Performing Arts

Drama

Every year The Family Foundation School puts on two major productions, one play and one musical. Recent plays have included Heaven Can Wait, Up the Down Staircase, The Crucible, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Recent musicals have included West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees, Annie Get Your Gun and The Wizard of Oz . We also perform skits and short plays as part of our holiday celebrations.

These performances give students a chance to work on all phases of play production: scenery, costumes, lighting and sound, and backstage technical production. We are able to give several performances of each play, and our productions are well known throughout the local community.

Music

The school chorus is the principal way music is formally practiced at the school. Chorus is open to all interested students, but it demands that all learn to sing, whatever they might believe their talent level is.

Every year the chorus participates in the North American Music Festivals competition. Since 2002 the chorus has been invited to special festivals in Washington DC and Hershey, PA for schools whose chorus has achieved a superior rating in regional competitions. Our choir, under the direction of Paul Geer, has won many trophies in competition. Church choir, the local Christmas cantata, and our annual musical provide additional singing opportunities.

Students who play an instrument are encouraged to bring it to the school. Instrumental music lessons are offered and opportunities to perform publicly come up regularly, whether as a member of the pit orchestra for the annual musical or onstage as a part of other plays and performances.

Dance

Our dance program includes classic ballet instruction, jazz dance, tap dance, show choir and Broadway musical dance productions. Students study the basic techniques and movement concepts. Included in a strict formal technique of balance, body alignment, and coordination is the awareness of the body in space and the dynamics of movement.

Students get a chance to perform four times a year: at our Christmas program, the Spring Arts production, the North American Music Festival in show chorus, and during the full-length musical in September. Both male and female students are encouraged to take up dance, and many "sports oriented" boys find that they are not only marvelous dancers, but that they're able to improve their athletic skills and coordination through dance training. Participation in dance earns physical education school credit.

Our instructor, Tom Kovaleski, has appeared with the Cincinnati Ballet Company, the California Ballet Company, and as principal male soloist of the North Carolina Dance Theater.