Practice makes perfect, but this is only perfect when you have a good team around you to cheer you on to perform well for the culture.

On Wednesday 17th April, ACS (Afro-Caribbean Society) created a performance (other societies did this as well) to perform to the students at Woodhouse as they held their annual culture day.

Culture Day was a great time for students of all cultures to come to school in cultural clothing. They also celebrated other cultures that Woodhouse is lucky to have. This was done by visiting many stalls that sold food, buying country bracelets and listening and dancing to music, which played around the student hub throughout the day.

The Practice

Some Year 12 and Year 13 members regularly met with the ACS Presidents a few weeks before the performance to prepare. These included lunches and after-school practices.

Practices included finding dances and songs and creating formations to ensure everyone was visible. Dances were chosen in a way that would be easy for the members to learn, with good difficulty.

When asked about the practice, Bernice Adomah, a year 12 member, stated “I think the whole process was long but it was so worth it. I wish we had started practising earlier but it was fun each time we practised." Cindy Ocran agreed, comparing the practices to a “meet-up”.

It all appeared to be worth it.

While performing, the crowd cheered, clapped and were amazed at the dancing. Everyone spoke about the performance and congratulated how it was skilful and fascinating. 

The dancers were also very proud of themselves. Stephanie Ngoforo revealed “I felt confident onstage. It was a good experience as my old school did not have much relating to celebrating cultures so this was very fun.

Overall, dancing for Culture Day was a great experience for me. I left my comfort zone and performed confidently with my friends and some great members, which I enjoyed doing. It was an experience that I would love to do again and would recommend to anyone else.

2025 Culture Day will be even better!