A Peak behind the scenes!

Just before the rain took centre stage, the Arts team and some of the Senior Leadership team had a chance to peak behind the scenes and this is what we saw.



 The Foyer/Gallery Space!

The Drama studios!

The Art Studios!

The Music Studios!

The Music Practice Rooms!

The Black Box Theatre (my personal favourite)

The spacious corridor!

The Basketball roof courts!

 (The Star of the Show) The Auditorium with the lighting and Sound Box at the far end!

I found this quote which I thought was very appropriate as not long after our walk through the dust in our new building, the rain began to fall: 


"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls"  Pablo Picasso

Thank you and see you next time!

The Auditorium takes a great leap...year!

Last week during the ADEC inspection, it was highlighted in the verbal feedback sessions, that the inspection team felt an obvious strength of the school was the creative and performing arts and they made reference to the performances held in the main piazza.

The Jazz Band  and Dance Team put on a little show at lunch time  and our esteemed guests were suitably impressed,  which was wonderful.  We know how talented they are but it is always nice to get recognition.  If this is the response we are getting now, just imagine what is to come once the Auditorium and Arts Center is open.

On another note, it was a pleasant surprise to drive past Raha at the weekend and see our Auditorium having its final coat of paint and blending in with the surroundings. During the Car Park renovations  the whole school is arriving  on the same side of the campus and therefore getting a daily glimpse of the progress of the building.  I am sure the Auditorium is enjoying being centre stage and taking a leading role in your daily drop off and pick up.

This term we have introduced new Drama ECP's for lower and upper primary and they are busy working on productions of "The Gruffalo" and "Narnia" respectively. The students and the teacher Miss Melissa are working hard but are having great fun getting the shows ready to share with parents in a couple of weeks time.


 The Theatre Make Up ECP is busy learning  skills for our upcoming performances, and here is a little example of what they are doing (SPOILER ALERT FOR THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN IN THE GRUFFALO). A Special thanks to Cora Nieberding for being our very own talented parent make-up artist!

Students have been working on the following program in the Theatrical Make-up ECP:


Theatrical & Fantasy Make-up (Basic) (Semester 2)
The basic program will start with an introduction and exploration of a variety of make-up products and techniques, including:
*  Skin colour matching under stage lights, changing of features, depth & highlight
*  Theatrical ageing
*  Wounds
*  Character & period make-up

FINALLY -

So you have had an extra day this week (Mon 29th),  I hope you  used it well (preferably doing something Arty)  and didn't waste it.  So we know we have an extra day every four years to accommodate the extra minutes and seconds accumulated over time but why do they fall in February?

Why does the extra day fall in February?

All the other months in the Julian calendar have 30 or 31 days, but February lost out to the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.

Under his predecessor Julius Caesar, February had 30 days and the month named after him - July - had 31. August had only 29 days.

When Caesar Augustus became Emperor he added two days to 'his' month to make August the same as July.

So February lost out to August in the battle of the extra days.

Sounds like a battle of Ego's and the perfect plot for a Shakespearean -esque play

A very Arty week at Raha

Our students have had a week full of events and achievements, which again has given our community reasons to be very proud.

Wild Wonders in Grade 5

The Grade 5 Students here at Raha International School have been selected to compete in the 'DSWF Schools' Global Canvas Competition 2016'. The aim of this competition is to raise awareness for wildlife and the environment. The Grade 5 students developed the following rubric:

1. Develop a detailed plan for their work (meaning)
2. Choose materials (watercolor, collage, pencil drawing)

3. Present work to their peers
4. Peer selection committee (choose work that will represent the school)

The work is currently being displayed on the second floor of the PYP building. (Mr Mark Ryan PYP Visual Arts Teacher)

Osman - 5AW  (Member of the Selection Commitee) Osman was part of a team of 12 Raha students that chose the work that was entered in the contest.

"I enjoyed sharing my opinion about the students artwork. I didn't want work to be chosen because people were friends with a particular student (artist). I chose work based on the message and meaning in the work. It was a great experience."

Meanwhile in grade 10,

27 Grade 10 Visual Arts students have been studying the Hand of Fatima as part of their Islamic studies. From their research they have trialed a number of designs and perfected these into clay low relief sculptures. Intricate details were combined with bright colours to be assembled in a wall installation. We will assemble the hands on a feature wall in the new Performing Arts complex this year. Our students  enjoyed working in this newly introduced medium and many produced a second sculpture for themselves building on their skills from this experience. (Daniela Parkinson  - DP/ MYP Visual Arts teacher)

Finally, the theatre is also getting in on the act by receiving its first coats of paint and beginning to blend in with the other buildings surrounding it. Have a look and see for yourself! The first pictures was taken on the 8th February 2016 and the second on the 19th February 2016.

Now for fact of the week!

'When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, the empty space it left on the wall attracted more visitors than the painting had'.

