Creativity in the Time of Covid-Jan. 31, 2021

Head over heels! Ms. Courtney teaches class to 8th graders to prepare them for the high school audition.

The Audition Edition!

It’s that time of year: as we enter into audition season for candidates, there’s plenty of excitement in store both for potential students and current VPA artists, as we kick off the spring season and plan for some special, in-person performances.

VPA Dance Builds Bridges

Ms. Courtney Smith held dance classes on Friday, Jan. 29, for students at the Booker Middle School Dance program. The daylong series of classes gave middle school dancers a taste of what classes are like at the high school.

In the studios at the high school, VPA dancers enjoyed seeing their younger counterparts keep up with challenging choreography and delighted in “upping the ante” to see how much the middle school students could do.

Ms. Courtney and middle school dance department chair Pedro Batista will conduct auditions for interested middle school dancers in February.

Callbacks in the Cards for VPA Theatre

VPA Theatre students were giddy about performing for the first callbacks of the year, as they vied for leading roles in the original musical “Kingdom of Solitaire.” The audition room was full of nerves and camaraderie, with students out-schticking one another with inventive performances. The fun of originating roles was evident as different interpretations of these leads were embodied.

Mr. Keys and Mr. Mnich wrote “Kingdom of Solitaire” to be performed as the first full-scale Theatre production of the year. The musical explores societal divisions, using a deck of cards as an extended metaphor for what appear to be natural lines of division. This world is the backdrop for a quest for unity. It draws on the fact that a deck of cards, after all, is only successful when each card is present and valued.

The cast list will be released soon.

VPA Audition Platform to Launch

This year, to ensure both safety and access, the VPA will house all auditions for every department on Acceptd, a national application platform that is available everywhere we have potential students.

The VPA is working with partner middle schools to create audition times during the school day, in hopes of breaking barriers in the form of limited tech access in homes.

The journey for candidates begins here: http://www.bookervpa.com/start. Please spread the word to families you know who may be interested in VPA. We also have a virtual Magnet Night coming up on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. Interested participants can register here. Be mindful that per district guidelines, all students hoping to join VPA must audition by May 1; our priority audition (early decision) deadline for auditioning is March 26.

Classroom Spotlight: Visual Art Level 4—Advanced Placement

As VPA Art seniors prepare for the end of their high school journey, they roll up their sleeves in the Advanced Placement “Sustained Investigation.” The challenge is to create a body of works (in a series of a dozen or more pieces) that all explore a single notion.

This is the culmination of four years of intensive fine art training along with developing a worldview that can be analyzed and expressed visually. Ideas that are being investigated range from the political—with commentary on consumption and the environment—to the whimsical.