By Lisa S., Drama Teacher
“One step at a time
One hope, then another
Who knows where this road may go?”
This mindset was shared by the entire cast, crew, and orchestra as they embarked on the journey of this year’s musical, Anastasia.
When we began the process in August with information meetings, auditions, and planning sessions we didn’t know where the road would lead. We did know one thing, though: we were about to begin something special.
In the months that followed, our afternoons were filled with rehearsals. There were music rehearsals that emphasized the importance of harmony and listening to each other, there were dance rehearsals that emphasized the meaning of ensemble and support as students took on the daunting task of ballroom dancing along with historical dancing like the Charleston. And then there were the Saturday rehearsals that were spent cutting out snowflakes, assembling set pieces, and putting it all together. Throughout these rehearsals, there were times that we needed to be reminded to take it one step at a time. Doing a musical is hard. It’s hard to sometimes see where the road may go, but then it happens…something clicks, a magical moment when a discovery is made. We start to see where the road is going.
The road led to a weekend filled with performances that reached our community on new levels. We had nearly 60 students involved from all 3 divisions of the school. This large number of students involved led to a show that was a true showcase of the creativity, teamwork, and talent that YIS develops.
The show would not have been possible without the expertise of our music director, Mr. David Lien as well as our choreographer, Ms. Sam Abernethy. These two talented educators were able to motivate our students and teach them new artistic techniques to make the performance come to life.
Finally, as we embarked on the journey of Anastasia, we had one hope, to provide a special experience for our audience. On November 27, 28, and 29th we were able to make that hope a reality and bring our story to both the YIS community and the broader Yokohama community. As a performing arts department, we want to extend our gratitude to our community for helping us make our hopes a reality and supporting the arts at YIS. We can’t wait to see what the next road may hold!