does anyone attend a professional performing arts high school?

[stagebeauty]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 12:31am

other than me? lol

i just want to see how mine compares to other performing arts high schools in the country.

we perform an average of 3 shows a year, in addition to performing polished numbers for CEOs of different countries, performing for many openings of pavilions, and even touring JAPAN!
we have regular bells like other high schools, but with musical theatre subjects being Dance [ballet, tap, jazz, modern, movement], Singing [italian, classical, belt (my favorite class!)], acting [stage, monologue, tv, mime, etc], and other helpful classes like Audition tech, musical theatre performance, and broadway literature.
we have guests from everywhere come and rate our level as a performer [such as Frank Wildhorn] and teachers off of broadway like 42nd street and cats.
there are only 26 musical theatre members at our performing arts school [out of a possible 700 that audition for it]. It's my second family and i love it so much there! the other departments include Theatre [about 80 people], Visual Arts [50], Instrumental [90], Vocal [60] and Dance [40]. its amazing.

i'd love to hear about somebody else's performing arts high school. please!
Updated On: 8/21/05 at 12:31 AM

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 11:12am

BdwayBelle attends LaGuardia, but I know nothing about it.

[Born2cthelightsofbway]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 2:56pm

stagebeauty- which school do you attend?

[Born2cthelightsofbway]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 6:43pm

I go to the Proffesional Childrens School. It's great.

[stagebeauty]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 6:57pm

the governor's school for the arts

EDIT: http://www.gsarts.net Updated On: 8/21/05 at 06:57 PM

[jeff_thedancer]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 7:14pm

I DO!

Eastwood collegite majoring in drama,dance,musical theater

[Marlene]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 9:34pm

LaGuardia...that's a fantastic school in the city, they study conservatory style and all--very intense. Got in for fine art, but I took the academic route and went elsewhere, espcially when I found out that you can't take drama studio courses when your in art. :/

http://www.insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=959 <--LaGuardia if you're interested.

[actress_06]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 11:31pm

My school is not a performing arts high school, but it is an arts highschool for juniors and senior...we have 6 art areas: Dance, Theater, Music, Literary Art, Media Arts, and Visual Arts. I take academic classes in the morning on block scheduling so I have three classes in the morning and change half way through the year. After lunch we have our Art Area. Most areas go until about 4pm, but sinceI'm in theater I can end class anywhere from 1pm to 8pm, with a dinner break in there. We can't be kept any later than 10pm because that is the curfew time in the dorms where about 1/3 of the student body lives.

In theater we do 3 shows a year. This year our first show was a mix of folktales from India, then we went into our comedy writing and acting section. Next we did a short workshop on Ann Bogarts Viewpoints followed by a documentary theater piece on Einstein It's really great and I love it. The only problem is the only chance we have to do "normal" theater is the last show of our senior year. Other than that is is mostly experimental theater. Also you can only work in one art area, although there are elective classes in all the other areas. For example, I'm taking a modern dance class this year in my acedemic section.

[bdwybelle]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:11am

My Fair Lady is right, I do attend La Guardia High School.
There are several majors at my school - Technical Theater, Drama, Art, Dance, Vocal and Instrumental.
I am in the drama department. Freshman and Sophmores have four drama classes in the morning and their academics in the afternoon and Juniors and Seniors have their academics in the morning and their 4 drama periods in the afternoon.
In the drama department, our 4 periods are each 40 minutes long. For the first two periods we have rotating classes (Vocal Tech, Vocal Production, Dance, Improv, Theater Movement, Make up...), the second two periods is your studio class.
Your schedule at La Guardia is the same every day except some majors (such as drama) have rotating classes.

[bdwybelle]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:14am

It is a very large school, but the Drama Department is very close. It's a giant family as corny as that sounds, but there is a bit of drama, and I'm not talking about acting.
I spent freshman year in the Art Department but reauditioned and switched to the Drama Department for sophmore year. I much prefer drama. And Marlene is right, they try to keep the majors seperate from the others - you cannot take another majors classes.
Although, you have your academics with people from all majors.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 10:19am

I also go to LaGuardia, but I'm in the Vocal department. We take 3 to 4 classes in music each semester. In my freshman year, I took Voice (Italian and German), piano, sight singing, and beginning chorus. In my sophomore year, I took voice (french and english), mixed chorus, and theory. In my junior year, I will take music history, senior chorus, and opera workshop. In the senior year, there are many electives including New Music, jazz, and opera. There is 1 musical a year, which is actually rehearsed in a special class you take during school, but some teachers are working on having an additional musical with after-school rehearsals. There is also an opera and numerous concerts each year. We have the same schedule every day, and we take every class that every other regular high school offers. It does stink that we cannot take classes in other majors, but otherwise I love it there and the whole school is like a huge, gigantic family.

