionally at the very last minute and were faultless in performance. We are so proud of all our pupils and their service to our school community, they performed with absolute humility and were incredibly thankful for the opportunity to make the most of their gifts and talents. We can’t wait for next year’s show!