Course Descriptions
All visual & performing arts students take one of the following seminars which meets weekday afternoons.
SV-01 R.E.S.T. (Reimagining Ethnic Sterotypes in Theatre)
Taught by Adanma Onyedike
Suzan Lori-Parks is a playwright who re-imagines American history through a theatrical format. Parks won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 for the play Topdog/Underdog. We will read the play and create our own artistic expression based on the work. Artistic expressions may include all forms of visual art and music. Let s chill out, read a play, and make some art!
SV-02 I Like to Move It, Move It!!
Taught by Alexandra Caldwell
Ever listen to the radio and feel the need to bop your head or tap your foot? Rhythm naturally presents itself in our bodies through movement. Learn how to create rhythms and more importantly identify the natural rhythms of speech, everyday sounds, natural body rhythm, and present them physically through the use of games, exercises and improvisations! Note: This is NOT a dance class.
SV-03 Unleashing the Creative Practice
Taught by Belinda Haikes
How do we unlock creativity? How are connections made? How is drawing and collaging like thinking? Using Lynda Berry s What It Is as a base, we will utilize the journal process to synthesize and expand connections. Using narrative, image, and found materials, we will construct a journal that reflects our experiences at Governor s School.
SV-04 Meditation
Taught by Bryan Hooten
This seminar will explore a variety of mediation experiences including sitting, walking, other forms of motion, chanting, guided meditation and Koan practice. We will draw from the traditions of Buddhism (Mahayana, Pure Land, Rinzai and Soto Zen) as well as from other practices and cultures.
SV-05 Daily Process
Taught by Chris Stephens
Don t just live through Governor s School, experience it, make sense of it, appreciate it from the first day to the last. This is a class about processing events in the moment using journaling, movement, and relaxation to help make sense of summer sensory overload.
SV-06 Speak the Speech
Taught by David Sennett
Discover the joys of faking it. Be exotic. Pass yourself off as someone you re not. Impress your date, baffle your teachers, annoy your parents, and do it all without working up a sweat. Master dialects in a few short weeks. It s better than Rosetta Stone, since you don t actually have to learn a language. We will mahster Standard British, youse guys are gonna get good at Brooklyn, you'll git goo a Shrek-Scots, and, time allowing, we ll conquer one or two more.
SV-07 Music to Dii* For
Taught by Eric Ruple
If you were stranded on a desert island with only your solar-powered iPod, what music would you want to have with you? This seminar will be experienced in the form of a talk-show. Eric, your host, will welcome guests to share their Desert Island iPod music with the audience and will facilitate discussions on the reasons for the choices and a better look at the music that people love. Guests will be from interested faculty and staff with audience participation and questions as well. What a way to back-door some of the great musical moments in history! (* Desert Island iPod)
SV-08 Love Connections
Taught by Jenn Collison
How do we fall in love? Why does listening to depressing music after a break-up make us feel oddly better? What makes love last? Together, we will focus on the psychology, pathology, and neurology of one of life s greatest mysteries. Come ready to design and implement your own social experiments, create customized love philosophies, and uncover the lovers across the arts.
SV-09 Immaterial Materials
Taught by Jim Respess
It is not just stone, marble, or bronze. It is everywhere, often overlooked or ignored. Come talk about issues surrounding the contemporary practices that get called sculpture. Bring your favorites and we ll talk.
SV-10 Body Modalities
Taught by Jolie Long
Release, rejuvenate and invigorate the body s hidden potential for a happy, healthy lifestyle by discovering natural means towards emotional and physical well-being. This seminar will entail workouts in classical Pilates and yoga, explore body therapies such as Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method, target deep muscle massage (with a tennis ball!) and reflexology, and even explore contra dancing. You will need to come equipped with your own Pilates/yoga mat and appropriate workout attire.
SV-11 Dynamic Musical Theater
Taught by Mark Greenawalt
For musical theatre enthusiasts and the self-proclaimed shower singer, this seminar is designed to show the power of combining words and music. Learn strategies for creative vocal delivery and maximizing expressive impact. Musical theater songs for both male and female singers will be explored and performed by participants.
SV-12 A Pictorial History of Dance
Taught by Mary Ann Laverty
This seminar will offer a brief historical overview of dance featured through photographs and film. The films viewed will focus primarily on the development of Ballet and Modern dance in twentieth century America. We will engage in follow up discussions of the choreography.
SV-13 Heija-ta Heija
Taught by Michelle Gulick
Have you ever wondered how long it takes a tenor to die? Do you need horns and a spear to sing opera? Can a soprano really break glass? If you have wondered about any of these, this class is for you!!!! Come listen to famous voices. Watch opera at its best... and worst. Learn about one of cultures grandest art forms. Perform, if prepared and interested. Create your own madness.
SV-14 Studentiade!
Taught by Sarah Tomasewski
You are invited to attend The Governor s School s premiere salon. Visual artists, dancers, actors, musicians, and writers unite! Come and engage in a high state of social enjoyment and intellectual discourse. Share your ideas, talents, creativity, opinions, and witty repartee to create and inspire new art, celebrate old art, and participate in the je ne sais quoi of the salon.
SV-15 Just Chill: Yoga for Beginners
Taught by Sheila Landahl
Enjoy a mid-day yoga practice for strength, flexibility and focus. Learn the basic postures in a decompressed meditative atmosphere. You will need to bring your own yoga mat or towel and wear comfortable clothes.