After School Arts Company

Our After-School Arts Company provides students a unique opportunity to explore a particular art form in depth. Classes meet twice a week for 90 minutes after-school. Students are exposed to professional artists, field trips, small group instruction (15 students max) and are given an opportunity to present their work in professional contexts. We currently offer Poetry Slam, Theatre, Visual Arts Studio, and Dance. In the Fall of 2008, we will offer DYP ACTION, an arts and activism component to our After-School.

Poetry Slam Team

Students audition, each semester, to write, edit, and perform their poems as part of the school's Poetry Slam Team. This program serves as a workshop for young writers to amplify their writing skills, while being a part of a community of critical thinkers and artists. Participants in the program are expected to engage with poetry as writers, readers, and performers. They study the work of such poets and performers as Willie Perdomo, Saul Williams, Nina Simone, Martín Espada, Lucille Clifton, Ginsberg, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Garcia Lorca, and Naomi Shihab Nye. Each semester students compete in a Poetry Slam competition with other Bronx and regional schools.

Theatre Company

The after school Theatre Company focuses on the production of a full length play chosen by the students. After weeks of theatre games, exercises and improvisations, the students embark on the study of two to three plays before choosing which text they decide to work on. Once a decision is made, the students will spend several months in rehearsals, combining text work, physical work and research.

Visual Art Studio

Students will complete several projects, which introduce them to principles of print making, book making and sequential storytelling through art.

Dance

The dance elective class introduces students to fundamental skills of dance and dance literacy. The course is made up of three major components;

• dance making: the development of movement skill with a focus on discipline, mastery, and evaluation;
• dance literacy: the development of a critical analysis about the role of dance
• making connections: contextualizing dance in the world understanding its crucial role as an art form.

Using various learning approaches, students are encouraged to embrace creativity and imagination and allow those ideas to reflect in their art making process. The class is structured around a routine warm-up, floor exercises, and group collaborative work.

DY Prep ACTION

DYP Action is an activism and youth development program focused on increasing young people's awareness of global and social issues. Its mission is to develop young people as effective leaders, critical thinkers and active civic participants through challenging artistic projects. At DYP Action, young people develop powerful strategies to respond to the issues that are most important to them in their communities.