Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts

The purpose of the collaboration with the Conservatory is to develop appreciation as well as enrichment. All students take part, and have the opportunity to experience first hand the discipline of dance. If a strong connection is made the staff helps the student to explore further opportunities. Four dance workshops offered this school year, continuing from a historical perspective, are ballet, followed by contemporary dance, social dance and theatrical dance, each a 5 week program.

Choir Workshop

Directed by Wayne Rogers in collaboration with the Conservatory is also offered once a week.

Theatre Workshop

Gregory Heyn, a multi-talented experienced director, and writer prepares students for the Drama Winter and Spring Performances as well as the Halifax Fringe Festival and Liverpool Festival. A project is underway where several grants have been issued for a special production, Opus for a Miracle.  Several groups are taking part such as several members of the NS Symphony, Northwood Players, NS Opera Society, 2 local schools are auditioning including professional and amateur actors.

In "The Kids of Swing" author/director, Gregory Heyn, combined, the music of Swing Era with song and dance to create a montage of lively, haunting, tragic, and  sometimes funny excerpts using the actual words of Veterans and their loved ones.The music of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller provides a nostalgic backdrop and as the characters describe life in bustling war-time Halifax.
Veterans recall their experiences overseas and after their return. In candid and blunt language they discuss the horror of combat, the loss of friends, camaraderie, and the after-effects of war upon their return home.

Ikebana – Japanese Flower Arranging

Students have the opportunity to learn the basic principles of heaven, earth and man. They are encouraged to beautify their homes and school with seasonal arrangments. There are plans to build a special shelf where an arrangement would be placed daily in the school's main lobby.  An apprenticeship was set up with a commercial flower shop for a semester at the request of an interested student.

Art Workshops

Students took part in a 2 charcoal drawing workshops. Their paintings were then bound into a book to be placed in archives. The last class of the workshop was devoted to bookbinding. Students brought in personal papers to be bound, and created their own books. 

Calligraphy Workshop

Students start with italic calligraphy and practice the alphabet with nibbed pen and ink and then make nibs themselves creating a dramatic effect of their mastery. They also practice using serifs, connecting letters and writing short practice paragraphs about the history of italic cursive. Next they copy haikus and at the end write and share their own original haikus.

Animation Workshop

Interested students took part in an 8 week 3d animation workshop offered by the DaVinci Institute where they learned: navigation, 3d space, transforms and basic modeling, clones, mirroring, modifiers, mesh modeling, converting 2d to 3d, sound, pose to pose, lighting and rendering. Their final project was their own video to VHS tape to take home.

Web Page Design

By student request, a formal web page design class has been created. In tandem with this, the same students are working to create and publish a student journal, both e-based and in conventional hard copy for distribution.