Art for Charity showcases students’ musical and dance talents
The Art for Charity (AFC) concert took place at Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre (SHCAT) on Saturday, December 2nd. The performers and volunteers from SMIC arrived early in the morning to prepare, and there were people practicing even in the afternoon, when the parents and other audience started to come in.
AFC consisted of two parts: performances and auction. The first are the astonishing performances, presented by students from kindergarten all the way up to high school. Olivia Lu (11C), who presented a group dance with the song “Team”, shared about her performance, “We chose the song because we liked the dance choreography. It’s a coincidence that the song name is “Team” and that we like dancing together as a team [as well].” Sydney Lin (12C) who was also part of Olivia’s dance crew commented on her takeaway of the event, “This is not my first time performing for AFC, but it’s just amazing to see so many people and it makes me feel like I’m a professional performer. The best part [of the event] would have to be our dance performance where my fluffy, white earrings flew off but I kept dancing while trying to avoid stepping on it.”
“There was a clarinet solo by a really young boy. The song was a really complicated music piece, but he really made the music come alive. His performance was professionally performed.” Olivia complimented other performances she enjoyed watching. “There was [also] a little boy who solo [performed] a K-Pop dance. That’s also surprising for me because he’s really young, [yet] he performed alone. [That takes] a lot of courage!”
Indeed, there were a lot of stirring performances that continued to entertain the audience. For example, there was another amusing dance performed by Katherine Liu (10A) and Kaiyi Mok (12C) named “无脚鸟 (Birds Without Feet)” that symbolized “a kind of spirit: even without their feet, the birds won’t give up flying; they strive and lay siege to their dream.” Katherine explained the message she conveyed in her dance, “This is also the spirit of those children in need – illness and poverty never stop their journey of seeking knowledge.”
Many instrumental ensembles played a big role in the event. Ms. Jeannie Hooi‘s Chamber team staged five orchestral songs, from J.S. Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue” to Henry Purcell’s “Rondeau from ‘Abdelazer.” The team was joined by violinists, cellists, flutists, and oboists from Middle and High school. June Choi (9C), one of the violinists of the team, said, “We did great, and I feel proud of representing the Chamber group. Personally, I gained a valuable experience by going onstage and performing in front of a large group of audience.”
Besides the performances, AFC auction took place during the half time break as a AFC tradition. This year 510,000 RMB was earned, a great improvement compared to last year’s earn of 40,000.
From performances to auction, AFC was a success. In response, Olivia said, “I really like this program because it provides everyone an opportunity to show their skills and perform for charity at the same time.” Katherine also added, “This is an amazing activity for us to share our love. It helps us understand that we can always offer our help to those in need.” In regards to the amazing students who put in a great deal of efforts into the event, Mr. Sean Rooney, who volunteered at AFC, wished a “Congratulations to [the performers] and everyone else who helped us to put this enormous process together, and a big thank you to all of the donors!”
Featured Image – Courtesy of Angela Dai