Quote of week - "A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not" (Leonardo Da Vinci)

International Raha

Hello Raha Community,


I thought that this week's blog should include a picture which best represents the international essence and future of the School. This is the Auditorium providing the backdrop on International Day 2016. The future holds many opportunities for the Auditorium to take a leading role in the celebrations to come.




This blog's quote has been inspired by International Day. In the words of Mark Jacobs, "I really do believe that art changes the landscape of the world".




Fact for the Day - Warner Music collected over U.S Dollar 2million in royalties in 2008 alone for public usage of "The Happy Birthday song". The original lyrics were "Good Morning to you". is this the most translated song ever written?

Raha does Shakespeare!

So it’s time for week two of our blog.  If the weeks keep flying by like this, our auditorium will be up and ready in no time. (Picture dated Jan 27th 2016)

We have had a heavy Shakespeare influence in school since writing the last blog,  with the Grade 6-9 theatre trip to Dubai to watch ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  Due to other commitments I was unable to attend but I hear it was a great production and a great benefit to the students and their English Studies.  The Great Bard’s work also popped in to the Drama Department with a visiting ‘Artist in Residence’ Lizzie Conrad Hughes from London.  She delivered a Shakespeare workshop to grade 10 -12 Drama students to enlighten them in the techniques to read, understand and perform his work.

In the words of our Head of English Andrew Tomlinson "On Wednesday, 20th January, three hundred Grade 6, 7 and 8 students ventured to Dubai to take in Shakespeare4Kidz latest production: Romeo and Juliet. As usual, the Shakespeare4Kidz team turned Shakespeare's play on its head and this was a rock n roll bonanza! Set in 1950s Verona, the cast cavorted, crooned and crazily boogied through the two-hour traffic of Shakespeare's play. It wasn't just tragedy, however, as Peter had us rolling in the aisles from start to finish!

Overall, a great day out was had by all. The students were able to experience live drama and it reinforced their understanding of the plays they are studying in English."

Elsewhere we have successfully launched new arts ECPs in PYP Drama and Cross-cultural story-telling and Drama, Zumba@kids and Yoga  as well as the continuation of the ever popular Senior Choir, Band.

The auditorium is growing day by day and is becoming an impressive sight as you drive past Raha.  It will be even more impressive once we can begin advertising the events we will be hosting.

We have had a tragic start to the year in the arts world with the sad loss of musicians David Bowie and Glenn Frey and the very talented actor Alan Rickman. They all achieved great things in their too short lives and leave us with great many memories.  So as I promised to end every blog with famous quotes, I can think of no better words to close with than those of these great artists.

“Tomorrow comes to those who can hear it coming” – David Bowie 1947 – 2016

“Acting touches nerves you have absolutely no control over”  - Alan Rickman 1946 -2016 

“If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust” – Alan Rickman 1946-2016

“I’ve read somewhere that when you’re writing you should stop while you are doing well so you always want to get back to work”   Glenn Frey 1948 – 2016

Until next time……..                  

.

Look How Far We Have Come In Such a Short Time!!!!

Laying the foundation for a great future at Raha
End of October 2015

..............And More Foundations
November 9th 2015

What more foundations? ... Well at least we know it is secure!
November 19th 2015

The only way is up
December 6th 2015

Standing Tall. You can now clearly see the Black-box theatre at the top
January 12th 2016

A Warm Welcome To The Grand Opening of the Raha Arts Blog

"Ladies and Gentleman, Girls and Boys, welcome to the Grand Opening of the Raha Arts Blog"  May I introduce myself, My name is Javier Hernandez Stalder and I am the Director of Arts for RIS.  My purpose for launching this blog is to keep you all up to date with the exciting  development which is the new school auditorium as well as weekly updates on all School Arts Activities. This blog is intended to keep you bang up to date with progress of the construction, installation of fixtures and fittings and  the program of events, for both the inauguration of the building and for the coming year.

This new building will bring a new exciting space and opportunity for new experiences within arts for the whole school from early years to the graduation ceremony for our Diploma Students. .  This blog is designed to keep your fingers on the pulse of what is to come, such as the internal and external events, workshops, recitals, concerts exhibitions and performances.  The Space will also become a regular host for  UAE cultural events and Al Raha Gardens local community events and groups out of school hours.

               

With this impressive extension to facilities with state of the art equipment we will be able to deliver full music and theatre performances with the students taking an active role in the production side of the event as well as the performing.. It will also allow us to launch a much more extensive range of ECP's to cover such activities as Theatre Make Up, Technical Theatre and Music Production. 

This blog will allow me as the Director of Arts to give you weekly updates and photos to show the advancements of the building process and to announce upcoming events and activities. Also it provides an easy link for people to post questions, queries and suggestions.  Should any of our readers which to contact me please email me at Jstalder@ris.ae

One final point before I sign off until next time.  As this auditorium is located in an educational establishment I thought this blog would be a good opportunity to educate you each week with a little fact from the arts world. So here is quote number one.

#1  So bye for now and remember "All the world's a stage and all the men and women are merely players. They have their exits and their entrances" William Shakespeare