On October 4, the Ross School community “Traveled the World” with Youth in Arts!
All 376 students at Ross were able to experience one of our unique “Passport Art Events,” experiencing visual and performing art forms from multiple continents as they moved class by class through Africa, South America, North America and Asia.
Students sang and stepped to the beat of Africa through Ghanaian dance-drumming classes led by Mentor Artists Joti Singh and Mory Fofana.
Mentor Artists Francy Vidal and Edmund Badoux sang and played music from the Andes region of South America, and students “oohed” and “ahhed” over the array of distinctive instruments. The children were stunned by the long horn that Edmund played and amazed to see reed instruments made out of a feather.
Mentor Artist June Li taught students to paint bamboo stalks and a panda using traditional Chinese rice paper and bamboo brushes. Assistant Artist Justine Delfino was a great help in showing students the proper way to hold their brush. June was thrilled to take a group photo to send to her family in Taiwan and show how she was passing on the traditions of her homeland.
Mentor Artists Suzanne Joyal and Sophie Cooper led Guatemalan kite making. Sophie spoke of her experiences living in Guatemala, and then students worked in pairs to create individual mosaic paper triangles, which were adhered to white silk and attached to 12-foot long bamboo poles. The final product, “A Community Kite Honoring the Ancestors,” is on display at the school.
The entire school community joined together right after lunch for a massive dance party led by Joti Singh’s Duniya Dance company. “This is better then a flash mob,” said Superintendent Chi Kim. One enthusiastic student exclaimed to Superintendent Kim, “Let’s do it again next week!”
“Well, we can work on it for next year!” replied the Superintendent. Youth in Arts is proud to bring the arts of the world to the local schools through our “Passport Events” and all our “Travel the World” programs.