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News Archives RECENT AND UPCOMING INTEGRATIVE PROJECTS: "An act that produces effective surprise—this I take as the hallmark of a creative enterprise." –Jerome Bruner FALL 2005: THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN "This opera has an extraordinary resonance for us today as it deals with the conflict between the Christian world (represented by the knight Renauld) and its perception of the Muslim world as the "axis of evil" (represented by the Muslim sorceress, Armide). The action takes place in 1099 just prior to the conquest of Jerusalem during the first Crusade. The drama between Armide and Renauld is explored spiritually, politically and sexually with neither Christian nor Muslim emerging as the clear victor." From the perspective of Torquato Tasso, the Italian renaissance poet whose epic, Jerusalem Delivered, is the source of Lully’s story, the holy city needed to be freed from its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. Armide’s renunciation of her Islamic allegiances because of her love for the Crusader knight Renauld is seen as a happy romantic ending. Examining these beliefs, questioning them, relating them to contemporary geo-political problems, our students will approach the opera with a new sense of its import. This in turn will allow us to explore the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, baroque arts, Opera Atelier’s extraordinary project of reviving authentic period performance practices, such key historical concepts as European expansionism, and such psychological topics as personal identity. We will be able to take advantage of a set of educational workshops covering elements from fight choreography to costume design with artists of Opera Atelier. Instead of a single field trip to a baffling performance, our students will find relevance and challenge. Other integrative projects for next year will draw connections between martial arts and moral education, the replacement of mythological questions with proto-scientific ones, the tension between religious and scientific frameworks, the enormous impact of geography on culture, the critical paradox of Enlightenment thought, which promoted new and inspiring ideas of liberty at the same time as it supported the imperialist mandate. A study of the Protestant legacy will focus on utopias and dystopias, and some very contemporary expressions of these ideas. These are not only academic integrations, enriching the students’ intellectual life. They will give rise to trips and vivid experiences, the creation of artistic, scientific, research and collaborative work. The students will continue to be drawn together by much more than the accident of attending the same class in the same school; they will share in experiences which awaken their curiosity and join them in shared conversation, the heart of learning and knowing.
"Before my body, At The Dragon, we end every year with a whole school, full-length, full-scale production of a play by William Shakespeare. We get a lot of resistance to this from parents and students who have not had the experience with us before. The translation problem is raised, "Kids can’t make sense of that old language." The intellectual challenge seems fearful, "These are plays for graduate students and bookworms." Relevance is an issue, "There are lots of wonderful modern works, set in the world of today." Age-appropriateness is raised, "It’s just too hard for them. Why not get the students to write their own plays?" But we are lucky to have one of the greatest writers who ever lived be a part of our literature. Shakespeare’s concerns are timeless. And at the same time you get a real window into a critical moment of western history. His characters are complex and challenging. He’s been translated and performed all over the world, for centuries. And if you take a student-centred approach to the script (and treat it like a script, not a holy book), there’s room for cultural and political diversity. (In 2003-04, we set The Comedy of Errors in Jakarta, accompanied by a student gamelan orchestra, with the generous aid of The Indonesian Consulate and the teaching of Andrew Timur.) The students are invited to a limitless imaginative exploration. And the proof is in the pudding: each year we mount a wonderful production, and the experience of saying Shakespeare, of knowing his words by heart, stays with us for a lifetime. This year, the students selected Macbeth. This, after all, is a play filled with ambition, darkness, sword-fighting, sex, magic, and revenge. The students helped to edit it to a manageable length, following an honourable production tradition. They chose the setting (a sort of sword-and-sorcery nowhere world, a galaxy long ago and far away). They designed the lighting, and manned the lighting booth. They created an eerie soundscape, including staging the witches’ incantation scenes as flamenco-inspired dances, and brought it in on cue. They memorized, and passionately enacted, thousands of lines. They designed and made the costumes. They ran the backstage. They had all the help they needed: a literary scholar and historian, a flamenco artist, professional stage choreographer, director and tech crew, professional makeup and textile artists. In the Shakespeare project, students have been drawn into an exciting, collaborative endeavour. They have actively created their own meaning. These are key aspects of education at The Dragon. They are rightfully proud of what they have produced. They have understood Shakespeare, and made him their own. APRIL 2005: PARSING GOOD AND EVIL "I understand now how combining the Norse mythology that is so clearly, dearly, and painfully Freudian, with Christianity, creates a story that really sucks you in. I also learnt a lot about the anti-Semitic mindset at that time."