Performing Arts – Omega School

Introduction

Imagination and Innovation are the characteristics of the human mind. Every individual craves to create an identity for himself/herself. The field of Arts provides an opportunity to every individual to satisfy this inner urge, which is to explore, to Create. The Department of Performing Arts at Lalaji Memorial Omega International School aims at helping each student connect with their inner self and bring about a balance in the development of intellect and creativity. Music, Dance and Theatre constitute the Department of Performing Arts.

DANCE

Dance is not only an excellent form of exercise but also a very good art form to develop mind body co-ordination. It fosters an individual’s ability to better interpret interpersonal nonverbal communication and provides opportunities for self-expression. Dance education teaches the values and skills of creativity, problem solving, risk taking, making judgments in the absence of rules, and higher-order thinking skills.

MUSIC

Learning music as an art develops sensitivity and creativity. It is a form of expression and a way of communication. Music can provide an outlet for stress, a channel to celebrate, or a way to bond with oneself. Music education improves your mental, emotional and cognitive abilities. The brain is stimulated to think out of the ordinary, which results in improved creativity. The vibrations and sound energy of music has been known to have positive influences on the physical and spiritual well-being for many centuries.

THEATRE

The objective of Drama for students is in fostering the twin aims of self expression and confidence-building. These are the important tools in literary building particularly communication skills. For students with challenging behavior or problems in interacting, Drama provides an opportunity to let out energy within the boundaries of the lesson. Proving an arena for the students to open up, help them come out from inhibitions, express themselves verbally and non verbally, build in self confidence to face the society, think individually, appreciate oneself and others and work collaboratively.

Curriculum

We follow a structured curriculum for Music, Dance and Theatre (for both CBSE and CIS streams), formulating learning goals for diverse learners. The curriculum for all the three art forms has been framed keeping in mind not only learning of the art form but also the holistic development that would take place within the child by following this structure.

DANCE

Different skill concepts like hopping, jumping, skipping, co-ordination of hand-leg and body movements, introduction to different folk styles of dancing (both Indian and Western), prop dancing and planned for classes I – III.
Different skill concepts like hopping, jumping , skipping , co-ordination of hand-leg and body movements, introduction to different folk styles of dancing (both Indian and Western), prop dancing are planned for classes I – III.
Students of classes IV & V are taught concepts of stage management, prop dancing, different formations and movement patterns , details of solo and group dancing.
Girls of classes VI – X are taught classical dance – Bharatanatyam (following the Kalakshetra pattern of syllabus). Boys are trained for Western dance. Both follow a systematic syllabus which has been designed keeping in mind the different learning needs of children.
Students are also exposed to different genres of dance, i.e., folk, contemporary, fusion and western, which would help them to develop versatility and builds up their confidence to proceed towards choreography.

MUSIC

The curriculum in music includes songs in English, Hindi, Tamil, other regional languages as well as global languages (such as Spanish, Chinese, French etc).
Songs are chosen in such a way that they relate to the subject curriculum. For instance, Song on trees when Plant Life is the Social chapter in progress, Song on Nouns/Verbs when the topic covered in English is Nouns or Verbs, and so on. Apart from these we teach children songs about different values of life. We make music enjoyable and interesting by teaching songs which have an element of humor within them so that children are able to have fun with learning.
Concepts like melody, pitch, variation in pitch, rhythmic variations are introduced for classes IV – VI by teaching a variety of songs in different languages suiting different age groups.
Students of VII – X are trained in Indian classical music, light music and folk styles of singing.
Basic concepts and dynamics of western classical music are introduced and students are trained in choral music

THEATRE
Theatre has been introduced in the school with the idea of developing skills like oration, narration, communication, voice modulation and expression.

The lesson plans for classed I – X are prepared based upon the requirement of the class and age group.
Classes IV & V are taught to write play scripts of their own and dramatize. Such activities help the children reinforce the skill of writing.
All genres of Theatre Art like pantomime, mono acting, melodrama, musical drama, street play, soliloquy etc. have been incorporated in the curriculum plan for classes VII-X.

Following this curriculum, we have seen remarkable improvement in children especially in areas related to:

Co ordinations skills
Listening skills
Maintaining eye contact
Self expression
Confidence in presentation(off and on stage)
Creative thinking
Increased Involvement

Events & Initiatives

‘Kalanjali- A festival of Performing Arts’ is an initiative by the Department of Performing Arts to instill and fortify event management skills in students. It is organized and managed entirely by the students of Senior School under the adept guidance of teachers. This mega event comprises of a workshop conducted by eminent personalities in the fields of Music, Dance or Theatre followed by a cultural program in which highly acclaimed artists perform to an audience.

