Blue Strut and Hypnotiq Finish the Year With a Flare

By Ray Thamthieng

If Andover were to ever experience an earthquake, it could never match the tremor of the clapping and cheering in Tang Theatre last Friday during the Hypnotiq/Blue Strut Show.

Tang Theatre filled up instantly. The collaboration of the two dance groups turned out to be one of the shows this year.

“This is one of the fiercest performances… from every group. The choreography was amazing and it was so creative and precise. They really put together an awesome show,” said Nneka Anunkor ’11.

The Hypnotiq group set the stage on fire with their opening dance, “Shots” choreographed by Caroline O’Sullivan ’10, one of the co-heads of the show.

The crowd became even wilder when twelve girls showed off their talent in “Hip-hop Community Service All-stars” choreographed by Stephanie Xu ’09, Mandisa Mjamba ’10 and Jasmine Stovall ’10.

These girls worked hard with the PA dancers to put together a routine that no...

Art 500 Goes Free-Form

By Katharine Viles

This year’s Art 500 exhibit on display in the Gelb Gallery feels entirely free-form, as if it had simply arrived in the artists’ imaginations and translated itself into a set of tangible pieces. The students in the class enjoyed proof of their own growth as artists after an intensive, yearlong course. The exhibit featured ten unique pieces, displaying everything from film to sculpture to digital comic book prints. Though the exhibit exuded a sense of effortless inspiration, the guiding hand of the Instructor in Art Therese Zemlin made it possible. Zemlin described it as a “pretty structured process, even though all the work in the show is very different and looks pretty freeform.” The students spent much of winter term preparing for their coming exhibit, which Zemlin called “the capstone of Art 500.” They attended several exhibits at various art museums and reflected on previous artwork that...

Senior Recitals: Peter Yang

By Eliana Kwartler

Often featured in Fidelio and Yorkies concerts, musicals and piano recitals, Peter Yang ’10 can readily be defined as the versatile senior musician. Yang gave the performance of a lifetime to conclude his musical career at Andover.

Yang has been playing piano since he was 5, but surprisingly, the talented singer only started singing his Upper Year.

Better known for his singing, Yang surprised some audience members by beginning his senior recital with 3 mesmerizing pieces on the piano. First, Yang played Mozart’s “Rondo K. 485 in D Major,” followed by “Hungarian Dance,” an energetic and complex duet by Johannes Brahms, which Yang played with David Lim ’12. Yang concluded the piano portion of the recital with “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin and seamlessly moved through the moody, bluesy melody and chords.

Moving on to the singing portion of his recital, Yang started again with 3 classical songs. In...

Senior Recitals: Rainer Crosett

By Paul Noh

A senior recital by Harvard-bound cellist Rainer Crosett ’10 moved students, faculty and friends to tears last Friday. The recital, similar to Crosett’s earlier recitals, demonstrated his mastery and passion for the cello. His love for performing and, in his words, “the excitement that goes along with it,” were heartwarming. J.S. Bach’s “Unaccompanied Suite for Cello No. 6, BWV 1012,” widely considered the most difficult out of all the unaccompanied suites, opened the program. Despite the virtuosity of the piece, Crosett performed it with an imperturbable calm and control. Even when he had to jump to rapidly high notes , he seemed unfazed. The “Courante,” a movement of the suite, was a graceful, running dance characterized by the running scales. Crosett played each phrase perfectly with his bow by delicately running it over the strings and gliding his fingers effortlessly over the strings. Jenny Zhou ’11 said,...

Senior Recitals: Annie Li and Nikita Saxena

By Bryan Ha

Commemorating their musical careers at Phillips Academy, Annie Li ’10 and Nikita Saxena ’10 showcased remarkable and radiant joint Senior Recital in the Timken Room of Graves Hall.

The chattering of numerous parents and students muffled as the lights turned on, hinting that the senior recital was about to begin. The two performers took turns performing their music, with Li first to perform. Li elegantly walked towards the piano on the stage and opened her recital with her first piece, ‘Prelude in E Minor, Op.28 No.4’ by Frédéric Chopin and ‘Prelude and Fugue in e minor’ by Johann Sebastian Bach. Annie highlighted the tensions between the oscillating melody and the harmony well. The exotic chromatic progressions also enveloped the audience, holding its attention for the music’s duration. The pieces that followed were ‘Sonata No.32 in b minor’ by Joseph Haydn and ‘Rhapsody in g minor, Op. 79 No.2’...

