The IDEAL Creative (Winter 2014)

The IDEAL Creative

WINTER 2014

In the picture above, the IDEAL Community is gathered in a circular form at our Annual Peace & Light Ceremony. It was a true testament to the power of coming together and supporting our Scholar-Performers. This celebration and recommitment to living lives of peace was a spectacular way to end the Calendar Year. The strength that comes from standing firm in our commitments to serve, nurture, educate, protect, and prepare our IDEAL Scholars for the world that stretches far and wide beyond its walls comes from our commonalities and remaining a united and supportive community. We continue to work relentlessly to balance the scales of justice and celebrate the successes of smaller communities within our own larger community. Scholars have been steadily discovering the stark differences between the more radically tumultuous times in American History and current periods of time. Our IDEALIsts have worked thoughtfully and empathetically to not only identify with, but to also become examiners, strivers, fighters, and cheerleaders for justice for people who exist many miles away and across the world.

UNITED WE STAND Our department takes a look back at the Peace and Light Ceremony and its vital connections to the New Year (Western/World-Wide & Lunar).

HIGHLIGHTS…

Justice and Solidarity are our words of the month for January and February, respectively. We examine how our creativity is enhanced and supported by these values.

2 The IDEAL Creative (WINTER 2014)

“Vivamus porta est sed est.”

Ringing In The New Year

By Suzanne Grégoire, Dance and Movement

Congratulations to the Second Grade for their wonderful performance of the Nutcracker March for the Peace and Light Assembly last December. They received a well-deserved and enthusiastic applause, as well as the little “Toffee Dance” duet, performed by Francesca Sliwa and Jeein Song. The Third Grade learned a dance in January, which was filmed and shown at the Civil Rights Museum. They danced to, “Keep Your Hand on the Plow”, sung by Mahalia Jackson, and learned some swing as part of the choreography. The Fourth Grade prepared a ribbon dance for the Lunar New Year Assembly, which took place on February 7th. They learned how to manipulate the ribbons to the tempo

of the music, which was challenging, and to enjoy the Asian fusion sound of the accompaniment. In January, the Dance Elective groups learned a swing routine, and also practiced running, leaping and skipping through obstacle courses. In Yoga-Mind-Breath, the Lower School continues to work on mindfulness exercises through yoga poses, as well as through listening games. They enjoyed making sachets before the holidays, and some of them presented them as gifts to family members. We will be doing this again in the winter months and continuing to learn about new herbs and tasting new teas.

Members of Upper School Rehearse their Hip-Hop Routine


The art studio has been a whirlwind of creative energy this winter. In the lower school classes we constructed pieces for our Lunar New Year celebration. The Kindergarten classes made cylindrical shaker drums, 1st grade created firecracker shaker batons, 2nd grade created and wore their conical hats, 3rd grade made and carried their Chinese lanterns and 4th grade waved their originally designed flags. All of these creations were a part of our Lunar New Year procession as we galloped into the new “Year of the Horse”.

Creating Winter Magic in the

IDEAL Art Studio

By Viorica Morris-Stan & Tim Lomas Visual Art Team

Emery is pictured above celebrating the Lunar New Year wearing a conical hat.

H206 studied photojournalists documenting the civil rights movement. They wrote letters to the photographers describing how the photos made them feel about the injustices of racism and prejudice. They then continued with their “Art for Change” posters on the theme of “Justice” our IDEAL word of the month.

H208 has been approaching portraiture through the different styles of major artists throughout history including the chiaroscuro of Rembrandt, the photomontage technique of David Hockney, and the cubist style of Picasso.


H212 (work pictured above) has been studying drawing the head and it’s features and took what they learned into 3-dimensional work with beautifully colored clay busts.

Art Club (above) has been studying the geometric designs of snowflakes creating their own unique designs with reverse drawing of white pencil on black paper. We also have had the privilege of

having Guo Laoshi visit our class to teach us the brush and ink technique of Chinese calligraphy.

In Art Portfolio we have been studying the “drawing with

scissors” technique pioneered by Matisse and created beautiful

collage compositions displayed on the 4th floor. We also have begun

a study of gesture drawing with Ms. Gregoire’s yoga class visiting our

studio to show the poses they have learned as we drew them.


