Blog Archives

Education Focus: Prom

Prom

Click for larger image

 

For this week’s Education Focus, we’ll take a look at a quintessential American school experience:  Prom.

Prom comes from the word “promenade.”  It is one of the major high school dances held in the year.  It is sometimes referred to as the senior prom, as it typically marks one of the final social events in a high school student’s career, but sometimes there are other students (for example, juniors) who attend as well, as long as one of the couple is a senior.  Most often, a boy will ask his steady girlfriend to the prom, but sometimes a couple will go as “just friends.”

Prom is a formal dance.  Girls usually wear a fancy, expensive dress and get their hair done professionally at a beauty salon.  To go with his date’s dress, a boy will get her a corsage, often worn on the wrist.  Boys, on the other hand, rent a black or white tuxedo.  His outfit is completed with a boutonniere from his date.  Many parents will take pictures of the couples before they ride off in a hired limousine to take them to the site of the prom.

Sometime the prom is held at an outside venue, like a banquet hall, but of course such an arrangement would add to the cost of the ticket, so to keep it affordable for most students, many schools opt to have the prom in the school gymnasium, which is decorated for the big day.  Food may be served, but the focus on the evening is on dancing.  There are often other activities at prom, such as voting for a prom king and prom queen.

Afterwards, there is often a post-prom party.  These are usually chaperoned, to help reduce the incidence of teenage drinking.  Post-prom activities range from bowling parties to picnics at a park, or even a trip to an amusement park.  Many students look back at prom as a highlight of their high school years.

Google

Education Focus: Dances

One of the premises regarding the modern American educational system is that education has a social component in addition to academic instruction.  In keeping with this philosophy, many schools host dances for their students, generally staring in middle school.

In middle school, dances tend not to be formal – there are usually no set dates, so boys and girls can go “stag” – the girls don’t have to wait around for a boy to ask them to the dance, and boys don’t have to stress over getting turned down by a girl.  Also, at middle school dances the music is generally not performed by a live band, but comes rather from students’ music collections.

In high school the dances tend to be more formal, although there are a few that are decidedly not formal.  Also, in high school the music is more likely than in middle school to be performed by a live band, but of course it depends on the budget of those organizing the dance.  The boy usually asks the girl to the dance, but there are a couple of notable exceptions to this:  a Sadie Hawkins dance (non-formal, based on a comic strip character who couldn’t find a beau, so she chased the eligible bachelors) and a Turnabout dance (formal).

The number of dances each year varies from school to school, but there are two big dances that are a nearly universal experience for every American high school:  the annual Homecoming dance, and the annual Prom.  We’ll have more to say about these special dances in future Education Focuses.

Google

Education Focus: Musicals

curtain call

For today’s education focus, I want to take a brief look at musicals.  A musical is like a stage play, only the acting is interrupted from time to time with singing – either by an individual (a solo), by a pair (a duet), or sometimes by three people (a trio) or several (a chorus).  So, a musical will have not only a cast (the group of actors/actresses performing the musical), but a pit band or pit orchestra as well.

A musical is a common extracurricular high school activity.  Although it represents a big commitment for the students who participate – rehearsals are usually scheduled for every day after school, or in the evening – there are benefits as well.  Musicals give students a chance to try their hand at performing arts – specifically, at acting and/or singing.  Additionally, most musicals also have choreographed scenes, giving at least some of the performers the opportunity to dance.  Even if a student is not interested in being on stage, there are other opportunities for participation as well:  a student may participate in the pit band, playing his instrument and thus helping to provide the musical accompaniment; a student who is good with his hands may choose to help design and/or build the set for the musical; some students may prefer to work with costuming and stage makeup, while others may prefer to work with the technical aspects of production, such as lighting or sound.

A musical has various acting “parts,” or roles, like a play.  “Tryouts,” or auditions, are held to fill the cast by determining which students are suited for which roles.  Likewise, there may be auditions for the pit band, or the band director may simply tap the top chairs in the band to be in the pit band.  Other participants, such as those involved in production,  set construction, or costuming, don’t have tryouts, as there is usually enough work to go around for any and all who want to contribute their labors behind the scenes.

After the cast has been selected, the actors and actresses must memorize their lines, dancers work on choreographing their scenes, those in the costume department start whatever sewing needs to be done, and the set is designed and constructed.  When the performers have learned their lines, everything is ready to come together for rehearsal.  As I mentioned earlier, rehearsals are held nearly every day after school or in the evening, so the cast, pit band, and production crew get plenty of opportunity to work with each other and make adjustments as necessary.  These rehearsals are not in costume and tend to be less formal, but as the date of the actual performance draws near, a “dress rehearsal” or two will be scheduled.  A dress rehearsal is formal and conducted in full costume and makeup, to make things as close to the actual performance as possible.  This dress rehearsal gives the actors the chance to get used to performing in costume and makeup, take care of any last-minute costume changes, etc.  Pictures may also be taken during a dress rehearsal, so as to have the greatest freedom in getting pictures without having to worry about disrupting an audience.

A musical generally has a number of performances, spread out over several nights; for example, performances might be Friday and Saturday nights for two or three weekends.  The first performance is called “opening night,” while the last performance is “closing night.”  At the end of the final performance, there is usually a “curtain call,” where all the performers and supporting crew (pit band, production crew, etc.) are recognized, typically bowing to the audience and receiving a token of appreciation, such as a bouquet of flowers, from their admirers (usually Mom and Dad!).  Then the end of the musical is celebrated with a cast party, where those involved are rewarded for their hard work.

Google