Category Archives: Multimedia
FIRST: the video
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
FIRST Act III
Pictures from Act 3 of FIRST showing our Choir and Percussion Ensemble in action.
Recording: The Percussion Ensemble plays “Double Mix”
Recorded on June 17, 2015
Recording: The KS2 Choir sings “Thank You”
Our performance of “Báidín Fheilimí” at the Summer Music & Arts Festival
2015 Art Week: SUIS Metro Station
Thank You
2015 Primary Summer Music and Arts Festival
On June 11, SUIS Pudong Primary celebrated their first Summer Music and Arts Festival. More than 300 parents and students came to enjoy a live concert and commemorate art week in different locations all over the school.
Joining hands, the Art and Music Department created a unique experience that brought students, parents, teachers and staff together. The focus was set on art and music with a stage erected outdoors, featuring a big LED screen that displayed images and videos of students’ art works. Having brought blankets and food, parents settled on the field and enjoyed the sunshine while listening to a diverse concert program.
Art was on display in the library as well. Our students created the “SUIS Metro Station”, a large-scale installation that had been created in the days prior to the event. Showing their parents around, students pointed out the process of creating the installation, and what their particular contribution had been.
Live music on the stage featured our two choirs and the Percussion Ensemble, accompanied by piano, guitar and flute. Music pieces from different countries and in different languages were sung and played live, showcasing the noteworthy musical achievement in our ensembles.
Providing artistic stimuli in a relaxed social setting proved to be just the right mixture – the school community came together on a beautiful summer day to acknowledge artistic achievements and celebrate the end of an eventful and successful academic year.
Thank you parents, students and fellow teachers for a wonderful outdoor concert!
Photos by David Zhu
Music Week – Listening Stations
During Music Week, our students could tune in to 4 different Listening Stations. High quality, ear friendly headphones played music of different genres. Those with a keen ear could do a listening quiz and win house points while applying listening skills and knowledge of music.
Station 1: Peter and The Wolf (Sergei Prokofiev)
Station 2: Ah! Vous dirais–je, Maman (W. A. Mozart)
Station 3: Poem of Chinese Drums and others (Yim Hok Man)
Station 4: Help, Hey Jude, Nowhere Man and Octopus’ Garden (The Beatles)
Music Week – Performance Thursday
The 2015 Music Week offered a total of 5 performances to our students! Many talents got on stage to showcase their music skills – singing or playing the piano, the flute, the pipa and others. Well done everybody!