So, I know this post might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is about something I am very passionate about and proud of, which is why I am posting it on my blog. (Oh, by the way, because this is a very long entry I have decided to publish it as two blog posts instead of one)

Anyway, anyone who is anyone and lives in Kalbarri will know that the Kalbarri Zest Festival is coming up soon, and that’s a pretty big thing, right!?

To anyone who hasn’t experienced a Kalbarri Zest Fest, it really is amazing. I’ve had so many wonderful experiences with the Zest Fest and there are so many things that I love about it, but I guess I had better start from the start.

Below is a copy of a letter of support or reference that I wrote for the Kalbarri Development Association Inc. and Artistic Director of the Zest Festival to include in some grants. It basically explains my experiences with the Zest Festival and what it means to me.

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To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Grace Crogan, I am 14 and in year 9 at Kalbarri District High School. Ever since I was young I have had a strong passion for visual and performing arts. As a student living regionally, I am sometimes restricted to what the town and school can offer me as far as opportunities for me to develop my artistic skills. The Kalbarri Zest Festival is a rare and extremely appreciated opportunity for me to do so, and I would like to share with you what the festival means to me and how much I enjoyed being part of it!

2014 was my first year with the Kalbarri Zest Festival. I originally auditioned for a role as one of the main characters in the performance, however I ended up with an equally rewarding and exciting role of helping create, build and direct one of the massive 3-metre-tall puppets for the festival. I also walked alongside the puppet during the performance, manoeuvring one of its very large arms. It was such an amazing and rewarding experience. It was my first time working with puppets and after the performance I knew it definitely wouldn’t be the last. I’d just had my first taste of puppeteering, and it tasted delicious!

In 2015, once I found out that the performance was going to include puppetry again I couldn’t wait to become involved. I would often go down to the workshop to help out creating and constructing props for the performance. It was something I loved doing both then and the year before because it gave me a chance to do something with my art skills. Best of all I was often given creative authority over what the prop could look like, so long as it met the needed criteria. This gave me an opportunity to test and extend some of my art skills, something I’m not often given the chance to do. To me this was a rare and precious privilege!

The style of puppets we were operating are called Bunraku puppets. They are life-sized with two or three puppeteers manoeuvring each. One operating the head and right arm, another operating the torso and left arm, and another operating the legs. In our case, we only had two puppeteers to each, so the puppets had robes and skirts to give the illusion of legs. Our puppets were handmade at the workshop, carved out of foam and given bamboo and fabric joints, as well as bamboo rods.

I was elated when I was asked if I could be the head puppeteer for one of the two main puppets, it was the only thing I had been thinking about for the past few weeks. For a couple of weeks my friend and I were put through some basic exercises and workshops to get us warmed up to working with the puppets. After a few weeks of workshops and call outs we finally had a puppetry team ready for training! I couldn’t wait!

Our Puppeteer training and rehearsals started even before the puppets were constructed. Starting out casual but soon becoming more intense as we only had a few weeks to prepare for the performance. Our rehearsals and training often started straight after school and went on until dark. As head puppeteer I controlled the head (thus also directing the torso) and right arm of the puppet. This position meant I was holding my arms level and sometimes above my head for long periods of time, hence the weeks of training to build up our strength. Although tiring, I absolutely loved every second of rehearsals and training. Not only was I learning new things everyday about puppetry and performance, but I was also developing relationships with people that I will forever hold treasured in my heart.

Over the course of rehearsals and training, we focused a lot on feeling tension in the puppet, and learning how to move with the puppet as one and not just as two puppeteers and a bunch of foam. I think that one of the goals in learning puppeteering was to not just control the puppet, but to become the puppet, and during the performance, to live as the puppet. It might not have been said out loud, but I feel as though that is what it all boiled down to. At the end of each rehearsal when we placed the puppet down, I always had a small feeling as if I was leaving something behind. So, I guess I must have been doing something right!

When the production night finally came everyone was ecstatic. The performance went smoothly with only a couple hiccups. In the performance, the puppet I was operating, named Hiraku, was one of the main characters – a Japanese Samurai, The Shogun’s advisor, and brother to one of the other puppets – Katashi. There were many difficult interactions between Hiraku and Katashi, as well as other puppets and characters. Towards the end of the performance, there was a dramatic fight scene where Hiraku had to try defend himself against five other samurai, in the end, Hiraku was killed. As Hiraku received the last blow, I heard a few small gasps from the audience. Though I could barely see because of the blinding lights, I managed to make out that a couple of people were crying.

When I finally put the puppet down after the performance, I felt a mixture of great excitement, as well as sadness. I had spent weeks and weeks preparing for this performance and it had come and gone so quickly. I almost wanted to do it all over again.

At the end of the performance I was told multiple times that people watching had been so entranced by the performance, they completely forgot that there were people operating the puppets. It felt amazing to know that I had succeeded at my task. At the conclusion of the 2015 Zest Fest I had made many close friends and wonderful memories. It was such a great experience and it means so much to me.

The Kalbarri Zest Festival is a great opportunity for the whole town to get involved in something great. Even in school, we spend weeks leading up to the Zest Festival learning about whatever topic the current year’s Zest Fest is about. The year of 2016 has only just begun and already I can’t wait for this year’s Zest Festival. Even more so, I cannot wait for my chance to be even more involved. The Kalbarri Zest Festival is supposed to be about bringing the community together to have a good time, to celebrate, and the learn in an engaging way about the VOC – Dutch East Indian Trading Company, the Zuytdorp and Batavia wreckages along our coastlines, as well as what values and traditions have been brought to our country by the people who have settled here. To me, the Zest Fest means all of this, and so much more. To me, it means bringing the community together to create something beautiful, that has been recognized even in some other countries! It means helping out, creating friends, having a laugh, learning new thing, doing things I never thought I would do as well as things I love doing most, and creating memories I will treasure forever.

So, now you know just how much I love the Kalbarri Zest Festival and what it means to me.

Sincerely,

Grace Crogan

Kalbarri District High School

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For the rest of this post read: Zest Fest – The Past and Present – Part 2