On September 21 and 22nd of 2023, Cypress’ Choir, Band, Theater, Advanced Dance, and Visual Arts gathered on the Centurion Stage at 7 PM for Evening of the Arts. Guests embarked on the evening with the food provided by the culinary students in the Media Center at 5:30 PM. This year’s overall theme was Set the Stage.
The event started with dinner from the culinary classes. Students were given the task of creating bread rolls and pasta to give out to the people attending the show. Students were tasked to create a yeast mixture–including yeast, sugar, and salt; which would eventually come together to produce a blend that would later be added to flour–which would create the dough. Along with the main courses, students served desserts like cake to guests as well. Junior, Nathaly Granillo said, “Honestly the culinary group in general is actually a lot of fun–I’m pretty sure a lot of groups here in Cypress to are really fun, but for me, it’s just enjoyable–because it’s me socializing with other people that know how to cook or bake.”
Once dinner was over, guests made their way to the Centurion Theater where songs from many famous movies and musicals were enacted throughout the show. The concept was brought up years ago when Choir teacher Mrs. Jones constructed the idea of bringing together all the VAPA classes for one grand show after it being a “talent show” over the past years. In this year’s show, movies, and musicals ranging from Annie to La La Land were performed by High Voltage. One of the many highlights that High Voltage had was their performance of Come Alive from the hit movie The Greatest Showman. Junior, Alto Section Leader and Stage Manager–Megan Na shared, “I like the choreography, I like the song, and I think it’s the most fun,” when being asked about the act.
With an amazing show comes immense rehearsals. Junior, Ronit Patel pointed out “The first time we did a dress rehearsal it was like–kind of all over the place, it helped us figure out what to do for the actual show.” Students would be told to show up from the end of school to 6 PM–just for dress rehearsal with other classes. Although there were times when rehearsal would be tiring, there would be some memorable moments that came along with the show. Sophomore, Flutist–Vincent Hanafi said, “It was a thing that choir made up, but basically we had a little chant going, and it said–‘Ain’t no party like a VAPA party cause the VAPA party don’t stop.’”
Apart from the performances given by the school’s choir classes, performances from Advanced Dance were another focal point of the show. Alongside the opening and closing dances with Choir and Advanced Theater–they had one of their own. With one of the most well-acclaimed movies present day–Barbie made its way to the stage. With the amazing performance from Advanced Dance, some would be surprised once they found out that the class’ very own students assisted with the dance itself. Advanced Dance teacher–Mrs. Fenton said, “It was the student choreography–I choreographed just the beginning and the end, and then each group choreographed their own.” For a month, dancers were told to work together to construct a dance that would be performed later in September. Students used their own ideas to compose a unique dance that suited their preferences.
Cypress band performances included How to Train Your Dragon, Disney Medley, and Disney Drio, which certainly blew the audience away. The medley for How to Train Your Dragon took about two weeks to learn. Band students who were performing were allowed to practice in class while the rest of the class worked on other pieces at the time.
The rest of the VAPA performances were done by theater. There were monologues ranging from Barbie to Hamilton that were performed throughout the night. With only a month to prepare for the production, theater students got working on their roles. Auditions were arranged, lines were memorized, and props were made. Sophomore Natalie Uy who played the character Mia in the show’s monologue from the movie La La Land said, “I feel like that monologue was so fitting for VAPA because she (Mia) was talking about pursuing your dreams and going into the arts…it gets frustrating sometimes when you feel like there’s no fruit coming out what you put everything into, and I feel like that really embodies, kind of what VAPA is for–to show kids that they can pursue a career in the arts but it’s not easy, unless you go after it.”
Despite the fact that the Arts class had very little input on the performances, they had a major impression of the designs in the lobby. Artwork from both Mr. Geerdes’, Mr. Meza’s, and Mr. Johnson’s students were placed out in the lobby of the Centurion Theater. Students in Geerdes’ class were given the opportunity to present their artwork in the lobby where audience members entering the theater could view and admire the creative compressions hung up on the wall. VAPA teacher, Mr. Geerdes said, “I think the event is just phenomenal, I like that we could have events where the performing and the visual arts–both theater and dance–everyone gets to be involved in a single event so–I think it’s important to have and any opportunity to showcase student work…”
The show concluded with the three performing classes presenting their final act with You Can’t Stop the Beat from the musical Hairspray where students from all the performing classes came together on stage.
Dance’s next performance will be on November 16th in Kennedy High School’s Theater. Theater will have their next performance on November 30th, 2023. Choir’s next performance will be on December 15th, 2023 at 7:00 PM in the Centurion Theater.