—Carmi, grade 8 The cultural riches of Toronto inspired us to experiment with museum based education. Museums hold the things the Muses love, and surely the opera belongs on Parnassus. Too often schools hesitate to expose students to "high culture", fearing both the charge of elitism and the failure of engagement. Our experience at The Dragon contradicts this: properly prepared, exposed to a properly integrated thematic unit of study, students become a knowledgeable audience for, and savvy critics of, a five hour production of grand opera and its impact on the other arts, including film. Opera is not just the music or the singing: it’s theatre, it includes dance and design, it’s rich in history. We prepare for our attendance at an opera by examining not only the music, the story, the production values, by making use of the excellent workshops and educational support offered by the world-class companies which our city hosts, but delving into the political, historical, literary and social background. We took advantage of the C.O.C.’s production of Wagner’s Siegfried to construct a whole school thematic unit of study of Wagner and his Ring Cycle of operas, "Parsing Good and Evil". This allowed us not only to familiarize ourselves with this complex music and its complicated plotting, but we quite seriously considered the hard philosophical questions about the relation of art and morality. Can a thoroughly bad human being produce works of genius? Do Wagner’s repulsive political views and racist attitudes infect his music? Do the evil uses to which his music has been put taint it with Nazism? In the modern, post-holocaust world, in which religious and ethnic strife continue to plague us all, should we even be producing or attending Wagner’s operas? We have all been impressed by the seriousness with which our students have considered these questions, and by their commitment to participating in the special C.O.C. workshop, and the five hour production of Siegfried. "When I first heard about the idea, I was not thrilled. I have never liked operatic CDs, and thus, I was not inclined to want to go. As we studied and then went to see it, however, I became more and more interested. This experience has opened my eyes to opera." --Alex, grade 9 "I wasn’t really pleased about going, but it ‘blew’ me away." Taryn, grade 9 "It made me actually see how an opera really is." Omar, grade 11 "The C.O.C’s production of Siegried was much like a slumber party: everyone was in pajamas, and all the exciting action made it near impossible to go to sleep."—Rosemary, grade 10 "Each student is entitled to make the acquaintance of genius. Shakespeare remains a genius of outstanding significance in the development of English language, literature and drama. All students should have opportunities, through practical experience, to make up their own minds about what Shakespeare might hold for them."—Rex Gibson.
The Dragon students worked collaboratively on our own commemorative quilt with textile artist and historian Sharon Irving. Each student was responsible for the design and execution of his or her own individual square, which was then incorporated within Dragon blue borders, and then quilted by the time-honoured method of tying. Quilt-making has given us an opportunity to struggle with new skills (who does sew on their buttons?), and draw closer in a communal endeavour. We have experienced for ourselves the way in which many working people lighten the burden of work through talking and listening, and to understand the often silent work of women who have all too often left their footprint on history only through crafts and domestic work. This project integrated visual art with civics, career studies and history, as we experienced for ourselves the many dimensions of folk art and self-expression. The conversations we had while working with our hands were intense, and often focused on our experiences as members of The Dragon community. We were fortunate indeed to work with Sharon Irving, who is not only a warm and encouraging presence, but a notable textile and costume historian and educator. As we designed and stitched, she told us many stories of quilts, their history and importance, and the light they can shed on the often poorly documented history of the lives of ordinary men and women. She shared her own and historic quilts with us, and her love of creative handwork.
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