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R.I. School for the Deaf prepares musical revue | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Imagine a musical staged by students who cannot hear music, but who, nevertheless, learn lyrics and dance moves and put on a show each spring.
The Rhode Island School for the Deaf will stage a musical revue Thursday and Friday, highlighting songs from musicals the school has presented over the past 14 years.
West Side Story. Footloose. The Sound of Music. The King and I. Annie. Oliver. The Wizard of Oz.
“You name it, we’ve done it,” says English teacher Dana Janik, who directs the musicals.
In June, the school’s facility at One Corliss Park will close for a year as a new building is built on the same site, and students wanted to bid farewell to the old building, Janik says. The school will rent the recently closed Rhodes Elementary School in Warwick for the 2009-10 school year.
About 60 of the public school’s 80 students will perform in the show, from preschool grades to high school.
“First they learn all the dancing, and we have a choreographer who takes them step by step through the moves,” Janik says. “Then they are given the lyrics and I sign it to them with the music.” Some students have some residual hearing and use hearing aids, and they do not need as much help, Janik says, while other students are profoundly deaf and watch Janik for prompts.
During the performance, the songs are played on a CD player for the audience as the students dance and sign their way through the songs, using American Sign Language.
“A lot of our students love music,” Janik says. “And they want to be like other high schools that have musicals in the spring.”
Imagine a musical staged by students who cannot hear music, but who, nevertheless, learn lyrics and dance moves and put on a show each spring.
The Rhode Island School for the Deaf will stage a musical revue Thursday and Friday, highlighting songs from musicals the school has presented over the past 14 years.
West Side Story. Footloose. The Sound of Music. The King and I. Annie. Oliver. The Wizard of Oz.
“You name it, we’ve done it,” says English teacher Dana Janik, who directs the musicals.
In June, the school’s facility at One Corliss Park will close for a year as a new building is built on the same site, and students wanted to bid farewell to the old building, Janik says. The school will rent the recently closed Rhodes Elementary School in Warwick for the 2009-10 school year.
About 60 of the public school’s 80 students will perform in the show, from preschool grades to high school.
“First they learn all the dancing, and we have a choreographer who takes them step by step through the moves,” Janik says. “Then they are given the lyrics and I sign it to them with the music.” Some students have some residual hearing and use hearing aids, and they do not need as much help, Janik says, while other students are profoundly deaf and watch Janik for prompts.
During the performance, the songs are played on a CD player for the audience as the students dance and sign their way through the songs, using American Sign Language.
“A lot of our students love music,” Janik says. “And they want to be like other high schools that have musicals in the spring.”