Summary: FIRST is a 2015/16 production by faculty and students from Shanghai United International School, Pudong Campus. It tells the story of a teacher’s first day at school. FIRST consists of three acts – Dance, Drama and Music – and was almost entirely written by students and teachers.

Act I: Dance

Act I has been inspired by the excitement and the uncertainty that we all feel the day before our “first day”. The dancers will tell a story with no words as our characters prepare themselves at home. Their feelings of excitement and anticipation will be over-shadowed by worry and uncertainty as things begin to not go their way as they get ready.

This will be the first time students have studied the art of expressive dance to perform on our school stage. They will tell the story using familiar settings, such as a bedroom, which will be accompanied by an array of abstract dances and creatures. There will also be interactive visual elements to immerse the audience into the story.

Dancers:

Claire Tian, Joy Ge, Yifei Wang, Albert Tong, Angel Guan, Paulina Yi, Peter He, Angela Jin, Jacqueline Wang, Yolanda Zhou, Elena Sanz, Luna Liang, Evy de Waart, Isabella Keshishian, Cathy Gao

Choreography:

Samuel Miller

Props:

Jessica Zhu, Nancy Chen, Gretl Chen, Sissi Leung, Madeleine Mitchell, Eva Dette, Dhwani Sheth, Elissa Fung, Kristy Tong, Shirley Zhang

Artistic Direction:

Janis Fisher, Sebastian Seidel

Note: Access to the video of Act I is limited by copyright restrictions. By clicking on this link to the video you agree to watch it for private purposes only, not share the link and not  distribute, retransmit or otherwise duplicate the video. Depending on your location, you may need a VPN connection to watch the video.

Act II: Drama

Act II tells the middle of our story through acting. As we move on from the dream world where the dancers explore the feelings of happiness and doubt over the first day of a new school our group continues our journey. From exploring what the dream might mean, saying goodbye to close friends and dealing with the trials and tribulations of meeting new people we explore the joy and sorrow that these all too common events bring in to our lives.

Watch Act II here (depending on your location, you may need a VPN connection):

Actors:

Koko Chen, Ritthick K. Thiaga, Yasya Lesniak, Xavier Howard, Daniel Kellerman, Gianluca Coppi, Natalie Nip, Catalina Vasquez, Ella Zhou, Farhad Haider Bhatti, Matilda Kimber

Script:

Jorge Castellanos & students

Act III: Music

Act III tells the end of our story through music. As we move through the school on our first day, we meet Teachers, Students and finally our new class. This “journey” is one we all have experienced many times before, but it never ceases to amaze us.

The Choir and the Percussion ensemble perform new compositions that accompany us as we rush (embarrassingly late) to school (“It’s Time”), meet “The Students” and “The Teachers”, and finally start the class in “Our School”. In between these pieces, selected choir singers move the story along in “recitatives” – short songs with a lot of words that don’t repeat.

Watch and listen to Act III here (depending on your location, you may need a VPN connection):

Solo singers:

Madeleine Mitchell, Matilda Kimber, Yifei Wang, Mercedes Famira & Indy Huang

Catalina Vazquez

AJ Font & Samuel Yang

Elaine Huang, Elena Sanz & Yasya Lesniak

Percussion Ensemble:

Susie Li, Letitia Shen, Sophia Pantoja, William Zhang, Jason Wang, Elena Sanz, Mary Yang, Bryan He, Rio Nakamoto, Jasper Wang, Lucy Yin, Alex Lv, Jeff Wang, Lily Wang

Choir:

Elaine Huang, Elena Sanz, Tiffany Yang, Yasya Lesniak, Alecia Wen, Cathy Gao, Daniel Kellerman, Ivan Jiang, Jacqueline Wang, Rita Ruan, Sophia Sun, Jessica Zhu, Yoyo Zhang, Faye, Nancy Chen, Catalina Vazquez, Mercedes Famira, Madeleine Mitchell, Zoe Cheng, Amber Keeley, Tao Jin, Julia Maina, Tina Tian, Angela Jin, Sissi Leung, Isabella Zuo, Indy Huang, Yifei Wang, Samuel Yang, Chelsea Wei, Kristy Tong, Yunnah Moon, Matilda Kimber, Shirley Zhang, Claire Tian, Eva Ye, Hailey Sagay, AJ Font, Peter He

Written by/Piano:

Sebastian Seidel