Four winter concert events were listed on the program, but the vocal, theater and dance performers logged more stage time than what was in print. By popular demand, performances for fellow students, and private shows by request. It might be the very first winter concert event for LMAAC, but every student was in their element and at home under the spotlight.
Four winter concert events were listed on the program, but the vocal, theater and dance performers logged more stage time than what was in print. By popular demand, performances for fellow students, and private shows by request. It might be the very first winter concert event for LMAAC, but every student was in their element and at home under the spotlight.
Whether singing show tunes or 70’s rock, playing Snoopy and Charlie Brown or dancing across the stage in routines choreographed by teacher Felicia Gutierrez, it was undeniable that talent is being developed and refined by instructors who know what they are doing. And the secret is out—there are around 760 students trying to get in to LMAAC for the 2015-2016 academic year.
“It’s a year long course and we rehearse everyday, then Mrs. Gutierrez comes in and teaches them the moves. We work as a joint unit, and she’s just amazing,” said John Law, ensemble leader. “The culture of the entire school, focusing on the whole child,” is what Law says leads to success.
Leaders, specialists, instructors, or the arts in general—whatever LMAAC has, the creative edge on campus is sharp, and it showed at the concert.
“Every department participated, we only had three weeks to pull this together. All the children participate. We mainstream students with special needs into the show, many of the children are novice, but it’s their foundation courses—music foundation, theater foundation, band foundation, dance foundation—once we put them into a show, they’re not just rehearsing for a show. They’re rehearsing those skills and then they apply them to the show,” said Dr. Mark Arapostathis, who teaches theater at LMAAC. “It’s a mechanism to teach character and leadership, that’s what the main focus of our school is.”
