Performing Arts Gathering Emphasizes Connections

Upper School performing arts students of every stripe showed up to ARTISTS-IN-SEATS,the Arts Gathering held in the Crossroads Theatre Sept. 15. Well over 150 students attended the event, from classically trained EMMI musicians to Drama Conservatory actors to jazz band musicians, technical theater students, electronic music students and dancers.

The Gathering kicked off with a video slideshow that highlighted the School’s performing artists and opened with the words, “We are here to make connections.” This theme was repeated throughout the two-hour Gathering, which emphasized the similarities that exist between all performing arts disciplines and began with a ground-shaking “stomp” created by the entire group. Students were broken up into 18 groups, each one a combination of singers, musicians, dancers, techies, composers and actors. The groups were tasked with exploring how certain technical terms—including timing, dynamics, rhythm and texture—are interpreted across various performing arts.

Each group then took the stage to explain what they had discovered with their classmates. Many groups had created short performance pieces to demonstrate the terms they’d discussed, such as a dance of intertwining bodies that represented the concept of space.

The connections between the various performing arts will be on full display in April 2015, when Crossroads produces an event that will showcase the talents of Upper School students across disciplines.