An explosive showcase of music, dance and drama from over 100 Catholic school Performing Arts students brought the house down at NIDA's Parade Theatre on 27 September.

Performing 'Kids in the Hood', their uplifting showcase received a standing ovation from a capacity crowd of students, teachers, family and friends.

It was a finale to an intense 20-week skills program for specialist students from Years 5 to 12 involved in all disciplines of the Catholic Schools Performing Arts (Caspa) program.

Caspa, which is jointly managed by Great Big Events and the Catholic Education Office, Sydney, is a program that auditions students of various levels of talent for special ensembles to encourage students to further develop and nurture their skills.

This year's ensemble, made up of the traditional, dance, drama and vocalist groups, also included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performers called 'Murrawadeen Goodjarga', a secondary boys' group known as 'Brotherhood', and the contemporary rock band, 'The Crew'.

Caspa Co-ordinator Elizabeth Mullane said the program prides itself on giving students the opportunity to learn from experts and perform at a professional level at many high-profile events, which are often televised and corporately sponsored.

"The next major event will be a live performance at World Youth Day (WYD) 2008, after a successful performance at the WYD Cross handover ceremony at Sydney Airport and Darling Harbour earlier this year," she said.