The Case for Better Arts Publicity

          School Meeting, the seemingly never-ending 35-minute period in which the entire student body meets in the KAC for announcements. How can we ever make these 35 minutes of programming more engaging, even for those who sit in the back rows of the balcony?

          Of course, not all School Meetings offer only announcements. For example, on April 25, the Philadelphia Ballet Company took over the stage and filled the 35 minutes of School Meeting with dance pieces instead. After the Company’s performance, Lawrenceville’s very own dancers took to the stage to showcase a preview of the Spring Dance Series, which occurred later that week on April 27. Before I continue, I want to highlight that I found the April Dance Series phenomenal. The stage was filled with talent, and the performers were unfailingly enthusiastic; it was clear that Lawrenceville’s many En Corps groups spent quite a while preparing for the night. The blocking and lighting made the show even better. The costumes for each group were great, and despite the different styles featured one after the other, the transitions between each number were smooth. The contrast between the hot pink background and the black silhouettes in the Kiki dance was particularly eye-catching. All in all, I’d give the show a 10 out of 10. However, the School Meeting teaser did not fully reflect the high caliber performance.

          While the enthusiasm and the talent of the dancers were certainly the most important parts of the School meeting preview, the experience of watching the dance numbers was not the same due to the absence of the aforementioned costuming and lighting. Despite the skill of the dancers, the preview was not as cohesive as the actual performance, which is a shame because the promotion of the show should fully represent the event’s splendor, in order to generate excitement in the school body. I’ve spoken to dancers in both the Lawrenceville School Dance Company and student-run En Corps groups about the preview, and they touched upon the frustrating lack of organization. Even though dancers rehearsed this Spring’s preview for about an hour, twenty seconds pulled from each song simply was not a worthy preview for any of the dances. Yet, it is undeniably hard to do justice to the Dance Series in less than five minutes. 

          After some thinking, however, I remembered the recent video from the May 2 School Meeting which announced the Head of School Day. The video, along with many other videos that have been shown during School Meetings, immediately garnered the student body’s attention with the features of familiar faces and, often, a catchy beat. Perhaps short videos of the dance numbers spliced together with music could be a better way to promote the Dance Series. If the dancers were able to attend a dress rehearsal before the School Meeting and someone were to put together a two-to-five-minute video, I think the preview would do a better job reflecting the energy and spirit of the actual performance. It would also serve to bring together two different art forms on campus: dance and videography.
          
          The Dance Series are incredible shows and an important campus tradition. These performances along with all the other art events on campus, deserve more recognition and enthusiastic advertisement. A video preview, much like the sports hype videos, would be a perfect starting point.