The Mercedes Year 11 ATAR dancers achieved an “Excellence” award for their performance at the recent Catholic Performing Arts Festival (Secondary Dance) on Friday 20 August 2021, at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Titled “Beyond Intracability”, this hard hitting, mixed genre performance piece was designed to depict how social status is seen as the degree of honour attached to someone’s position in society. With the use of individual hand-held lights and ‘materialistic’ styled props (money, clothing, accessories), the girls were able to show that occupying a high status due to a characteristic that one possesses, means that on the basis of that difference, an individual acquires more power and privilege.
By adding in the effects of social media, suddenly social stratification is associated with the ability of that individual to live up to some set of ideals or principles regarded as important by the society or the social group that surrounds it. They become influencers with credibility and an ability to persuade their followers to copy their look, their thoughts, setting cultural trends and gaining a stranger’s trust. There is a desire to climb the social ladder, only to be pulled down by others who promote something better. A constant battle for recognition and acceptance. Chasing the likes. Chasing the followers. The adjudicators were impressed how the girls were able to portray the narrative of the story with conviction and attack and presented their piece with outstanding commitment.
