A Year 7 drama student at the
MAD show.
Mark Beales
Photos by Ritche Guisona
Garden International School (GIS) has gone MAD.
The school’s Music, Art and Drama (MAD) made a return recently and proved
massively popular with a sell-out audience attending.
On March 27, stunning artwork was displayed, while the new-look hall then
staged performances from the school’s young collection of musicians and
actors.
The choir perform ‘Happy’.
Before the show began, parents, teachers and students
mingled in one half of the hall, which displayed IB art work from D’Lisa and
IGCSE Design and Technology creations. Teachers were also on hand to serve
wine and soft drinks. Guests were then shown to their tables, where some
specially-created snacks had been laid on.
The evening’s performances started with some tribal drumming from Teng,
Sony, Pune, Akihiro and Gorn, followed by the choir singing ‘Happy’. The
Year 10 girls took to the stage to perform ‘Royals’ and then the IGCSE boys
sang ‘Sunshine of Your Life’ before Praw staged a superb monologue from
‘Gossip’.
Guitar heroes at the MAD
evening.
The first half also featured Year 9 music and drama, a
duologue from Mary and Shaniya based on ‘Two Sisters in a Frosty Situation’,
while Hyojung played ‘Waterfall’ on the piano. Matt impressed with a
monologue from ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the IB1 band played
‘Funk My Life’ and Maria ended the first half with a monologue based on
‘Chocolate Heaven’.
After a short break, during which some rock bands played, the orchestra
played ‘Entry of the Gladiators’, which was followed by GeeGee’s monologue
from ‘The Witches’. The flute group played Dixieland, after which Gear and
Henry staged a hilarious duologue from ‘Macbeth on the Loose’. After the
Year 9 girls sang ‘Bonfire Heart’ and Matt and Nutt did a duologue from
‘Blood Brothers’, Gear returned to the stage to end the evening with Puck’s
famous soliloquy from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
Check out a video of all the show’s acts by going to www.gardenrayong.com
and clicking on the Media link at the top.
IB students also took the
chance to sing.
A Year 10 student performs a
great scene from ‘Gossip’.
A scene from ‘The Witches’.
A scene from ‘Macbeth on the
Loose’.
IB students displayed creative
artwork throughout the evening.
Two sisters get in a frosty
situation.
A Year 10 student helps out
the band with his cello.
Design and Technology work was
displayed at the MAD show.
Students performing their improvisational skits.
Chris Parsons, Head of Primary Drama
St. Andrews International School, Green Valley hosted its third annual St.
Andrews Student Spotlight (SASS) Drama Festival on Saturday, March 22nd at their
Sathorn campus in Bangkok.
The SASS Drama Festival was created to heighten awareness and interest in
theater education and to highlight student excellence in this curricular area.
SASS Event Founder and Chair Christopher Parsons further explains:
“Participation in this event allows students and teachers to utilize their
talents and challenge themselves to integrate the performing arts into a
hands-on learning experience that will stimulate imaginations and encourage the
skillful art of risk-taking.”
Students show imaginative
improvisation skills.
Five Primary Schools took place in this year’s festival: St.
Andrews International School, Green Valley, St. Andrews International School,
Sathorn, St. Andrews International School, Samakee, St. Andrews International
School, 107 and Bangkok Pattana School.
The daylong event consisted of two main parts: drama workshops and a
improvisation drama competition. Workshop topics covered many aspects of the
stage, such as character development, improvisation techniques, magic illusions,
voice projection/annunciation, musical theater and voice training.
Each school was given a themed topic and was responsible for creating and
rehearsing a short improvisational skit (10 minutes in length) and were judged
on various different criteria including (but not limited to) creativity, vocal
prowess and character development.
The winning team from St. Andrews,
Green Valley, having fun performing their skit.
In the end, St. Andrews School, Green Valley took home many
of the honors winning the much-coveted first place trophy for best over-all skit
as well as Best Male and Female Actors.
The concept behind this festival is noteworthy - it allows students and teachers
to utilize their talents and challenge themselves to integrate the performing
arts into a hands-on learning experience that will stimulate imaginations and
encourage the skillful art of risk-taking. Bravo SASS Drama Festival!
All girls dance troupe performing
a contemporary dance routine.
Emma McNamara
Russians are becoming an obvious fixture in the community of Pattaya. No matter
which soi you turn down or small shop you enter, you are likely to hear at least
a few words of Russian being spoken. Thai people are always eager to share their
music, food and culture with their Russian friends. On Friday, we were able to
once again get a glimpse into Russian culture.
Young
Siberian dancer in traditional costume.
Our World Cultural & Educational Center, based in the eastern Russian city of
Vladivostok, hosted a Russian cultural show on 28th March at the Father Ray
Foundation on Sukhumvit Road. This was the third time in a year and a half that
Russian talent was on display in Pattaya.
Children’s groups from all over Russia once again descended, bringing a little
taste of Russia with them. Russian culture is as unique and distinctly regional
as Thai culture. Each performer brought their own unique talent and flair.
Performances included traditional dancing, singing and some major acrobatic
routines. Participants ranged in age from 3 to 17 years old, all with enormous
talent for their age.
Children from all of Father Ray Foundation projects came to enjoy the show and
meet others their age from a different country. The look of astonishment and
disbelief on some of our youngsters faces when they saw the acrobatic talent on
display was hilarious. Many of our young girls proceeded to see just how
difficult it was to try to do the splits.
The night was a huge success, drawing much attention to the friendship between
Thailand and Russia. Alexander from Our World Cultural & Educational Center
looks to the future of this semi-annual event with great optimism. “The hope is
to makes this event bigger every time. Bring in groups from all over and
represent many countries and cultures.”
Father Ray Foundation and our children look forward to the next time we can be
under the Russian fever spell. And next time we will be ready with our own set
of performances.
For more information please contact Alexander, ‘Our World Cultural & Educational
Center’ at [email protected]
Fr. Peter Pattarapong with
Alexander from ‘Our World Cultural & Educational Center’.
Children from Russia and Thailand,
finding common ground in song and dance.