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VOLUME 110 ISSUE 8 MAY 24, 2024
IN THE NEWS
SOUTH PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL 1401 FREMONT AVE, SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030
SENIOR AWARDS NIGHT
BACCALAUREATE
GRADUATION
Seniors will be presented with scholarships and various awards on Wednesday, May 29.
A ceremony featuring keynote and senior speakers and performers will take place on Sunday, June 2.
The SPHS Class of 2024 will celebrate their graduation on Wednesday, June 5.
SPRING DANCE CONCERT
STORY CLAIRE MAO PHOTOS SHIN-HYE (RACHEL) CHOI & KAITLYN LEE
T
he SPHS dance program held its annual spring concert in the Anderson Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18. The concert consisted of 91 total performers and 34 dances, which showcased about eight different genres over the course of more than two hours for a circus theme. “It was either going to [be] Circus or we were going to do an animal show, and after talking with the dance captains and a lot of seniors that have been in the program for about four years, they came up to me and said that they really wanted to end their senior year doing Circus,” dance director and choreographer Courtney Cheyne said. The show was open to all SPHS dance members. 51 Dance I students performed, which was the most Dance I participation a concert had seen. The four acts of the show were “Welcome to the Circus,” “Magician’s Headquarters,” “Sideshow,” and “House of Mirrors.” The acts were split up with an intermission, during which cast members ran through the auditorium holding picket signs saying “Free the rabbits,” among others. SPHS’s Colorguard performed in the first act of “Welcome to the Circus” and the Colorguard coach performed in one of the dances in “Sideshow.” “The first act…it’s about everything you see outside, with clowns, and ribbons, and concessions. Then the second act, we go into the magician’s quarters and everything that goes on there. So we had [the performance] ‘Card Shuffle’ and rabbits and a tap dancer and ‘Houdini,’” Cheyne said. “Our third act was ‘Sideshow,’ where we highlighted six dancers…we decided that we wanted to end our last piece a little bit spooky so we decided to do ‘House of Mirrors.’”
The biggest expenses of the concert were costumes; the props were all handmade by freshman Talia Wechsler. Backdrop artists included sophomore Aislinn Meza and juniors Jay Chen and Jayel Bright. “Ms. Cheyne brought Aislinn Meza, Jay Chen, and [I] into her office to talk about the vision she had for the backdrops. Each act has a theme that’s based [on] different elements of Circus, and were all assigned to a separate act,” Bright said. “Throughout the weeks leading up to Circus, we held regular meetings to discuss the contents of the backdrops before sending the finished pieces to her for printing.” The program began preparations for the concert in early February. During this time, Cheyne took 100 students to watch a performance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. There they learned about Horton, a modern ballet technique, which was used in choreographing the performances. “I created a piece for this show…focusing on the Horton technique and ballet technique just to further explain and educate the students a little bit longer,” Cheyne said. “[The] ‘Card Shuffle’ piece was actually a very long project that I had worked on starting from a field trip that we went and took to see a professional dance company in February.” The final performance of Act I, “Fallen Kingdom” maneuvered clothing racks into prison bars. Another performance called “Snake Charmer” involved multiple performers making synchronized movements. “This is one of the best concerts we’ve ever had. I love this concert. I love working with these students. I love watching them grow. It’s also bittersweet because the seniors are leaving and I love them and miss them,” Cheyne said. “Putting this show together was a dream and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast.”
CRAWFORD RETIREMENT SPHS Band and Orchestra Director Howard Crawford will retire at the end of the 2023–24 school year after over 30 years of teaching in the music program.
COLLEGE PROTESTS Tiger explores the insurgence of college protests throughout the nation’s institutions and the precarious effects they may have on students across the country.
SWIM REVIEW SPHS swim broke school records with outstanding times in the 2024 season. 15 swimmers competed at CIF prelims and in spite of intense competition at CIF finals, one swimmer advanced to state.
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