Arts

webbtodayARTS

THE WEBB SCHOOLS

Winter Dance Show Celebrates Webb’s Centennial with Alumni Support

Webb presented its Winter Dance Show 2022 on February 4 and 5 on the steps of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.

Entitled “Centum,” in honor of Webb’s Centennial Celebration, the show choreographically referenced hallmarks of Webb’s history, mission and unbounded philosophy. Using contemporary dance influence, the show thematically explored past, present and future, considering the nature of perspective and progress.

This year’s show featured music from Webb alumni Felicity Doyle ’04, Summer Swee-Singh ’07, Jarel Hill ’08, Nathan Turczan ’09, Ben Davis ’11 and Drew Hersch ’19, movement video from Andrew Waas ’92, Bailey Scherer ’16 and Christina Dong ’18, as well as text from students Madeline Lilley ’22, Nicholas Lee ’22 and Hunter Lange ’22.

Webb’s dance program is led by Dean of Faculty Michael Szanyi.

“I was interested in doing something that celebrated this historic moment in Webb’s history, as well as more broadly considering the nature of memory and reflection and the passage of time and how that can be a springboard for new perspective and new opportunities and new futures,” Szanyi said.

“I wanted to incorporate many aspects of Webb. So choreographically, there were phrases and pieces that use the mission statement and there was a section where you can see the chapel and museum being built.”

Szanyi included alumni to honor their part in getting Webb to this moment.

“I reached out to several of them and had wonderful conversations about dance and art and music and they all shared pieces that we could use for the show,” he said. “In some cases, I choreographed to their music — trying to both listen to what the music was telling me, as well as considering how it would fit into the larger narrative we were creating. And, in some cases, senior dance students got to choreograph the music. This was a real treat!”

Scan to watch the show.

webbtodayARTS

THE WEBB SCHOOLS

Webb Dives into ‘Sense and Sensibility’

Webb staged a fast and witty adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility” in November 2021 based on Kate Hamill’s highly praised take on the Jane Austen novel.

In this version, Austen’s well-loved characters move through the story at a brisk pace – scenes merge and meld into one another as each actor assumes several different roles within the play, often within the same scene! All the set pieces were on wheels, which allowed Webb’s actors to move in moments between between the drawing room, leafy woods and a dinner party.

Scan to watch the play on YouTube.

Students Provide Holiday Classics at Candlelight Concert

Set on Centennial Field, Webb’s annual Candlelight Concert in December 2021 offered a program of holiday music classics performed by students in the sinfonia class, which includes strings, woodwinds and percussion ensembles, as well as the Honors Chamber Singers. Numbers included “Let It Snow,” Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, the first movement of Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major, K. 138, “Maharaja,” “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies,” “Greensleeves,” “Carol of the Bells,” “The Ash Grove,” “Ó Meu Menino,” “The Holly and the Ivy,” “Sweeter Still,” a mashup of the Twelve Days of Christmas, selections of classical favorites and a medley of tunes from recent Pixar films.

Scan to watch the concert on YouTube.