Awakenings A Big Hit

October 28, 2011

The annual Awakenings Festival is undoubtedly a highlight of the holiday calendar. This year 10 clients from both drama groups made the pilgramage to Horsham for this famous festival celebrating all forms art for people with disability. Mark and Mel headed the group with support from Sheridan, Kathy and Ali. Everyone travelled down together and made it in time for a final rehearsal on Friday afternoon. The performers returned a few hours later to watch the first half of the evening and were treated to some fine acts from other groups from around the country. Finally, after intermission, it was ArtRageUs’ turn to perform. The choir ladies; Sarah, Trudy and Kerry sang 2 Kylie songs and an original compsition entitled ‘Awakenings’ which explores the wonderful fun that everyone has every year at Awakenings. Then it was Mel’s drama group’s turn to take the stage. They performed an original puppet play called Drummer Boy which the audience loved. Following on was a small skit about Louie the fly and a lovely version of ‘What About Bee’ performed by Sarah. The final act of the night was Mark and Sheridan’s drama group performing Insectacide. Everyone agreed it was the best version the group had performed so far and the audience agreed. All of the ArtRageUs performances where in ‘black light’ where a special UV light is used in a completely black room and only special fluro coloured fabrics and paints show up. This creates a magical effect of people and items floating on stage. Much of the audience and crew had not seen black light before and were impressed with the result. After such a performance the group headed to the Victoria Hotel to undwind and rock out with the Celtic band Claymore.
After such a busy night a sleep in was in order and eventually the group made it to breakfast in the park by mid morning. Bacon, eggs and pancakes really hit the spot. Unfortunately the footy ended up in a tree no more than 5 minutes after being in the park so most of the morning was spent trying to get it down. Evenually Mel came to the rescue with her very impressive climbing skills. After breakfast the group had some time to do a little shopping before heading to the local church hall where the ladies had put on a Blush and Bling session where people could get hair, makeup, nails and pedicures done in preparation for the ball that evening. Everyone enjoyed being primped and pampered, it was a fantastic way to relax before the ball. With everyone looking wonderful the group headed to the annual Awakenings ball where the theme was Generations of Rock. Hannah and Luke Hudson won prizes for best dressed female and male and everyone rocked out to great live music by The Last Stand and Claymore.
Sunday morning arrived more quickly than expected and everyone was strangely quiet. The bus was loaded up and the group headed back to Mildura, tired but still feeling excited after a fabulous weekend.