Photograph of Baltimore School for the Arts students with John Waters

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    BSA Students in the BSO’s Appalachian Spring and Hairspray

    BSA’s partnership with the world-renowned Baltimore Symphony Orchestra continued in the spring of 2016 with two collaborations in June.

    • Appalachian Spring
      BSA dancers performed the original Martha Graham choreography set to Aaron Copland’s classic score evoking America’s wide-open landscape and inherent optimism. June 9-11.
    • Hairspray

      This quirky classic set in Baltimore follows a young girl as she ends up changing the world. A concert production of the John Waters classic featured full orchestra conducted by Jack Everly, vocalists, and John Waters himself as narrator. BSA students sang and danced as part of the cast of this semi-staged production. Ran June 2 – June 5. Enjoy a review of Hairspray here.

    These performances weren’t a first for BSA’s talented artists. In January 2013, 50 BSA students were cast in the world premiere of the concert production of Hairspray, which also featured John Waters as narrator at the BSO. The cast included ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz (as Wilbur Turnblad), Tony winner Beth Leavel (Velma Von Tussle), Paul Vogt, who played Edna Turnblad in the Broadway production. Check out these articles and photos in The Sun — Click here! and in Broadway World — Click here!  For some more photos from The SunClick here!

    In April 2013, the iconic ballet Appalachian Spring by Martha Graham, Aaron Copland, and Isamu Noguchi was brought to life by BSA musicians, dancers, and actors in performances in April. Students shone in the first ever high-school production of the classic. They trained and prepared with Miki Orihara, regisseur with the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance, and Aaron Sherber, music director of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Baltimore Magazine selected BSA’s Appalachian Spring as one of the best events of 2013. The groundbreaking performance of Appalachian Spring was also featured in print and online in both the arts sections of The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post.

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