Tapping Into Tenacity

It’s a typical Saturday morning in January, in Pittsburgh, with the temperature hovering around freezing and a swift snowstorm brewing on the horizon. While most teenagers are still sleeping, cozy in their beds, eleven Ellis Upper School students gather in the School’s courtyard, bundled up by an electric piano to warm up for the official vocal recording session for Shrek the Musical.
In planning, this moment seemed laughable. For some, singing outside and assembling a musical in the middle of winter could be seen as plain mad. When the performing arts team looked ahead to this day, we weren’t sure if it would be full of complaints, anger, and tears about why this year’s show must look this way.

Why must we record vocals separately, and then learn blocking and movement to perform for video cameras instead of feeling the instant gratification from a live audience of our family and friends? 

In reality, the emotions of “lost” moments were nowhere to be found. Instead, the courtyard was charged with a palpable sense of community, connection, and confidence. Though the pandemic has immensely changed the landscape of performing, students and teachers have forged new terrain together to cultivate a sense of confidence and student voice like never before.

Can you hear me now? What note should I be singing in that harmony? Is my instrument in tune? Should I be chasséing to the right or left? 

The world of remote and socially-distant rehearsals can be a lonely and frustrating place. However, our creative and thoughtful performing arts faculty have built the foundation for our students to continue to experience, learn, and grow across divisions. Students have risen above these atypical circumstances as they advocate for themselves, and gain confidence that can only be found when you record yourself for the seventeenth time while staring at a computer screen, or while you are learning movement combinations from your living room while your family looks on as they pass by. Traditionally, we think about confidence as the ability to get on stage to perform in front of a large audience, but a refreshed version of confidence is materializing before our eyes. 

Our students are a new age of performers who know themselves as musicians, dancers, and artists better than ever before, simply because it is impossible to hide behind others to blend in. Each performer must look within to find their own “why” for continuing to perform and participate. Personal investment is key. Ellis students have jumped on board and exceeded our wildest expectations. Their drive and determination to continue to make art is inspiring. When they can connect with their peers, like on that brisk Saturday morning, our performers are supportive, energetic, and quick to joyously celebrate each other’s successes. They know firsthand how hard everyone has worked to make these moments happen.

Students have joined us on a journey where our performing arts faculty have brought them into the conversation as we try innovative and non-conventional things, assess their effectiveness together as a team, collaborate for solutions, and then we try and try again. Taking an active part in the creative process is just as important in promoting that individual confidence as any beautiful product we create. Though our performances all look different on the outside, I encourage you to look deeper. These Ellis performers are being equipped with a new tenacity that will serve them in all of their journeys here at Ellis and beyond.
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