Highlights of the 2009 UCSCA Program
The Upper Chesapeake Summer Center for the Arts (UCSCA) continued to advance in its mission to provide a comprehensive and life-changing summer experience in the Arts. Each staff member, guest artist, and enrichment performer strived to provide the best instructional and residential program possible—succeeding to advance well beyond the respective arts experience that students experience in their respective school programs.
The curricular design, focus on technology, expanded inter-arts collaboration, and caliber of creativity projects provided a challenge for students to take their work to the next level of rigor. The theme “Creating Our Own World Now” provided a focus for creativity groups and each art discipline. Students utilized the Creative Process (Problem-Based Learning) to create an interdisciplinary art form that reflected the theme. Dancers, digital artists, musicians, actors, authors, and visual artists worked on collaborative projects that stepped outside of convention to develop superb works of art.
Two end-of-week performances were presented to fellow students and parents highlighting progress made during the week. On Friday afternoon, creativity groups performed their final works for critique. Three groups representing each age level were selected as the outstanding groups to perform for parents. On Saturday morning, parents arrived in time for a farewell brunch with their children that was followed immediately by the art show/chamber music performance at Larrabee Hall. The final gala performance was held under a large big-top tent in front of the new Tawes Hall Fine Arts facility. Each discipline presented performances of their significant works of the week. Theatre students presented a series of monologues representing a variety of characters and theatrical styles. Dance students presented several originally choreographed dance styles, including modern, hip-hop, jazz, and classical ballet. Vocal and Instrumental students performed a diverse program of serious, popular, and jazz compositions. The performance concluded with a collaborative performance which included orchestra, chorus, and dancers.
Students, parents, and UCSCA staff were more than gratified with our 2009 UCSCA Program. Numerous individuals have corresponded with us regarding the quality of program, level of student excitement, and the camaraderie displayed by everyone. Both quantitative and qualitative data support the continuous improvements that this program makes every year in every way. The level of commitment shown by everyone demonstrates that it truly is a life-changing experience for students and staff.
Instructional Discipline Reports
Chorus Summary – Jeffrey Anderson, Teacher
This summer the choral program really shined. I had many returning experienced choral singers and was able to do some more advanced choral repertoire. Most of the students that I had were also All State choral students in Maryland and Delaware, so the learning curve was very high and their solo-singing skills were also very high. It was a joy to see the students that I started three years ago grow into great young, up and coming musicians.
Again this summer, we were privileged to have Dr. Emily Bullock, Head of Vocal/Opera Studies at West Chester University, come and work with each student in a vocal master class. The students again received her with great intent and willingness to expand their performance skills, as well as their vocal skills. I also had the honor to accompany Dr. Bullock in an evening recital for the entire camp, which was a great experience for the students and staff. I believe that next summer may be a growing year as many of the students are now graduating and pursuing a degree in music performance. New talent and new dreams await me in the next couple of summers.
Dance Summary - Danielle Strange, Teacher
The curriculum for the 2009 UCSCA summer program in dance was developed based on a variety of different technique abilities that the students were coming into the program with. The focus this year was to develop a basis for all the students’ technical needs, as well as develop their choreographic style.
The students were given a rigorous technique class each morning in ballet or modern. They spent each afternoon studying different choreography styles and techniques, as well as working on choreography for the final performance. Throughout the week, the students’ progress and growth in their technique was evident. They were challenged each day to push their bodies to success and to become a better dancer.
Along with the dance styles and choreography, the students also spent time learning about nutrition for dancers and proper stretching techniques. They also spent one afternoon with the theater specialist, Leigh Catterton, working on facial expressions and acting skills for dancers. These skills were clearly important for the young dancers to understand the importance of expression while dancing and performing.
This year, the dance students also had a wonderful opportunity to work with The Collective, a modern dance company based out of Baltimore, MD. This was an excellent opportunity for the dancers to work one on one with company members on technique and improvisation skills to aide in their choreography.