Kalanjali – 2016
Artists:

Shri. Anil Srinivasan
Dr. Sriram Parasuram
Shri. Abhishek Raghuram
Smt. Sudha Ragunathan

Kalanjali 2017
Workshop and Concert by violin maestros Shri. Ganesh and Shri. Kumaresh

‘Kalanjali’ – Intra class competition is an annual event organized by the Department of Performing Arts to foster creative skill, blended with moral learning. It gives an opportunity to the students of classes VI – XI to showcase their innate and artistic talent by choreographing their own dance sequences, writing scripts and directing their own plays . Teachers act as guiding elements, allowing the students to explore their abilities. Kalanjali also acts as a platform for the students to learn and develop aesthetic and moral values like teamwork, mutual trust and respect, sensitivity, tolerance and patience, acceptance and self confidence.

‘Kalanjali Budding Stars Talent Expo’ is conducted for the students of class I-V with an objective to boost self confidence and self expression. For students of class I-III, the event is an exhibition of talent in various fields such as music, dance, fancy dress, storytelling etc. For class IV and V it is a solo level competition, where participants compete with students of the same age group in the fields of music, dance, mono acting etc.

Achievements 2017 - 2018

Anuvrat Nyas National level singing competiton

Kritika Das of class VI won the 1st Prize in solo singing competition at the National Level with more than 40 schools participating from all over India.
Students won the 1st Prize in the State-level competition conducted by Anuvrat Nyas.

Madras Youth Choir

Our school received the 3rd Prize amongst 25 participating schools in the Group Song competition conducted by the Madras Youth Choir.

Royal Gridlock -St. Brittos Academy

In the competition series conducted by St. Brittos Academy, our school bagged the overall championship trophy for winning the maximum number of events.

Students of class XI won the 1st Prize in the Martial arts dance competition.
Girls of class XI won the 2nd Prize in Adzap.
Our little dancers of class II not only performed enthusiastically but also won the 2nd Prize.
Students won the 3^rd Prize in Drama for performing on the topic “Digital detox”.

Royal Gridlock -St. Brittos Academy

PES University, Bangalore conducted The Amateur Scientist; an interschool competition which included events based on various scientific principles.

‘Nirvaadya’, an event integrating science and music required students to create their own musical instruments for the performance. Children created their own shakers, guitar, xylophone, tambourine, ghatam, jaltarang ,drum kit using buckets etc.

Students of class XI won the 1st Prize for a creative presentation in music.
Our school also bagged the Overall Championship trophy.

Dramatics

Our student won the 1st Prize in a competition conducted by Don Bosco School, Egmore.
Our students were awarded the Consolation Prize in the competition conducted by Goethe institute after performing for the topic “Water in Indian Cinema”.
Our students won the 1^st Prize in a competition conducted by Birla Planetarium for performing on the topic “Life of a Scientist.”

Yuva Rasika workshop

Nearly 150 students from Omega participated in the music workshop organized by Music Academy in collaboration with the Music Forum

Our school bagged the Overall Championship trophy for the maximum number of Rasikas.
Our students rendered a musical performance at the Music Academy in the presence of reputed musicians and fellow students and teachers from other schools.

Bhaktaswara Bhajan Mandali

Selected students from class V to VIII participated in a Bhajan competition organised by Bhaktaswara Bhajan Mandali. Students gave a 30 minute presentation with live instruments and received abundant appreciation from the judges for their presentation.

Performance by NCC students during the Chief Minister Rally program to felicitate the cadets

Students at the CM Rally program.
NCC cadets and teachers received an award and appreciation for a commendable performance.

Isai Thoppu conducted by DD Podigai

Students performed on DD Podhigai channel in the Isai Thopu – Season 3 program conducted by DD.

Achievements 2018 - 2019

Isai Thoppu on DD Podhugai

Students of Classes VI to X presented bhajans in different languages in the program aired on DD Podhigai channel.

St.Brittos Interschool Competition

Students of Classes IV to XII participated in the event and secured the 1st Prizes in Folk Dance, Fusion Dance and Acapella events.

Interschool Dance Competition – Shri Chaithanya

Students won the 1st Prize in both the Freestyle for Primary and Freestyle for Middle school students, out of 15 teams that participated in the event.