Fine Arts Newsletter February 2016

Transcription

1 Fine Arts Newsletter February 2016 Maplewood Players Ugly Saber Wraps Up at the Short and Sweet Festival In January we reported that our production of Ugly Saber won at the 1st annual Short & Sweet Festival at NYU Abu Dhabi and would be performing at the Dubai version of the festival, the second largest in the world. These seven students got themselves out of bed early on a Saturday, practiced hard, went to Dubai to the Wildcards and were awarded FIRST PLACE (tied) in the judge s choice category, while being the only school group and by far the youngest performers in the festival! Next they were invited to the Wildcard Finals two weeks later, again in Dubai. The students performed excellently and were supported by 17 Maplewood students who joined them on a Saturday to come and cheer them on! It was such an amazing atmosphere and we are so proud of our students. The calibre of the competing theatre at the finals was much higher and students were page 1 of 8

2 unable to crack the top 3 spots this time but we are so proud of how far they came amongst the TOP 10 PLAYS in the SECOND LARGEST TEN MINUTE FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD!!! And the only entry from Abu Dhabi! We are also so appreciative of the support that we received from our friends who joined us in Dubai. And Ugly Saber is still not over!! Thanks to the book s author, Iwona Drozd (who also came to the finals performance in Dubai,) we have been invited to perform at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair one of the largest in the world! We are so proud of these seven students and what they have accomplished from what started as a short production for National Day for our elementary students. If you see Yasser, Osama, Ahmed, Moke, Assem, Safwan or Omar make sure to give them a high five! Photos above: 1. Safwan receives his award from the festival s artistic director Alex Broun. 2. All participants in the festival warm up together can you spot the students? 3. The cast and cheerleading squad at the Junction Theatre in Dubai. page 2 of 8

3 Art Studio We are continuing to make wonderful progress on the geography mural for the school. The club members have been painting their canvases with their interpretation and rendering of where they are from. I am excited by the work they have done and am looking forward to the final product. Another group of students have been hard at work on photographic composition and will be starting on a smaller scale project that will help them to understand and work with the concept of gestalt. Stay tuned! For more information, please Mr. Arli. New Drama Equipment! Drama and Choir students have been having a wonderful time playing with new equipment that recently arrived to outfit our room. We now have Wenger stage boxes and Flipform risers! Stage boxes are used in Drama classes for students to build instant sets, creating worlds in which to build their scenes and add interesting levels and pictures. Flipform risers are useful for Choral performances as well as Drama performances and can be flipped in various configurations. Pictures on the next page page 3 of 8

4 5M enjoys the new equipment! Colourful Flipform risers! The Maplewood Singers We were so excited for our visit to Choirfest Dubai, but unfortunately the trip had to be cancelled due to some new ADEC regulations. But we won t let that get us down! We are continuing work on our two choral pieces and are now turning our attention to individual solo pieces. Students are researching songs that they might like to work on and perform in our class as soloists if they like. page 4 of 8

5 The Maplewood Junior Singers Like our senior group, we were excited to attend Choirfest but now are turning our attention to other possibilities. We are hopeful that some collaborations with other schools for performance and workshops will be possible, but in the meantime we continue to work on our two pieces for presentation to our school and parents in the second half of the year! The Maplewood Players Jason and the Cosmonauts (Year Play) Things are really starting to heat up for our Year Play. Make sure your calendar is marked for May 23 & 24 our potential presentation dates. The students have been attending weekend and after school rehearsals (until 7:00! We mean business ) to start to give the play some life and polish. As well, some students went with the cast of Ugly Saber to the Short & Sweet festival to observe how professional theatres operate their technical elements. Things will continue to get busy with this production as we begin to add sets (courtesy of designs from Ms. Stephanie!) costumes and props. Actors preparing for a relay race in our Thursday after school rehearsal. For more information, please Mr. Stephen or Ms. Stephanie More on next page page 5 of 8

6 Grades 1 and 2 Drama and Music Classes! In primary music and drama, we have been continuing to explore the world of Horton the Elephant. Look forward to a play by the grade 1s! In grade 2, we dived back into listening to and understanding musical rhythms. Students have enjoyed playing 'rhythm baseball', where they identify the patterns 'pitched' to them. Up next: more drama! For more information, please contact Ms. Stephanie. Grades 3 and 4 Drama and Music Classes! Students continue to drill creativity and spontaneity in creating tableaux and characters through various stimuli. We have been exploring how people can have animal like characteristics and how that can create new characters. Musically, students have continued to read and write rhythms using quarter dotted eighth figures in 6/8 time (du di). Starting very soon, students will learn do re mi tonal patterns and combine that with the rhythms that they have learned. 4S creates a tableau collaboratively based on stimuli given from the teacher. More on next page page 6 of 8

7 Grades 5 and 6 Drama and Music Classes! Grades 5 and 6 students continue to explore creativity in building scenes using different stimuli everything from a word, a phrase, a picture, combinations of characters, whatever sparks our imagination! We continue to discuss the importance of introducing the Where, Who, and What in sequence. This has all been especially fun with our new stage blocks! Students are also learning teamwork and collaboration for every scene, one student is selected as a director who must keep the team on track, finalize decisions and synthesize ideas from the group. Musically, students have continued to read and write rhythms using quarter dotted eighth figures in 6/8 time (using more difficult repertoire than the grade 3/4s.) Starting very soon, students will learn do re mi tonal patterns and combine that with the rhythms that they have learned. Grade Eight and Nine Drama Classes Grade Eight creates a tableau based on a stimulus given from the teacher. More on the next page... page 7 of 8

8 1. A giraffe washing windows. Drama can be a strange and wonderful place 2. Rashed shows off his prize a colourful smiley sticker after winning the collaborative game of the day. Music and the Brain Recently, Mr. Stephen had the pleasure of attending a workshop on the effect of Music on a child s brain. The talk was mostly aimed towards instrumental music, but the effect is very similar with vocal music and there are similarities with Drama as well. There was one video presented that was particularly interesting about how musical training can benefit a child in so many ways that I encourage everyone to watch here: Enjoy! Next edition: March 2016 page 8 of 8