After School Art

Ms. Lucy Cui, Fine Arts Teacher
March 24, 2023

This semester for after school class, besides the training in drawing fundamentals and encouraging students creativity from imagination, like usual, we are exploring a different material, watercolor, to support our students’ drawing. 

Watercolor paint is a translucent art medium and the paints are made of pigments suspended in water-based solution. The key for watercolor painting is water control. Students in this class will try watercolor techniques such as wet on wet, wet on dry, washes, underpainting, etc. Of course, different materials and techniques are just things to support ideas. Encourage students to express their imagination and illustrate it to share, to communicate.

In this class, we always start with a master copy of a realistic drawing to improve kids’ drawing skills, something like a simple still life or a landscape painting . After this project is finished, they can pick references themselves and design their own pieces. Training in professional skills first, then keep their imagination active and combine with their skills.

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Young Artists News of the Week

March 17, 2023
Mr. Sky Wei, Coding Teacher and HSArts Alumni

This project, found on Code.org, is a dance programming activity that allows students to create their own dance animations using block coding. The project is designed to help students develop their coding skills and understanding of event programming, as they learn to create programs that respond to timed events and user input.

Students will be able to choose from a variety of dance moves and sequences to create their own unique dance animations, using blocks to code each step of the program. Throughout the project, students will have the opportunity to experiment with different coding techniques, such as using variables to store and modify data, creating loops and conditional statements, and debugging and testing their code.

The project is designed to be accessible to students with little or no prior coding experience, with support provided at each level to help students progress through the challenges. The project is engaging and interactive, allowing students to express their creativity and develop new skills in a fun and engaging way.

At the end of the project, students will have a completed dance animation that they can share with others, demonstrating their understanding of event programming and their ability to create programs using block coding.

CLICK TO SEE THEIR WONDERFUL WORKS!
Aiden Lau:  https://hsarts.info/aidencodeCharles Lord:  https://hsarts.info/charlescode
Arianna Yuen: https://hsarts.info/ariannacodeEmma Guan:  https://hsarts.info/emmacode
Maya Ahn:  https://hsarts.info/mayacodeSophie Quock: https://hsarts.info/sophiecode
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Stars Abound at Starbound

March 10, 2023
Front Page News, Young Artists News
Ms. Ginnie Wu, Dance Competition News Specialist Reporter Extraordinaire

Our middle and high school dance conservatory students had another successful weekend at Starbound Talent Competition in Dublin, CA with 5 out of 5 entries receiving Elite Gold, three 1st Place Overalls, and three Judges’ Awards! 

In addition, several of our students have committed to Nationals for KAR and Starbound competitions in the summer.

Full-time middle and high school dance conservatory students received Elite Gold, 1st Place Overall in division, a “Precision” Judges’ Award, and Best Costume for their group dance, “Calligraphy.”

Andy Ispas and Abigail Wong received Elite Gold, 1st Place Overall in division, and a “Dynamic Duo” Judges’ Award for their duet, “Chasing Light.”

Andy Ispas received Elite Gold, 4th Place Overall in the age 11-12 division, and a “Powerhouse” Judges’ Award for his solo, “Courage.”

John Wu and Daphne Ng received Elite Gold and Top Winner in their division for their duet, “Sounds of Snowfall.”

Full-time high school dance conservatory students received Elite Gold for their group dance, “Butterflies.” 

Our young artists lit up the stage this weekend at Starbound Talent Competition in Dublin, CA! We took home five Elite Golds, three 1st Place Overalls, and two Judges’ Awards! In addition, all of our students qualified for Starbound Nationals in Tahoe, NV in July. 

Abigail Wong (10) received Elite Gold, 1st Place Overall in age 9-10 division, and 1st in the Folkloric Dance category for her solo, “Ode to Lotus.” She was also one of two dancers at the awards ceremony to receive a Golden Ticket, which allows her to take part in the opening number at Starbound Nationals in Tahoe, NV!

Abbie Tanabe (13) and Kylie Tang (12) received Elite Gold and 1st Place Overall in the preteen division for their duet, “Together We Stand.”

Isabelle Tseng (9) received Elite Gold, 2nd Place Overall in age 9-10 division, and an “Engaging Performance” Judges’ Award for her solo, “Paper Route.” 

