Gala Concert

Traditional & Modern Dance

"We Are Family"

A Festival of Music, Song and Dance

The Gala Concert opened at the Monash University Alexander Theatre with the splendid drum and dance score by students from the Nobel Park SDS. This set the scene for an evening filled with colour, music, dance and song.

A large production like this does not happen by itself. Music Coordinator, Bella Litvak, rallied a team of dedicated students that worked back stage on the curtains, lighting and other equipment.

The event closed with a stage filled chorus of "We Are Family". As they left the hall with their parents, excited students could be overheard talking about the fun that they had and what they could do next year. I can hardly wait!

Internet Webcast

Screenshot from Real Producer

The entire concert was webcast over the Internet to provide a chance for families and distant school friends to login and watch the concert live online.

Using a standard Internet connection, families and school friends were able to login to listen and watch the online broadcast from homes, cyber cafés and schools.

Planning began several weeks earlier. Jeff Clement provided support for different software options and configured a free RealMedia solution. Mike Macleod and Peter Biro assisted with setting up and conducting some important tests along with valuable feedback. Our student technicians Chris, Necmi, Michael and Austin helped confirm these tests from home and provided an all important backup.

Peter Mills helped on the day by setting up all the equipment; including a web-camera to collect the video and audio feed from a nearby control desk operated by theatre staff. These were mixed and compressed by me for the Internet production broadcast.

A Monash University IT officer kindly loaned us his technical expertise to help establish a high speed connection back to the Westall file server room. This made a considerable difference with no signal drop outs.

There was an online discussion room where listeners could talk to me about the production that they were listening to. Some of the comments posted included:

"The audio is very clear, even my dog is dancing."

"Fantastic production Westall. The dancers are very colourful."

Takashi Sandou from
Seirin High School, Japan.

Webcast Inspires Sister School

Colleagues at Seirin High School, our sister school in Japan, were so impressed that they asked if we could help them with a webcast of a local cultural event. As shown in this picture, Takashi Sandou projected our Gala Concert onto the staff room wall.

The Webcast added an exciting international dimension to an already colourful Gala Concert.

Gala Concert Video

You can also view the shortened Gala Concert Video. [4 mins, MPEG1]