Unleash Your Creative Potential

The Music department fosters musical development within each individual student. We seek to develop highly motivated musicians who want to pursue excellence and life-long learning, regardless of their decision to pursue music as a profession. The Music department at the Center for Performing and Fine Arts provides students with an academically rich music environment with opportunities for personal growth, musical interaction, and community service.

The rigorous training in the Music department includes vocal as well as instrumental music classes in small ensemble settings. Students are invited to take classes in vocal musicianship, technique and performance; piano keyboard; wind and brass instruments such as clarinet, flute, oboe, sax, trumpet, etc.; string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, etc.; acoustic guitar; digital music composition; and advanced AP music theory.

Students learn to utilize the principles of effective practice techniques, care of instruments, healthy development of vocal chords, and musicianship. All students learn to read music and enhance their sight-reading skills. Ear training is an important component to the multi-faceted curriculum. Theory is incorporated into all classes.

The Dance program at the Center for Performing and Fine Arts combines rigorous dance training with a sound approach to dance education that not only focuses on “how” to dance, but also the role dance plays in our lives. Experienced and novice dancers are provided with the opportunity to study many dance forms including, but not limited to: ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and musical theatre. A sound relationship between kinesiology, dance history, technical training and the creative and aesthetic activities inherent in dance training are present in each course. Courses are offered with a keen awareness of developmentally appropriate material in relation to the physiological and social/emotional development of the students.

The objective of the Dance program is to educate students with a strong foundation in dance and artistry that will allow students to move with confidence and creativity in their chosen fields and everyday lives.

The Dance department values:

• Dance as a source of artistry, education, and expression
• Consistent and sequential instruction that is paramount to successful technique
• The creative process inherent in dance that is present in other disciplines
• Connections between dance and other subjects help students develop the ability to navigate change in their lives and society
• Professionalism, work ethic, creative expression and problem-solving

The unique and multi-layered Theatre curriculum has been designed to offer a graduated, comprehensive training program for actors, writers, theatre technicians, producers, and directors.

We begin with rigorous training in the technical aspects of acting – stage movement, voice and physicality, character study and motivation, emotional range, and the tools of effective communication. Self-expression is a keystone of human existence, and theatrical training enables individuals to communicate effectively in any setting – from a stage to a boardroom. As students hone their technical skills, our pre-professional training allows them to build and expand their individual repertoires, to develop pieces that are fascinatingly complex yet show a broad range of ability, and to explore relational acting as well as the tools of improvisation and experimental theatre.

Students will work on serious audition preparation, including assembling a portfolio body of work and acting resumes. We work very diligently to help place students in highly reputable acting conservatories, university programs, and colleges.

Students study different styles and methods of acting that have been developed from the earliest Greek plays through the major acting schools of the latter 20th century and beyond. Students also explore contemporary trends as they consider the future of theatre as an art form.

The theatre department produces five main stage shows a year – two in middle school, and three in high school. Special acting and musical theatre performances throughout the year round out the program. The final production each year is an original murder mystery comedy, written specifically for theatre students to incorporate the quirks and accomplishments of their engaging personalities. Each murder mystery comedy is set in a different decade or era of history.

The Fine Arts curriculum is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in traditional skill-building and technique, as well as the means by which to think visually and respond to art. Students are introduced to a wide variety of media, styles and techniques, as well as the key principles of design and composition. Advanced level students build upon this foundation and are encouraged to develop their personal expression through conceptual exploration and experimentation.

Fine Arts classes offer an exciting immersion into the world of art. Class sizes remain small in order to facilitate individual attention. Instructors spend the majority of their studio time moving from student to student, offering advice, posing questions, demonstrating techniques and showcasing relevant artists for inspiration. Demonstrations, critiques, discussions, gallery and museum visits, slide lectures and guest critics all contribute to the development of the student as an artist. Students acquire a comprehensive understanding of both the elements that compose artworks and the ideas that make them meaningful. The sketchbook is a key component to each of our courses, where students explore and expand on ideas, reflect on personal experiences and analyze works by inspired artists. These books document the students’ growth, thought processes, and experimentation.

Periodically throughout the year, we mount professionally curated exhibitions of student work.