The public is invited to choose their own adventure in a ground-breaking interactive dance film premiering today and produced especially for COVID-19, to ensure the show could go on.

Triskelion Dance Wars fuses an animated video-game format with live dance sequences performed by students in Years 6 to 11 from Sydney Catholic Schools Performing Arts’ (CaSPA) dance ensemble.

“The scope of the work was phenomenal” – Iris McGill

The CaSPA dancers worked with professional choreographers Neale Whittaker and Juliette Verne to master 24 dance sequences after just 10 hours of instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, while performance restrictions were in place.

A Sydney Catholic Schools student performs as part of Triskelion Dance WarsThe dance sequences form a series of storyline options for Triskelion Dance Wars. 

This story was filmed over two days at Sydney Catholic Schools’ first dedicated performing arts college, Southern Cross Catholic College Burwood.

The resulting Triskelion Dance Wars replaces the CaSPA annual live showcase, giving students’ families, friends and the world a unique window on the incredible choreography they have learnt throughout the school year.

A Sydney Catholic Schools CaSPA student performing in the groundbreaking Triskelion Dance Wars film dance

Sydney Catholic Schools’ education officer: creative and performing arts, Iris McGill, said Triskelion Dance Wars was groundbreaking on two fronts. 

“Other dance videos are either fully animated gaming, or feature live dancers in a tutorial format or dance video format” – Iris McGill

“Both choreographers were blown away by the calibre and the talent of the students, and the pace at which they worked,”  Ms McGill said.

The video can only be viewed and interacted with on the following seven Sydney Catholic school websites: 

HOW TO PLAY

In the game, three mythical creatures meet with obstacles which require them to transform into older versions of themselves and then go into battle.

The user is able to select a character – the phoenix, the master or the muse – and determine the outcome of the battle. 

“It’s ground-breaking in that the user determines where the dance goes,” Ms McGill said.

“There is no app that has a narrative and actual dancers that tell that story” – Iris McGill

“Ideally we’d like to develop an app next, where schools could devise their own choreography and storyline, and capitalise on the ‘do it yourself culture’ in today’s youth,” Ms McGill said.

Ms McGill said a second phase of the project may include working with app developers to create coding opportunities for students, combining the arts and STEM – short for Science, technology, engineering and mathematics – with links to educational resources and “metagaming, in which play extends beyond the game.”

THE CHARACTERS
  • Young Master – Cameron Clark, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School Miranda
  • Young Muse – Eva Tokouzis, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic College Burraneer
  • Young Phoenix – Jade McRae, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College Kensington
  • Young Swing – Isabella Muslado, St Ursula’s College Kingsgrove
  • Old Master – Will Emerson, Marist Catholic College Eastwood
  • Old Muse – Lailah Baba, Holy Spirit Catholic College Lakemba
  • Old Phoenix – Bronte Roman, Southern Cross Catholic College Burwood
  • Old Swing – Rhiannon Smith, Freeman Catholic College Bonnyrigg Heights
  • Old Swing – Marisa Pavela, Rosebank College, Five Dock

By: JADE RAMIREZ