Performing Arts
The Performing Arts program enriches the students’ experiences both inside and outside of the classroom as it enables students to hone specific skills. Whether participating in musical theater classes or performing on stage, students are engaging the creative side of their brains while:
- learning effective ways to give and receive constructive feedback
- building confidence and public speaking skills
- practicing teamwork, patience, communication and cooperation
- learning to improvise and creatively “think on their feet”
- accessing previously undiscovered talents for personal expression, effective problem solving, and leadership
Beginning as early as kindergarten there are many opportunities for student involvement in the performing arts:
Lower School Fall and Spring Musical Performances
Lower School students participate in weekly musical theater classes. As part of the curriculum, students prepare both fall and spring musical performances by grade level. Students enjoy spending several weeks learning script lines, songs and choreography The culmination of all of their hard work and preparation is a live evening performance before family and friends.
Festival of Lights Chanukah Celebration
The Festival of Lights Chanukah Celebration is a school-wide evening event combining the performing and visual arts as well as Makerspace activities. Students participate in grade-level performances of Chanukah songs while families also enjoy hands-on activities, latkes and art displays. It is a wonderful opportunity for our entire community to come together and celebrate.
Spring Musical
Each year students in third through eighth graders can audition for the spring musical. Previous productions have included Willy Wonka, Junior and Seussical. The spring musical is a full scale production that invites students with interests from performance to tech to be involved in a very professional and highly rewarding experience.
“Music and Theater education is an important means of stimulating creativity in problem solving. It can challenge students’ perceptions about their world and about themselves and at the center of all drama is communication. Like all the arts, musical theater allows students to communicate with and understand others in new ways. Students will learn empathy, relieve stress, and learn to work together for a common goal while reaping the rewards from their hard work, practice, and discipline.”
-Jennifer Adams, Musical Theater Teacher