Media Release:
For Monday 26 October 2009
WHILE 2,000 DANCERS GO THROUGH THEIR PACES, TECHNOLOGY
HELPS THE REST
More than 2,000 dancers will be put through their paces on Monday (26 October) in the first
combined rehearsal for the world’s biggest youth variety show — the 2009 Schools Spectacular.
After months of practice in schools across New South Wales, the young dancers — three
quarters of the cast of the epic production — will come together on Monday for the first time. They
will descend on Sydney Entertainment Centre for a day-long practice session to prepare them for the
show’s four performances on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 November.
While those at the Monday rehearsal will include dancers from all areas of Sydney, the
Hunter, South Coast, Illawarra, Central Coast and the Central West, students from five schools many
hundreds of kilometres away will also participate, via the wonders of technology.
An inter-active video link between the Sydney rehearsal and schools at Broken Hill and Cobar
in the far west, Tamworth in the north west and Leeton in the south west, will allow 70 distance
students to participate under the watchful eye of Schools Spectacular dance director Susan Rix to
learn the moves for the show’s massive finale.
The “virtual rehearsal” using videoconferencing technology has been facilitated by the
Schools Spectacular’s principal sponsor Telstra and is a working example of the Department of
Education’s Connected Classrooms strategy, “Telstra is proud to provide high-speed broadband
connections, which enables students across the state to link up for live webcast rehearsals and allows
the show’s production staff to coordinate this show from locations across the state.”
Schools Spectacular celebrates its 26th year in November and presents a massive task of planning
and coordination. This year’s theme Reaching Out will see more than 3,000 NSW public school
students aged 5 to 19 on display in a dazzling show of colour, movement and music inspired by
Australian life.
SCHOOLS SPECTACULAR MASSED DANCE REHEARSAL
MORE THAN 2,000 DANCERS FROM 129 SCHOOLS
SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE
MONDAY 26 OCTOBER 9 am to 4 pm
FINALE REHEARSAL — ALL 2,000 DANCERS WITH INTERACTIVE VIDEO LINK TO DISTANCE SCHOOLS
—
12.30 TO 1.30 PM
Media contacts:
Stewart White
(02) 9557 1433; 0418 284 036
Joseph Brennan
(02) 9557 1433; 0439 391 334
NEWS 