Since returning from winter break, lower school has been busy learning freedom songs, analyzing lyrics, completing compositions, learning about the acoustic characteristics of the piano, and having conversations about sound and vibration. Additionally, the last week of January was spent paying tribute to the musical legacy of Pete Seeger, a musician and activist with a life devoted to fighting inequality and promoting action against injustice. Mr. Robinson and I were really impressed with the sing-alongs during the Freedom Song Assembly. We were also impressed with the seriousness and respect in which the lower school showed learning each freedom song, as well as the thoughtful conversations we shared about civil rights. As we enter solidarity month, we are looking forward to singing about community, togetherness, and the definition of family. Lower school has been exploring the physical properties of sound by listening to reverberation, individually observing the interior of our grand piano, and noticing the effect of singing into tuned drums. Kindergarten initially thought a ghost was making noise in a snare drum, but we discovered that vibration was actually moving from the piano strings, through the air, and vibrating the snares of the drum. In one of our dancing games (crazy freeze dance), students have been asked to come up with any kind of music they can think of, and Mr. Robinson and I do our best imitation while the students dance to the beat. Some recent spur-of-the-moment selections by Kindergarten have included “Egyptian”, “Crazy”, and “Rock” music. Mr. Robinson and I are having a blast, and again, we would like to say how wonderful it is to be sharing music with students at IDEAL. We are both looking forward to an inspirational and musical Spring! Terry Campbell Music/Performing Arts


With The Promise In Mind By Anwar Robinson Music/Performing Arts Part I: Composers For Justice In preparation for our Spring Projects, the Upper School has been exercising using brainstorming to ignite their compositions of original Freedom Songs. Our main goal was to allow scholars to use their own figurative and literal voices to express what FREEDOM means to them. Much of what supported and led up to this Freedom Unit during the month of January 2014 was taking thoughtful examinations of respected figures, musicians, and activists that were upstanding citizens and agents of social change during pivotal and volatile periods of American History. The results of these series of activities (brainstorming, composing, and presenting) has provoked the scholars’ sentiments and given way to more in-depth conversations (i.e.:

what constitutes being a civil right, what risks are involved when being an upstanding citizen [as opposed to just going with the status quo], and the vitality of music in social justice). Another important aspect of humanity that we examined is what defines “brotherhood” and/or family and how the denial of one group’s rights is an injustice to all. Part II: The Foundations For Solidarity As we cross over into the second half of our school year, the month of February will consist of making many connections from past themes. We will be extending our shorter-term assignments into

larger projects for the final half of our school year. One of the first themes that our Music Meetings will experience is commitment. This is an essential piece to completing long-term projects that will include: creating bodies of work (mini-presentations/musicals, songs for themed albums), the creation of marketing plans, and also honing our basic music abilities and requirements (such as synthesizing skills in sight-reading and presenting pieces in front of an audience) to increase the quality of the products created. It is our goal to embody the

foundations of The IDEAL Mission and our themes in innovative and memorable formats. With our IDEAL Scholars at the center and at the helm of our developing new

traditions-while respecting and retaining the old ones-we expect that students will create memories and evidence for them to share in and outside of their own communities as they continue their journey as life-long learners.

Peter “Pete” Seeger (pictured above and below right) was more

than just a folk musician. Mr. Seeger’s influence, commitment,

and selfless drive to use his platform to speak and act against injustice serves as an inspiration

A Pioneer of an IDEAL World

…Imagine being an individual whose voice was founded upon being inspired by the disenfranchisement and unfairness suffered by fellow citizens…one may wonder how someone can stand against so many ills in society and yet still proudly serve it as a member of the Armed Forces…only to return home to be indicted for being “UN-American”…. To state that Pete Seeger (1919-2014) was a musician is an understatement. It is his principles

of fairness, hope, love for our planet and the protection of its resources, and abundant generosity that not only resonates, but is also an integral part of the foundation that is ours at IDEAL. Thank you, Mr. Seeger, for being a beacon of hope to many of us who dream to be a small flame in the light of justice. Humbly Submitted, The Creative Arts Team

The IDEAL School of Manhattan 314 West 91st Street New York, NY 10024 212.769.1699 www.theidealschool.org

Documents

The IDEAL Creative (Winter 2014)