The talents of grades 2 and 3 filled the Bucknall Theater with seasonal cheer at the special holiday show, titled “Home at Harker for the Holidays,” on Dec. 16. The show featured all students in both grades, each singing a wide array of holiday songs.
Louis Hoffman, lower school music teacher, directed the show, which featured riser choreography by Gail Palmer, lower school performing arts teacher, which made the singing numbers a visual as well as audio treat throughout the show. The show began with the second and third graders collaborating for the opening number, “December Nights.” From there, grade 2 students sang their portion of the show, which included songs such as “Over the River and Through the Woods” and “Jingle Bells,” as well as a tune called “Piñata,” which featured grade 2 English, math and social studies teachers Judi Beil, Jeanette Bhatia, Enni Chen and Kimberly Sandoval swinging at piñatas suspended above the stage.
After the second graders concluded their set, the third grade dance squad performed an entertaining routine to Johnny Marks and the Hit Crew’s “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” choreographed by Kristin Maurer, after-school dance teacher.
The grade 3 singers took the stage shortly after to perform some a special selection of songs, including “Arbolito,” which was sung entirely in Spanish and featured lower school Spanish teacher Anita Gilbert on vocals, music teachers Toni and Paul Woodruff on violin and piano, respectively, as well as four student instrumentalists: cellist Rachel Broweleit, violinist Gabriel Chai, violinist Kyle Li and cellist Jeffrey Yang. For “The Little Snowflake,” Walid Fahmy, lower school P.E. teacher, Kathleen Ferretti, grade 2 and grade 3 department chair, Heidi Gough, grade 3 social studies teacher, Jim McGovern grade 3 and 4 P.E. teacher and Heather Russell, grade 2 and 3 English, creative writing and math teacher, all took the stage dressed as snowflakes and danced for the crowd’s entertainment.
For the final performance, both classes once again took the stage to seeing “Around the World at Holiday Time” and the grand finale, “Jingle Bell Rock.”
Whitney McClelland designed the attractive scenery for the show, while Danny Dunn, lower school performing arts technical director, along with students from her middle school Tech Club and her grade 5 technical theater class, made sure the show ran smoothly and with minimal delay.