On 9 May, our Grade 9 and 10 students presented the 2019 MYP Arts Showcase, ‘Our Future?’, to the school community at the Preston Campus Drama black box. The showcase was an interactive experience that used Drama, Art, Music and Fashion Design to explore the ideas of consumerism, consumption, human ingenuity, and scientific advancements, which left audiences thinking “what have we done? and “what can I do now?”
The opening drama performance, inspired by Roger Mcgough’s poem, ‘The Lake’, depicted a future world which was destroyed by pollution. The poem serves as a warning for mankind to take action or risk facing the negative consequences brought about by our own actions. The second performance, titled “Let’s Create Our Future”, was a dramatised version of the poem that the Drama students personally wrote, which expressed their hopes for the future. These students projected their lines with conviction, urging the audience to be reflective and responsible for the environment that we live in, together with nature, and to strive for a better, sustainable future.
The Design students put up a sustainable fashion show, which showcased their very own fashion pieces created with repurposed and reused trashed materials. This fashion design unit weaved in concepts of sustainability, creativity and life skills, while demonstrating the students’ design abilities. The fashion creations were brought alive by the student-models who strutted down the sustainable fashion runway, stealing the show with their confidence.
“The main takeaway for students is related to how the reuse of trashed materials can render beautiful creative pieces that can be enjoyed by audiences. They should also gain the confidence of repurposing and reusing unwanted materials in new, innovative ways in their daily lives. I think the range of designs this year is very wide, with a strong focus on designing for the female body. The variety of colours is visually satisfying and the students are very passionate about creating the best designs possible” – Ms Patricia Vlad, Mathematics and Design Teacher
Our Music students created original compositions as the ambient music and soundscape to support the theme of the showcase, ‘Our Future?’. With the imaginative and futuristic sounds, these compositions accentuated the imagery portrayed by the Drama students, strengthening and echoing their voices of the need of a sustainable future.
Visual Art students decorated the venue of the showcase with their artwork, which were inspired by nature. With a mixture of observational drawing, cyanotypes and photocopies, these artworks supported the Drama performances by presenting ‘artificial nature’ to the audience, provoking the thoughts of living in a future where nature is no longer as we know it now.
The MYP Arts Showcase was an interactive experience, whereby the audience were invited to share their views of what their hopes for the future are like, and commit to sustainable pledges that serve as a reminder for them to take action in order to build a sustainable future. Our Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Design students were risk-takers as they put up innovative and creative performances that got the audience thinking of their impact on the world that we live in. A big thank you to Ms. Larue, Ms. Missen, Ms. Vlad and Mr. Hoddinott for guiding and supporting our MYP students in expressing their ideas in their own creative ways!
