By Alesha Capone
MY WYNDHAM: Cassandra and Joseph Beckitt live in Wyndham Vale. They run Dynamic Performers Australia, which is based in Werribee. Mrs Beckitt is a singer, dancer and vocal teacher, while Mr Beckitt is a pianist and piano teacher.
How did you meet?
Mr Beckitt: We are both from Tasmania, and studied at The University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. We met there. We decided to move to Melbourne so I could do my Masters at Melbourne University.
Mrs Beckitt: We’ve been here 22 years now, and we have four sons, they are all musicians and singers.
What do you like about Wyndham?
Mrs Beckitt: When we first came to Melbourne, we moved out here a bit out of necessity, we couldn’t find somewhere affordable closer to the city. We like the small-town aspects and we like the fact you can go to the city to see a show, be there and be parked in 35 minutes.
How long have you been running Dynamic Performers Australia?
Mr Beckitt: We’re in our fifth year.
Mrs Beckitt: We run Dynamic Performers with my sister Carolyn, a choreographer and a singing teacher, and her husband Michael, who has done a lot of theatre as well. I think other groups are more selective or run auditions, we’re quite inclusive, we try to include everyone. We class ourselves as a learning institution. We are predominantly music theatre-based, but we do other types of music too. For the past two years, we’ve put on shows at the Wyndham Cultural Centre. We run two choirs, an adult one and a youth one. The choirs perform throughout the year, including at our trivia night and carolling at the end of the year at Pacific Werribee and Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre. Once a month we have a Broadway Open Mic night, which is free to attend at Cody’s Café in Manor Lakes, anyone can come along. It’s also a great performance opportunity for some of the young people in our classes.
Do you get many people who want to learn to sing, but say they can’t sing at all?
Mr Beckitt: If someone says to us that they are no good at singing or music, we say: ‘If you’re not good at maths, you don’t give up on maths, do you? It’s just something you put more work into’. As an educator, most importantly, it’s not necessarily about seeing the best people, but seeing everyone do their best.
