TRaC FINALE Program Revealed!

The TRaC FINALE is Friday!
High 5 HQ @ 1 East 53rd Street
5:30 - 7:15

5:30 - High 5 gets a HUGE CHECK.
Literally, a big check (3 feet by 5 feet) from a foundation to support our program. We need you here to show support! Let them know they are spending their money well - keeping TRaC FREE and High 5 tix at $5. (Actually, if you could come at 5:25, that would be awesome.) As many of you as possible! Did someone say "photo op"??

5:30-6:00 - pizza, soda and D.J. Vans.
Listen to tunes, mingle, be merry. Eat. Good times.

6:00 - Showcase your work!
Bring a piece of writing you completed in TRaC this fall - or, if you like a piece you did this Summer TRaC, bring that. Or, if you have a poem you'd like to perform, bring that. It'll be like a coffee house, only with pizza. We'll all read excerpts. TRaC Instructors should bring something, too! I'm almost certain we'll see at least one of the short plays Theater TRaC have been working on. (I hope so, Theater TRaC!) Oh, and don't worry if you are shy. We won't force you to read. Not much, anyway ;)

Straight up, it's a chance to hear other Voices in the program - your peers -, to meet the other instructors (in case you're thinking of taking TRaC this spring....hmmmmm) and to check out what everyone has been doing these past 8-weeks.

6:45 - TRaC Breakdown.
Or what I'm calling, "What's your TRaC story?" Yaya and Najee, for example, got tickets for their school theater class to go and see THE OVERWHELMING. Krystal, Wayne and Ariana are organizing to bring a group of kids to theater who've never been before. Or, maybe you have taken a friend to a dive music venue they didn't know about. Maybe you saw the BANKSY graffiti art show on your own. This is the TRaC story stuff I'm talking about. We want to hear what you accomplished this semester and start thinking about what we could do for next spring.....

7:00 - TRaC certificates & Personal Accomplishment sheets.
Each of you will receive a TRaC certificate (something for the wall, or maybe just the college application portfolio) and a Personal Accomplishment sheet with individual feedback from your instructor outlining your "Strengths" and your "Toolbox for Improvement." You should be proud of the work you've done. TRaC requires a lot of time and effort, so we figured we could at least give you a certificate and some pointers on how to go forward as a writer!

And that's it!
TRaC is over and out.

But we've still got this Friday. I'll be looking spiffy to honor all of you and your work. I'm dusting off the 3-piece. Just because. Dress up if you want to. No pressure. It's all about being here, not what you're wearing anyway.... (of course, I am wearing a 3-piece suit, you know, and probably a pink tie... so... yeah....uh, class it up if you want to. ;)

See you Friday.
~eric

High 5's Picks of the Week

Interested in the latest picks of the week, including my "Easter Egg"?
Click the link: http://high5tix.org/Aspx/EventsAndShows/Picks.aspx
(Last week's Easter Egg was the BANKSY show. I cut and pasted the write up and put it on the Visual Arts TRaC Blog. Definitely check out the show, if you're into street/graffiti art.)

If you are already signed up the the High 5 e-mail newsletter, chances are you already got this info. If not, you should take two minutes and sign up now. Make sure you click the "Teen Reviewers and Critics" box, so you get an email when I put up the Spring TRaC Application. You can, of course, take TRaC again.... and again.... and again....

TRaC. The latest shows. Last minute Broadway tickets. High 5 Nights.... All that, and more, just for signing up. (yes, i sound like an advertisement; but it's really worth it!) Don't miss out!

~eric

Alvin Ailey pictures and slideshow...

A blend of every TRaC class, friends of TRaC and the NYC Parks and Recreation kids in the High 5 HQ lobby, just before our stroll to City Center for Alvin Ailey on Tuesday, December 5th.

Read Dance TRaC Instructor Brian McCormick's short review of the show on the Dance TRaC Blog.

the slideshow...

Jazz Battle Pics and Slideshow

...from the Jazz Battle on December 1, @ Jazz at Lincoln Center in Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola.



the slideshow...

Save the Date! (Note: TIME CHANGE!)

the TRaC Finale
friday, december 14th
High 5 HQ
(1 East 53rd Street - between 5th and Madison)
5:30 - 7:15

details to come...

omg.
8 weeks is almost over.
can you believe it?

2 questions to always consider....

#1
What is the art trying to accomplish?

#2
Does it succeed?

Keeping the art in mind, you can never go wrong in your reviews. You will avoid the pitfalls: "i didn't like it. it was good. i liked it. it was bad..." blah, blah. The interesting stuff is in the WHYs and the WHATs! Why did it succeed in parts, but not as a whole? What was it (the dance, the play, the painting, the song) trying to accomplish? Did it do more or less? Are you cool with where it went?

And tell us what you think! A little interpretation/a little context (do some research!) is always nice for your readers. Remember to keep them - US, your readers - in mind.... Or, just write for you. I carry a small notebook with me everywhere I go. Writers write. You are all writers because you write. That's the only requirement. :)

Open hearts, open minds.
The most important thing I want you to take away from TRaC is to be open to things foreign to you. Crain your neck, your ears, your brain to understand. Get excited, and bring people along!

Art is communication and communion.
That's what makes this fun....

happy december.
~eric

Alvin Ailey Raffle

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Are you ready? Here comes another of the many amazing perks to being in High 5's TRaC program...

I am raffling off 14 tickets - phenomenal seats - for next Tuesday's Alvin Ailey performance at City Center. That's this Tuesday, December 4th, 7pm. (The show is about an hour and a half.) We'd meet up at High 5 at 5:45 pm....

And it's not just tickets you win...

Starting at 5:45, winners of the raffle will come by High 5 for pizza (of course) and a special presentation on Alvin Ailey with our very own Dance TRaC instructor, Brian McCormick. Also in attendance will be 12 teens from the Abraham's House - a social service organization. We want you all to come tell them about your arts experiences... just mingle, eat, chat, hang out... basically, make them feel at home.

We're really trying to build our relationship with Alvin Ailey, to get more tickets for High 5 - for you! We need the raffle winners to write 300-500 words on your experience. Some hype we can send to Ailey so they know we can bring the young audience. We need your help!

So that's the deal.
"How do I enter this raffle?" you ask.

Simple:
SEND ME AN EMAIL with "Alvin Ailey" in the subject line. In the body of the email, please include a phone number where I can call you Monday night.

*Note: You can only get one ticket to this event. Anyone, from any TRaC class, can enter the raffle. I'll be doing the drawing Monday at 4pm. At that point I'll notify all the winners and apologize to all the... well, let's not call them names :)

So! If you are free from 5:45 to 8:30 on Tuesday night and wouldn't mind seeing Alvin Ailey at City Center from some of the best seats in the house, send me that email.... eost@high5tix.org

peace and dance,
eric

to get you amped...
here's some NY Times Ailey hype from this weekend's paper: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/arts/dance/30aile.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

CHECK OUT THE NEXT POST for info on Tuesday's VIDEO REVIEW PARTY, also this Tuesday at 4pm... all are invited.