Arts & Entertainment

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Special Dance Company Performs 2017 Recital

Author: Duncan Renshaw

The Special Dance Company Showed several of their dances to the student body during school on May 19 and gave full performances that evening and the following evening. The group performs a recital each year which you can purchase tickets for. According to the South Orange Maplewood school district’s website, “ The Special Dance Company of Columbia High School is comprised of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are chosen through a selective audition process.” The Company is lead by Kandice Point-Du-Jour who has worked at the school for *several years* (I plan on speaking with Ms Point-Du-Jour)

The Yearly SDC Group Picture, Photographed by Mr. Fisher

The Company performed *a number* (to be looked into) of dances  during their performances some of which especially stood out to audience members such as Ryan Barnes, a Junior at Columbia High School who saw their May 19 performance. “‘Blue Sky’ stood out to me,” said Ryan “Both because I know the composer and the dance was a stark contrast from the majority of the more modern dances.” Ryan also mentions that he was impressed by the choreography skills of especially the sophomores. All of the dances in the performance were choreographed by members of the Special Dance Company themselves with the instruction of Ms. Point-Du-Jour.

Some people will even interpret the performances of the Special Dance Company as somewhat of a reflection of the community, or at least the student body. Ryan mentions the dance performed to the song “Strange Fruit”, which was performed for the recitals as well as during school. He says that he feels it reflects the more liberal attitude of the Maplewood South Orange are and of Columbia High School and how the community “longs reform”. And however the dances are otherwise interpreted,he believes they reflect our community.

The Special Dance Company Performs Their recital every year, usually in mid to late May over a weekend, in the evening. They spend the entire school year learning choreography and preparing for their performance, with Kandice Point-Du-Jour teachingthem step by step. “I always think of special dance as one of Columbia’s best performances,” Ryan claims. “I’m always pretty excited to see it.”

Mapso’s Chris Nitti is Releasing His Very Own Solo Album

Michael Wallin

(603/600)

The number of bands coming out of Columbia High School has been on the rise in recent time. Some of these new bands include Israeli Disco, Baby Hands, Super Sweet 16 and West Virginia Space Expo. Guitarist and singer, Chris Nitti, from Super Sweet 16 is a junior at Columbia High School and has some exciting news for June ninth. Nitti is releasing his first solo album, “Condition.” Nitti worked very hard over the past months to bring his vision into creation and claimed to have clocked in about 30 hours working on it. The album has nine tracks, two music videos and was written, recorded and produced single handedly by Chris Nitti. These are impressive accomplishments to be accomplished by a student in high school during the school year.

Nitti is very fond of indie rock artist Alex G aspires to create music like one of his favorite artists. “Most of my inspiration draws from "(Sandy) Alex G", and indie rock artist who also self-records his music,” said Nitti. Chris Nitti has successfully self recorded his own album much like his inspiration, Alex G. On an early release Nitti dropped his song “Here With You” along with the music video and is a solid insight into what the rest of the album will be like. The lyrics and guitar are very insightful to the life and feelings of Nitti.  However it is not easy to balance school and music simultaneously. “The main roadblock I faced was time. School keeps me really busy during the week, so I could only record on weekends, and some weekends I couldn't even record.” Many people know about the struggles student athletes face with time management but don’t realize this struggle translates to student musicians as well. It is difficult to do well in school and produce your own music which is precisely why Nitti is excited for the summer where he will have more time for his music and maybe even start the process of recording another album. Music plays a big part in Nitti’s life and he can’t wait until he can finally focus on his music.

Artwork by Chris Nitti

Chris Nitti used his life experiences to develop the theme for his album. The title of the album has a lot of significance to the overall theme of the album. “The theme is pretty much that all of the songs deal with the condition that someone is in at a given moment/how that someone is feeling. Sometimes a good condition, sometimes bad,” said Nitti. The theme of the album has his ups and downs just like life itself. The early release of “Here With You” has a positive vibe and appears to be one of the ups in the album. He is very proud on how each song turned out and is excited for the official release of his self produced album. When asked if he had a favorite song on the album he said it was the song “Slow.” When asked why he simply said “I think the vibe of the song is really nice.”

Artwork by Chris Nitti

“Condition” is a great achievement for Chris Nitti. It is the embodiment of all of his hard work and commitment. He managed to balance his schoolwork and and his music which are two very time consuming occupations. The music he’s written is an open representation of his emotions and his life. Nitti is super enthusiastic about the release of his album and can’t wait for June ninth where he will finally share his hard work with the world.