The final performance was the culminating event to an excellent week. Three pieces of work, a short excerpt from the ballet Paquita as well as modern and hip hop pieces, were performed. Each student throughout the week grew as a dancer and a performer. They each made an impact on the UCSCA dance program and the success for its future years.
Digital Arts Summary – Robert Miller, Teacher
This year, students of the UCSCA Digital Arts program were encouraged to think about and develop an individual style within their digital artworks. This was accomplished through further development of their Photoshop skills from the previous year. Students also focused in on the presentation of their work for not only the gallery wall, but also the web. Students were introduced to new software that allowed them to create websites/digital portfolios.
With Dreamweaver, students were introduced to the foundation for design, programming languages, software applications, and project management. Students were not able to complete their websites/digital portfolio due to time constraints; however, the foundation was laid for an alternative means for presenting the final artworks.
Literary Arts Summary – Simon Drew, Teacher
The 2009 UCSCA Creative Writing discipline focused on both poetry and creative non-fiction. Using meta cognitive writing prompts as bases for narratives, students worked on the finer points of narration, pacing, style, figurative language, topic and character development, and developing themes within their non-fiction pieces. Topics included social catharses, family-based epiphanies, setbacks and failures, and unexpected successes that led to a re-examination of schema and perspective. In addition, students also worked on poems and shorter fiction pieces already in progress, learning poetic phrasing, pausing and line breaks, fulcra, metrical and free verse, sestinas, extended metaphors, and sense of place poems using the Chestertown docks and waterfront as a basis for exploring the nuances of place. This summer we established a relationship with the Literary House Press and will produce a student publication in collaboration with the Press in the summer of 2010.
Orchestra Summary – Dr. Keith Wharton, Teacher
The students in the orchestra program of UCSCA worked on three distinct productions throughout the week. The first production was the completion of large group instruction material in preparation for the final performance. Selections used for this instructional task were The Marriage of Figaro-Mozart, Galop-Offenbach, Danse Infernale-Stravinsky, Soliloquy-McBrien, and Let There Be Peace on Earth-Miller. These selections were chosen for both harmonic and rhythmic structure development.
The second facet of the instrumental program was small ensemble development. Many students have not had the opportunity to develop their musicianship and leadership skills in a small ensemble setting. This part of our program aids in student development by having them select a musical piece and then conduct their own rehearsals with a minimum of outside oversight. In this manner, the students can develop rehearsal techniques.
The final component of our summer program was the development of a small group creativity project whereby each group had to create a musical selection for a one-minute radio commercial. The group needed to use the available instrumentation and compose the piece, as well as record themselves performing the piece. This recording was then relayed to the literary arts students who wrote the commercial dialogue. The finished dialogue was sent to the theatre students who completed the voice-over for the recording, which was mixed down to the final stereo track. All students were exposed to the final mix of each of the eight commercials and provided an opportunity to critique each group.
Theatre Summary – Leigh Catterton, Teacher
The goals presented in the Theatre Program at UCSCA 2009 were to explore “classic” American Playwrights (Eugene O’Neill’s one act “The Rope,” Susan Glaspell’s comedy Suppressed Desires, Tennessee Williams’ one act “This Property’s Condemned,” and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men), method acting according to Lee Strasberg, and student playwriting and monologue performances. The instructor set out to encourage students to find commonalities among the playwrights’ topics and link them to Sigmund Freud’s philosophy of “psychological drama.” Students were given historical background for theatre being performed at this time in American history. Students spent a significant amount of time on Strasberg’s method, using sensory activities as well as movement activities.
As a collaboration activity, theatre students worked with the orchestra and literary arts on radio commercials for various products. Students were taught various methods for using voice for radio. Students produced a recording on compact disc, featuring their culminating efforts.
Additionally, theatre students worked on playwriting with short script-building activities. Students worked in trios, exchanging the role of playwright with performer. At the end of the session, theatre students presented their work for an audience of their peers.
Students ended the summer session with a final program involving all the disciplines. Theatre students presented monologues, an improvisation activity, and a dance, featuring an element of Lee Strasberg’s method-acting technique.
