On Thursday, December 10th, our Elementary students performed in the annual winter concert.
DAIS Lower Elementary students (Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2) presented “What’s Your Winter!” – a holiday program about all of the great things we experience in wintertime. Students sang songs about Christmas, New Years, Fireworks, Traveling, Snow, and Winter Break. The show featured live performances and pre-recorded acting by our talented students.
The DAIS Upper Elementary Winter Concert – “Dynamite Christmas Vacation!” – took place right after the lower elementary one. The show featured students in grades 3-5 in a multi-media program mixing live performances with pre-recorded video scenes telling the story of students stuck at school during a snowstorm. The students discovered that it’s not so bad to be at school for winter vacation as long as you can be together with your friends. In fact, it’s a Dynamite Christmas Vacation!
What’s Your Winter?
Lower Elementary students and their music teacher Mr. Austin Reyna presented a fantastic program starting at 4:30 PM in the DAIS New Gym. Most of the performances and musical pieces were composed and put on the stage by Mr. Reyna himself! The kids appeared on the stage with these songs and dances:
It’s Christmas! (words and music by Austin Reyna). This song is inspired by various Broadway shows and even includes some poetry about how we might feel when Christmas gets closer and closer.- A Brand New Year (words and music by Austin Reyna). DAIS Grade 2 showed us how the New Year is celebrated on December 31st and January 1st.
- Fireworks! (words and music by Austin Reyna). DAIS Grade 1 used drums to represent the sound fireworks make. They are big, loud, bright, and colorful!
- Traveling (words and music by Austin Reyna, and Michael Kuropatwinsky on the guitar). This song is all about the fun experience of traveling somewhere during winter break. Although not many people are traveling as much this year, many of us have great memories of traveling to see family and friends in China and around the world.
- Vivaldi’s Winter. Performed by our youngest students, this dance show made us think of a blizzard, which is a very bad snowstorm with very strong winds.
See the Snow (words and music by Austin Reyna). Even though winter can get very cold, snow can be so pretty! You can make snowmen, have snowball fights, and make snow angels.
- 节气歌 (Jiéqigē). It’s a traditional Chinese song that celebrates more than just winter. There’s also spring, summer, and fall!
- School’s Out (words and music by Austin Reyna). In this final piece all DAIS Lower Elementary students sang and dance to celebrate a break from school. School is a great place to learn, have fun, and grow strong and smart. But during winter, we get the chance to take a break from school to be with family and friends.
Our students worked incredibly hard to prepare all these performances. The audience was truly delighted with Mr. Reyna’s talent and the talents of our young singers and dancers. They all got a heavy round of applause!
Dynamite Christmas Vacation!
At 5:30 PM, after a short intermission, Upper Elementary students walked out on the stage and gripped our attention. When our Principals welcomed the audience, the students and Dr. Gifford started the show that mixed live performances with pre-recorded videos:
Lovely Evening (a German round) by DAIS Grades 3-5 and DHBS Grades 3-6.- I Need a Christmas Vacation (from the musical “I Need a Christmas Vacation” by John Jacobson). This song tells how everyone wants to go on vacation right after the holiday show.
- Together (from the musical “The Grumps of Ring-a-ding Town” by John Jacobson and John Higgins). DAIS Grade 3 students discover that we are at our best when we work together.
- Let Your Best Light Shine (from the musical “Bugz Christmas” by John Jacobson and John Higgins). When the electricity goes out, let your best light shine!
- The Sound in Your Heart (from the musical “The Grumps of Ring-a-ding Town” by John Jacobson and John Higgins). This song was beautifully performed by Grade 4.
- Medley of Traditional Christmas Songs – including Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
- Vive L’Amour (an American college song) by DAIS Grade 4 – a beautiful sounding song about friendship.
- Christmas With My Friends (from the musical “Christmas Vacation” by John Jacobson). It’s not so bad to be stuck at school in a snowstorm if you can spend Christmas with all of your friends!
- Snow Biz! (from a musical). This song by DAIS Grade 5 celebrates the joy of playing in the snow with friends.
The culmination of the show was the Dynamite Dance Party! Each class took a turn dancing to this song by the K-Pop group BTS. What a show! No wonder that the snow has melted, and we all could finally go on vacation! It was an evening of joy and happiness for the whole community, especially for parents and families who haven’t been able to attend a live performance on DAIS campus for almost a year. Thank you to all teachers and staff to make it possible, and to all our brilliant Elementary School students for participating.
Click here to see more pictures.
Watch this video featuring the both parts of the Elementary School Winter Concert.