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:15pm

I used to go to Booker Highschool for the performing arts in Sarasoda Flordia. We are voted #1 performing arts school in the nation.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 3:38pm

I was about to go out for La Guardia..but then discovered I could not board there since I wasn't a New York citizen.

sb- does your school have board?


I'm starting this performing arts school that I'm sort of rotating with my regular high school..but I don't think it's professional..

Updated On: 8/22/05 at 03:38 PM

[stagebeauty]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 4:07pm

no it doesnt. i go to a reg. high school for my regular classes for about a quarter of the day. at 12 i leave and go to GSA [in a different part of the state that i live in] and train there till about 9 pm everyday

even though i dont board, its still considered a prof. performing arts school.
Updated On: 8/22/05 at 04:07 PM

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 6:19pm

no it doesnt. i go to a reg. high school for my regular classes for about a quarter of the day. at 12 i leave and go to GSA [in a different part of the state that i live in] and train there till about 9 pm everyday


That's exactly what my school is like..

[stagebeauty]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 9:32pm

which gsa?

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 8/23/05 at 12:28pm

No it's not GSA..it's this school in Trumbull, CT and a bus takes me half day from my high school to this school..it's called MCA

[BwayBallerina2]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 9:21pm

Heh, I wish.

But the one I'm going to next year does have an amazing performing arts program. That includes a great dance program, so it's modern/jazz classes in school, taught by an ex-pro, for me next year!

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 11/2/05 at 2:27pm

SALLYBROWN...omg I used to go there...it's called RCA. I went my sophomore and junior year...but I didn't go back this year because I really didn't like ti anymore and I wasn't learning anything.

It's not for everyone. I mean the first year I went I loved it but then things changed. I think it also depends on your skill level because the teaching is far from great. I would try it out tho. It's jsut a place that you either love or hate...there is really no inbetween.

And also to answer your question...it's NOT a professional performing arts school because anyone can go there (from certain schools or course)...there's no audition or anything.

Good luck to you tho!

[dramatothemax]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 1:41pm

I'm a theatre major at The Las Vegas Academy. We're strictly arts. You have to audition and things. We have other majors like art, dance, music and choir. But theatre is the big deal at our school. You can click the link to see some pictures from our shows. It hasn't been updated in a while, but the other shows we've done are Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime (sort of....our teachers directed the National Thespian Cast), Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940s, and Native Son.
LVA pics

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 9:43pm

I find it funny that most people are better off at a well funded public or private school over a creative and performing arts school. the one in cincy sucked.

[Broadway_Baby2]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 11:09pm

I went to an arts high school for a couple months and hated it. I found the academic portion to be completely lacking (I find the same problem in my arts college) the students don't take it seriously and the teachers don't care. I also didn't like the fact that I couldn't mix art areas.

Actress 06 what school do you go to. It sounds exactly like the one I went to.

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 11/4/05 at 12:17am

I don't go to a performing arts school, but I think it might as well be called one. I go to Bradford High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and we do 9 shows a year (6 musicals, 3 straight shows). We have 6 teachers that are involved in the theater department (3 directors, 1 stage craft teacher, and 2 dance teachers). We have dance classes that you can take and a school dance company. We have 4 different choirs, Madrigal Singers, music theory classes, acting classes, television classes etc. We usually go to International Thespian Festival at least every other year and bring a mainstage show. We've gone to the Edinburgh (sp?!) Festival twice. But it's a public school. Our program is run a little differently than most schools though. Students from 5 different schools in the county can audition for the shows and be involved in the program so it's not just strictly kids from Bradford, it's kids from 4 other schools as well that are in the shows.

We also do shows that are pretty rare to find in high school. We just got done with "Sweeney Todd" (which we took to the 2005 ITF) and "Violet" last year. We've done "Parade" (which went to the 2003 ITF), "A Chorus Line", "Side Show", "The Secret Garden", "Man of La Mancha", "Sunday in the Park with George" and others.

I love my high school. I couldn't be happier!
Updated On: 11/4/05 at 12:17 AM

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 2:37am

I just felt like bumping this thread.

[TonyaFanatic]

Posted: 9/30/06 at 11:16pm

I graduated from Hs Capa in Philadelphia. My mother graduated from LaGuardia for Dance.

I think the performing arts high school concept is simply remarkable and it works for those who really have what it takes to succeed in anything they do. whether they want to pursue a career in the arts or not, it always prepares them for whatever.