Recently the incredibly talented extra drama students who fall under Maureen Lahoud’s Barefoot Academy put on the most inspiring and beautiful production - Fairy Forest. It never ceases to amaze so many of us how unbelievably wonderful these plays are. Maureen is the most inspiring and talented teacher and she really helps grow these children in terms of their confidence and ability.
Maureen is so humble about what she does, but we would still like to share what she has to say about the show:
“Covid has impacted so many of us in a negative way, but with the continuous support of Mr Viegas, Southern Cross Schools parents, the staff and a host of talented children, we were able to pull together and present the most wonderful fairytale show.
Covid regulations meant that teaching drama to all these talented extra drama students was extremely challenging. We had to separate as well as limit classes and we only had the opportunity to join all the various drama and dance groups on the final day of rehearsal – this was extremely nerve wracking! However, the hard work and incredible natural talent of all these children really paid off.
The script which was written by Melindi Randall, a local teenager from Kampesrus, has an awesome message of love conquering darkness, and it was brought to life by the amazing Barefoot Dance and Drama students.
From Grade 1 to the College, the SCS learners played a variety of roles. There were forest fairies & elves, trolls, witches and their cats, wicked woodsmen, Mad hatters tea party characters and a number of well-known fairytale folk. The magical story was about how the unhappy fairytale folk found sanctity and safety in a place where they were accepted for who they were, and more importantly, how they bonded together to challenge the threat of evil and darkness.
Huge gratitude goes to all the parents who encouraged their children to develop their creativity and confidence and faced an onslaught of WhatsApp messages and requests, to getting their children ready and presentable for the shows.
And finally, but most importantly, thank you to my Dance & Drama children who made this show possible and wonderful, and for the last minute effort to make it such a success. It really was amazing and I am so, so proud of every single one of you.”
We would like to say how extremely lucky we are at Southern Cross Schools to have this extraordinarily talented teacher who guides all our children to the amazingly impressive levels of performance that she does. Thank you, Maureen for your constant dedication, love and supervision.
