Tag: arts

Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

February 3, 2023
Ms. Hannah Ogden, Theatre Teacher and Musical Theatre Director

Happy New Year, everyone! We are so proud of all of the hard work that our Musical Theatre students accomplished in the first semester of this school year and we’re so excited to be jumping right in with a busy second semester. In Scene Study, students are reading The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, or Guys and Dolls Jr. with a focus on how music can help to build a complete story. In Production Rehearsals, we began the semester with a Playwriting Unit, allowing students to try out creating their own characters and writing scenes and monologues using their own ideas! We have now transitioned into full rehearsals, with students having just received the cast list for our third quarter show, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. This production is a compilation of stories from author Robert Fulghum, focussing on what it means to grow up and how we can all remember the joy of being a fearless child. My goal for this year’s production season is for students to have the opportunity to participate in multiple genres of theatre so that they are able to really focus on gaining the skills necessary to be well-rounded actors. We have tackled a comedy and a drama so far, and this show is truly a mix of both, allowing the students to apply what they learned in the first semester of classes. I am excited to invite you to our third quarter performance on Thursday, March 9th at 6 PM right here at HSArts in Studio 2. We hope to see many of you there! 

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Arts News, Newsletter, Young Artists News

Featured Arts News of the Week

January 27, 2023
Ms. Dana Crigler, Ballet Teacher

Happy New Year to all of our ballet parents and students! We hope the New Year will bring our families peace and prosperity!

The day and evening programs are working to provide a colorful performance this spring! The day and teen ballet programs are busy learning variations from Sleeping Beauty and the Young Artist classes, Level 1A and Level 1B, are learning dances set to songs from Disney’s Princess and the Frog.

Foundational ballet technique is also a main focus this semester. The Young Artist classes are learning new arm and foot positions, working on combinations that train coordination, increasing their dance vocabulary and getting off the floor with learning how to jump. The day and teen ballet programs have been focusing on memorizing their barre and center combinations, ballet conditioning has been incorporated into their classes to increase their upper and lower body strength, and learning more challenging ballet steps. 

Ballet Tips for Young Artist Parents: All of the Young Artist students should be working on their left, right and middle splits at least 1 hour per day. Our goal would be for them to have all of these splits down to the floor with straight legs to the front, back and side with feet pointed by the beginning of May 2023. They will be evaluated during the month of May to determine their placement for the 2023-2024 semester and they cannot pass to the next level without a combination of flexibility and technique. 

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

January 20, 2023
Mr. Brian Nieh, Arts not-Teacher

Before we start, I’d like to give an editor’s/arts coordinator note regarding our upcoming CNY Celebration and performance:

At the start of each semester, our choreographers are very eager to start their new programs. However, at the same time, we have two major celebrations in the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year. Both of these typically include a performance, so this is where things get tricky: what programs do we do?

For the CNY celebration next week, we can certainly run back some of the Winter Wonders programs, many of which our students are performing for other community CNY celebrations (including at Commodore Sloat ES UCSF, and the Sunset Farmers’ Market). But as the artists we (students and teachers) are, despite the time frame, we’re hard at work choreographing and preparing a few new pieces for you all to enjoy. 

Now pivoting back to the original planned topic: Chinese Dance as a Celebratory Tool

Chinese dance has been around for centuries in different forms and used for different purposes. More often than not, Chinese dance is used for celebrations. It can take the form of court dances for imperial officials to celebrate holidays or birthdays or a great piece of legislation. More widespread, it surfaces in all different ethnic groups, doing ethnic dances to celebrate a harvest or whenever they just want to have some fun. Several of our dances from Winter Wonders fall into this category, including Snow-Capped Celebrations (celebrating their reverence to the heavens) and Flower Hats (celebrating their beautiful hats).

So next Friday, we hope to celebrate with a few Chinese Dance pieces during the CNY Celebration performance, including a special piece to send off the year of the tiger. 

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

January 13, 2023
Ms. Millie Hankinson, Art Teacher

This spring semester, high schoolers in the visual arts program will continue to build upon the foundational skills they learned last semester — the basics of shape, value, and form — while exploring various types of still life, portrait drawing, and quick sketching. We will continue to have live models pose for the students, as well as demonstrations and lectures by visiting artists. By the end of the term, students will develop a better eye for accuracy, simplification, and interpretation that will carry them forward into more advanced studies next year.

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

December 9, 2022
Ms. Hannah Ogden, Musical Theatre Teacher

As our semester comes to a close and the holiday season is upon us, the Music and Musical Theatre departments here at HSArts are delighted to invite you to a Holiday and Winter Showcase. This night of performances will feature holiday songs hand selected by our musical theatre students, two songs from our Group Vocal class, piano and flute performances, and a full performance of Ebenezer’s Christmas Carol. We are so proud of all of the hard work that our students have done this semester preparing for this night of music, singing, and acting, and we are delighted to extend an invitation to you! Please join us at 6 PM on December 15th!

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

December 2, 2022
Mr. Brian Nieh, Dance Teacher

Classical Chinese Dance, the wonderful, beautiful, dynamic dance system that is equally engaging as it is mysterious. Where does it come from? What is it all about? Fear not, for I’m here to answer all of your questions, and questions you haven’t yet even thought to think about.

We are planning to write a series of informative articles to help shed light into the world of classical Chinese dance. Our Chinese dance teachers all have a wealth of knowledge and experience. If you are interested, please let us know by the like/appreciate button, or send us your questions in the comments down below.

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

November 18, 2022
Ms. Lucy Cui, Art Teacher

We had a very special guest give a brief workshop with our middle school class this week! We welcomed Mr. Christian MacNevin, Ivy’s father, who came to speak about concept art and design. Our students were very attentive and enjoyed the presentation. Thanks for spending the time with us! Here are some pictures from the workshop:

Mr. MacNevin is one of many artists we have invited to conduct workshop with our students. We look forward to arranging for more later this year.

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week

November 11, 2022
Ms. Hannah Ogden, Acting Teacher and Musical Theatre Program Coordinator

We are jumping right into the holiday season in our Musical Theatre Acting classes this quarter! Rehearsals are underway for our winter play, Ebenezer’s Christmas Carol. This adaptation of a classic allows students to participate in the traditional story with more modern language. It is crucial for young actors to have opportunities to participate in both comedic and dramatic works, which is why I have chosen this show as a way to utilize the skills needed to tell a more serious story. This production allows our actors to dive into the complex emotions of loss and fear while learning the importance of being kind to others, especially those less fortunate. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, December 15th, our Musical Theatre Winter Showcase, where students will perform this play and various holiday songs from their vocal classes! We hope to see many of you there!

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Arts News, Newsletter

Featured Arts News of the Week – Visual Arts

November 4, 2022
Ms. Millie Hankinson, Visual Arts Teacher

In October, the high schoolers continued to move toward more complex subject matter by focusing on drawing from life. The students took turns modeling for each other in order to practice quick sketching, as well as to prepare for the two professional models that visited the classroom this month — including a pirate! To better understand the geometric forms of the human head and the effects of light and shadow, students practiced drawing from several of the cast sculptures in our collection, culminating in a weeks-long study which will continue through most of November.

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