Senior Recitals: Lauren Kim and Julie Xie

By Stephanie Liu

“Music fills the infinite between two souls,” wrote Indian poet and playwright Rabindranath Tagore. The senior recital by Julie Xie ’10 and Lauren Kim ’10 in the Timken Room this past Sunday not only brought the two performers together, but also established unspoken connections with the audience through music.

The first half of the concert starred pianist Xie in a deep blue gown with a glowing effect. The audience members held their breaths as Xie began Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat Major,” the first notes stylistically experimental and tentative. Throughout the piece, Xie demonstrated her musicality by stretching and pushing the rhythm to give an improvisational, natural feel. At certain points, she would hit high notes, and her fingers would proceed to saunter down the keyboard in an effortless cascade of notes. Xie said, “My favorite piece was the Chopin Nocturne, because a week before I had...

Fanfares and Marches: Academy Band Concert

By Na Young Park

Phillips Academy’s Music Department presented a Band Concert on Sunday afternoon. The concert featured two bands: L’Insieme Di Martedi Sera and The Academy Concert Band.

The concert started with L’Insieme Di Martedi Sera, conducted by Instructor in Music Derek Jacoby. They introduced the concert with “My Bonny Lass” by Thomas Morley. The short notes and quirky melody matched well with the bright spring day.

The second piece, “Adagio Cantabile” from “Sonata Pathétique” by Ludwig van Beethoven, had a more solemn tone but was executed flawlessly. The flutists performed well on a broad range of dynamics, playing the notes softly and loudly to match the overall quality of the tune. During the piece the trombone and the clarinets played the melody beautifully. At the end, the whole band ended with a precise harmonious end that gave the piece a clean ending.

Jumping right on to the third piece, “Burma Patrol March”...

Film Festival Features Student Directors

By Ray Thamthieng

Laughter exploded from the Kemper Auditorium on Friday night as students and a few faculty members became fixated on the big screen of this year’s Film Festival. B.J. Garry ’10, the band’s lead singer, humorously welcomed the audience by asking if anyone would want to join him on stage in “expressing yourself with your body” for their opening song. This started the first waves of laughter throughout the room.

After the affable opening, the co-organizers of the festival, Natalie Cheng ’10 and Daniela Pimentel ’11, came onto stage to introduce the upcoming films.

The first film, “Love Note” by Sam Poliquin ’10 could not be any funnier. There was no one in the auditorium that did not guffaw at Poliquin’s hilarious story of misunderstanding. The short film told the story of a boy, played by Andrew Fraser ’10, bored in class who suddenly notices a girl, played by Tavie...

Asian Arts Festival

By Ray Thamthieng

Asian ‘magic’ has been on full force in celebration of the Asian Pacific American Heritage month. Following Norman Ng’s amazing show was the Asian Arts Festival on Saturday. Food Festival

In the GW mailroom, bridges of red and gold balloons led to tables full of food from different parts of Asia, from India to Burma to China. Among these tables were also educational stands set up for learning origami, playing traditional games and writing names in different languages.

After only ten minutes, the food bazaar swarmed with students, families and faculty, all eager to try as many dishes as they could. Some recipes were in such high demand that the food stands were crowded all the time that the food was never visible except on other people’s plates.

“I didn’t get to eat or look around much because our stand was so busy!” says Kiara Valdez ’12, who helped out...

African Festival

By Bryan Ha

Eager faculty members and students crowded around the open doors of Kemper Auditorium as the luscious odors of African dishes welcomed them. In the lobby were many students, grandparents and models for the fashion show who wore traditional African clothing. People eagerly grabbed pieces of hot and steamy dough filled with meat and corns, elegantly placed on the table and kept warm by the foil wrappings. Presented by the African Student Union was the second annual African Festival, with special performances by the musical guest, South African Choir. Inside the auditorium hung multicolored clothes and bold tapestries depicting the African savannah and safaris. As the MC’s, Nonye Odukwe ’10 and Dayo Adewole ’10 began to walk up to the stage, students and their grandparents scurried back to their seats fervently waiting for the show to begin. The festival launched in with a powerful performance by a special...