Creativity on Campus: Students Hone Talents Across Art Disciplines

The Dance Studio has become a “home away from home” for many Millbrook alumni who have visited campus to teach workshops on different dance genres, as well as share their successes and experiences dancing at collegiate and professional levels. Christina Hughes ’14, who is a dance major at Charleston College, came back to Millbrook to teach a workshop on partnering and floor work. After her workshop, she worked with students individually to answer questions around the college application process and college life as a dance major. Patricia Morel ’15 also returned to campus to facilitate a workshop on hip-hop and share her experience as a member of the Goucher College dance team.

 

“I think alumni enjoy returning to Millbrook because they can both give back to our current students through teaching workshops and sharing experiences, as well as enjoy our new and improved facilities. Our new marley floors, for example, allow for multiple genres of dance to be supported,” says Director of Dance Leighann Kowalsky.

Choreography students traditionally spend their first semester at Millbrook honing dance fundamentals through studying ballet and modern dance. Moving into the second semester, students apply these fundamentals while exploring a wide variety of genres. “This is when visitors really spice up our program,” says Ms. Kowalsky.

The studio has a long list of visitor workshops from both alumni and friends of Millbrook School for the remainder of the academic year. This list includes Alisha Mai McNamara from Hudson Valley Circus Arts and Nicki Miller from Only Child Aerial, who will be teaching aerial arts during Intersession week.

 

The Chelsea Morrison Theater has also been bustling with activity as the cast and crew of the winter musical prepare for their production of In The Heights. In The Heights centers on a variety of characters living in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in Manhattan. Nearly 50 students are involved with this year’s production, which aligns with the school’s 2015-2016 academic spotlight on “service for social justice.”

 

“Though challenging material, working on this production provides a new perspective, and I think bringing it to the community will spark necessary conversation,” says Assistant Director Tori Merkle ’16.

Students are collaborating with the World Language Department and campus community members who are familiar with and from Washington Heights in order to help actors develop an understanding of the different meanings of the production and to hone their performance abilities. “The actors are fully engaged in the material and invested in bringing as much authenticity to the world of the play as they can,” says Director of Theater Elaine Lifter.

 

Millbrook Singers have also been busy, as they gear up for their upcoming performances and trip to debut in Vienna, Austria. The group will travel to Vienna from March 9 through March 16, 2016. In preparation for the trip they will be learning a diverse repertoire, choreography, staging, basics of the German language, and culture over the coming weeks. Once in Vienna, the group will work with multiple well-known music leaders including Renald Deppe, an artist, composer, and musician who has arranged for a special performance piece for the Millbrook Singers. Students will also tour the region, connect with government officials and much more. Millbrook Singers will perform on campus leading up to their Vienna trip, including this evening at our Martin Luther King, Jr., chapel service.

 

Students have also been exploring different visual art techniques. Honors Photography students recently completed a project titled, “Light Matters,” where their challenge was to create a series of three portraits of the same person, each lit in a different way. Students used strobe lights, natural light and continuous lighting. While the light sources were different, the images had to read as series, or, a set. Students made portraits that told stories of drama, contemplation, confrontation, and more.

 

Another light-themed photography project, “Painting with Light,” also helped students explore the impact of luminosity on an image. Using very long shutter speeds, students used flashlights, twinkle lights, lasers, traffic safety batons and more to draw in the air. The results were beautiful drawings appearing in photographs captured throughout campus.

 

In another visual arts course, advanced studio pottery, students are working on a project rooted in the nested doll principle (also known as the Russian doll concept). Students are creating five pieces in total that nest both structurally and conceptually so that they function as a set and have a cohesive aesthetic feeling.

 

We are excited to see and share our students’ creative accomplishments throughout the remainder of the 2015-2016 academic year. Photographs of student work and upcoming performances will be posted to our photo gallery and Millbrook in Motion. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for frequent updates.