Day In The Arts 11/6/12
Chester Upland School for the Arts Fifth Grade students were treated to a Day In The Arts Field Trip to People’s Light and Theatre Company in Frazer. The event was created and executed by the Andrew L. Hicks, Jr. Foundation on Election Day, 2012. Henderson had a day off from school, and under the leadership and direction of HHS juniors Lexi Walsh and Katie Sanders, 15 fabulous and particularly talented Henderson students acted as theater, music and dance teachers for the day.
The day began with a 10:30am arrival of the students from Chester. They were given a warm welcome and brief introduction to the event where they learned that they would be split into three groups and would rotate through music, dance and theater; experiencing the different elements of a musical.
At the first rotation students warmed up their voices and learned to sing along with the scale of notes. At the second station, students introduced themselves with their name and then their favorite dance move. Other dance games followed until the students moved to the third station. At theater they all had the chance to practice physical expression and played games which required that they pantomime and also act out using their bodies and their voices.
By 12:30pm the entire group was starved and sat down together to enjoy a Chick-Fil-A lunch and some homemade cookies and then it was back to work. The students were each assigned one specific discipline. There they would work hard for an entire hour trying to learn one scene from the play Aladdin. At music the kids learned the song, “I Can Show You the World”. At dance or movement, they became a magic carpet and then learned an entire dance that went to the play. While in theater, the kids acted out parts including the Genie (“Did you rub my lamp?” “Did you wake me up?” “Did you bring me here?”), Abu, Aladdin, and Jafar.
At 2pm the entire assembly was seated in the theater and each group had a chance to perform either their song, their dance or their acting. The children were absolutely thrilled to be on such a beautiful stage and the high school teachers were so impressed at what the kids were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. The entire performance was video taped by Henderson’s Video Production Group. Once edited, a final DVD will be turned over to CCSA for review by the students as part of their educational experience.
All in all, it was one of our best events to date! It was an intimate group of 40 students and about 10 student instructors, but the kids had a great time together and furthered the Foundation’s mission of building relationships between children in Chester and children in West Chester.
Special Thanks:
Beverly Rigby and Anna Hadgis, Chester Charter School for the Arts
Wendy Babel, People’s Light and Theater Company
Chick-Fil-A
Henderson Video Production
Krapf Bus Company
Alisa Goodstein
Herr’s Snacks
