Thizbe Balzer
Dalat International School’s many talented high school
musicians, artists, actors, and dancers brought this year’s Fine Arts Festival
to a satisfying and legendary close.
On
the evenings of Friday, May 20th and Saturday, May 21st,
the resonating rumble of eager voices rose as the audience members entered the
large auditorium at the Penang Performing Arts Centre (PPAC). The high school concert band students sat
patiently on stage, instruments in hand.
Once given the cue by their instructor, Miss Danneker, to commence the
pre-concert warmup regime, a melodious and unified sound penetrated the
auditorium and instantaneously put an end to the surrounding chatter. The two hours that followed were no
different. All of the featured
performing ensembles, including the Madrigal Singers, concert band, concert choir,
the Five Guys, and jazz band, made for a time filled with many inspiring
musical moments.
In addition to the wonderful music were
opportunities that fueled appreciation for other forms of fine art, such as
art, drama, and dance. The art students
lined the auditorium entryway with awe-inspiring portraits and intricate canvas
drawings which people admired as they passed by. On Saturday, two showings of the Dalat Drama
& Dance Showcase included multiple duet-act plays, featuring seniors Joel
Halbedl and Elisabeth Brokaw to name a few.
These were followed by a lyrical ballet dance number. Darby Kendrick (11), Susan Oh (11), and Thizbe
Balzer (12) rose and fell with the music, displaying a great amount of upper
body strength and control. Aaron Chand (11)
closed out each show with his solo act entitled “The Twelve Year Truth.” He brought himself and many audience members
to tears during his final performance.
Whether a tear-jerker, musical-expresser, or
canvas-drawer, Mr. Steinkamp, to bring close to the final concert on Saturday
night, took a moment to sincerely recognize and appreciate the hard work of
each and every student involved. “I
don’t know about you, but I must have gone ‘wow!’ at least five times over the
course of the last two hours,” he remarked to the audience. “I found myself forgetting that these were
high school students!”
Similarly, Miss Danneker said she couldn’t have
been happier to end her career as a band teacher at Dalat with anyone other
than the students she had just led in performance. “Thank you all for a wonderful final concert
tonight!” were her words to the band members afterwards. “Each one of you played your best, and there
were so many musical moments throughout all of our pieces, many of which almost
felt surreal. Seriously, I found myself
thinking several times, ‘Are we really playing this live? It sounds too good to
be live…’ ”
Evidently,
Dalat high school students have harnessed the ability to capture and inspire
the hearts of family/staff members and friends through a vast array of
“performances” in the fine arts industry; and beyond the scope of Dalat
International School lie so many more opportunities for these students to
impact the world in a similar way.
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