Visual Arts Summary –Stephanie Spencer, Art Teacher
As I stated in the motivation for my first lesson for UCSCA 2009, “In the most basic sense, an artist is a creator and communicator.” This statement, coupled with the theme, “Creating Our World Now,” provided the principal objective and ultimate outcome for the visual art students this year. I designed my lessons to challenge my students to explore nontraditional approaches to art, to investigate and reflect on their own personal artistic voice, and to examine how artists can influence the world around them.
The week began with a teacher-directed drawing experience to establish the expectation of personal interpretation in the creation of artwork. Also introduced during the first session was the Found Artist Card experiment, which required students to create small, positive artworks on a daily basis. After critiquing and digitally recording the artist cards, students were charged with hiding their cards on campus with the intent of spreading positive sentiments to others. This experiment also reinforced to students that artwork is not precious and should not be hidden away, but needs to be publicly presented so it may serve in enhancing our world.
As the week progressed, students were challenged daily to grow not only artistically, but as an individual. The “Life’s Deal” lesson, which was based on the work of artist Hollis Sigler, became a metaphor for the hand that life deals us. Each student was challenged to transform a collaboratively created collage into a cohesive composition that combined the concept of a playing card with personal imagery. This experience proved to be a difficult concept for some of the students, but all were ultimately successful in transforming an unforeseen situation, the collage, into an individualized artistic expression. In other lessons, students were encouraged to explore nontraditional materials and approaches to art, including trash to treasure personal boxes inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell and self-portraits based on a blotted ink technique used by Andy Warhol. Additionally, students visited the theatre and dance students to examine facial expression and body language, and to take digital photos to use in the creation of expressive portraits.
The week culminated in a gallery showing of the students’ artwork and included a digital slide show of their Artist Cards. The show successfully displayed the individualized creations of the visual art students and demonstrated the incredible growth in artistic skills, personal voice, and confidence achieved during the week. Not only were the students impressed with their own personal growth and the achievements of their fellow artists, but the response from parents was overwhelmingly positive.
Residential Life Summary - Bridget Cavaiola, Residential Life Director
This year was another successful year at UCSCA with a warm, dedicated staff of counselors ensuring the safety, well-being, and most definitely the creativity of our students. Our students thrived in a creative environment; and along with dedicating themselves to their discipline, they also were able to develop their individual talents and social skills, most certainly seen through our program-wide Talent Show and dance at the end of the week. Along with experiencing dorm life throughout the week, our students were divided into Creativity groups whose mission it was to determine, how can we CREATE OUR WORLD NOW? Students worked in small groups developing projects incorporating the artistic disciplines and succeeded in developing concepts for how to incorporate their artistic and leadership talents into problem-solving and achieving goals in our society. Students worked through the various stages of group development and were mentored by the counseling staff through problem-solving techniques. The students participated in team-building activities that enabled them to become more socially aware, both on a personal level and on a level with their peers. Our counseling staff was able to provide a safe environment in which the students were able to confront and succeed in solving problems.
Along with dorm and creativity life, our students also were exposed to a variety of enrichment activities throughout the week. Our first full night of the program, we invited a modern and experimental dance troupe, The Collective, to present a workshop to the dance students, as well as perform for the entire camp. This was great exposure to a discipline that perhaps not every student has had the chance to see live. We had a wonderful presentation in which a husband and wife, who reenact traditional American Colonial music, came in full dress and allowed the students to not only hear what the sounds of Colonial instruments were, but also to play them and gain some hands-on experience. Our students helped to organize and facilitate a Literary Coffee House where both campers and staff performed music and spoken word. A treat would include a staff/student jazz band on the deck of the Rose O’Neill Literary House. Additionally, that same evening, the students were given a choice to attend a mural painting workshop or a monologue workshop with additional staff. On Wednesday, our chorus students were treated to a master vocal class with Dr. Emily Bullock, who also performed a night of Sondheim for the entire program during the evening. All of these enrichment activities allowed our staff and students to collaborate and share the variety of talent going throughout the program.