Kylie Tang (12) received Elite Gold, and 6th Place Overall in the age 11-12 division for her solo, “Remembrance.” 

Madeleine Chan (9) received High Gold and 4th Place Overall in the age 9-10 division for her solo, “Teahouse Waiter.” 
Emilie Fu (13) received High Gold for her solo, “Dancing in the Rain.” 

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Young Artists News of the Week

February 24, 2023
Ms. Hanna Zhang, Young Artists Director and Teacher

Another successful competition weekend at Applause Talent Dance Competition! We took home five 1st Place Overall awards and the Highest Score of the Day studio award. Here are a few pictures from the competition. A full award breakdown can be found here!

Abigail Wong (10) from our Young Artists Program received 1st Place Overall and an Elite Platinum award in the First Call Junior division for her solo “Ode to Lotus” and was crowned the Junior Applause title winner!

Emilie Fu (14) from our Young Artists Program received 1st Place Overall and a Double Platinum award in the First Call Teen division for her solo “Dancing in the Rain,” as well as a Special Judges’ Award for her amazing lines.

Abbie Tanabe (13) and Kylie Tang (12) received 1st Place Overall and a Double Platinum award in the First Call Teen division for their duet “Together We Stand.”

Kylie Tang (12) from our Young Artists Program received 3rd Place Overall and Double Platinum in the First Call Junior division for her solo “Remembrance”!

Ms. Hanna received the Best Choreography Award  for her masterpiece “Calligraphy” among 200+ entries from all studios!

HSArts received the Highest Score of the Day award as the dance institution that accumulated the greatest number of points in the First Call competition level!

Next stop on the list — we will be heading to @starboundcomp in March! Stay tuned!

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Young Artists News of the Week

February 10, 2023
Ms. Hanna Zhang, Young Artists Director and Teacher

Hi parents, I’m so excited about the coming competitions during Feb-May, and we have a couple solos and duets. It is challenging but our kids will get more stage experience to build up the confidence. Hope they will have fun there.

We’ll have a Summer Camp Open House on February 25, so come join us and find out more about Summer at HSArts 2023!

If you’d like to know more, please email me at enrollment@hsarts.org.

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Young Artists News of the Week

February 3, 2023
Ms. Ginnie Wu, Young Artists Coordinator and Teacher

We’ll have a Summer Camp Open House on February 25, so come join us and find out more about Summer at HSArts 2023!
If you’d like to know more, please email me at enrollment@hsarts.org.

Summer is right around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to find the summer camp perfect for you! We have the Summer Arts Academy with focused arts bootcamps and dance intensives. There are the Summer Young Artists geared more towards younger campers looking for some fun! Or you can have some Summer Academics with SAT prep and math courses for some extra studying. Whatever it is you’re looking for, we have 17 exciting camps awaiting you!
Early bird discount deadline is March 15.

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Young Artists News of the Week

January 27, 2023
Ms. Ginnie Wu, Young Artists Coordinator and Teacher

Happy Chinese New Year to all of our Young Artists Families!

Summer is right around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to find the summer camp perfect for you! We have the Summer Arts Academy with focused arts bootcamps and dance intensives. There are the Summer Young Artists geared more towards younger campers looking for some fun! Or you can have some Summer Academics with SAT prep and math courses for some extra studying. Whatever it is you’re looking for, we have 17 exciting camps awaiting you!
Early bird discount deadline is March 15.
We’ll have a Summer Camp Open House on February 25, so come join us and find out more about Summer at HSArts 2023!
If you’d like to know more, please email me at enrollment@hsarts.org. Thanks!

*Editor’s reminder: Ms. Dana shared some news about the ballet classes in our Young Artists program up in the Arts News of the Week, in case you missed it.

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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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Young Artists News of the Week

January 20, 2023
Ms. Hanna Zhang, Young Artists Director and Dance Teacher

Happy Chinese New Year to all of our Young Artists Families!

This season, we’re scheduling several dates for open classes and auditions for our Young Artists program and Summer intensives. Mr. Wei, Ms. Dana, and myself, Ms. Hanna, will host these classes for anyone interested, both current students and those not yet enrolled in our program. For those especially talented, there may be scholarship opportunities available.

If you are interested, or you’d like to bring a friend along, please email Ms. Ginnie at enrollment@hsarts.org. See you there!

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