The ChroNiCle
B10 A&E
Nov. 7, 2012
Four film festival judges selected By DaviD WolDenberg
printeD with permission of jason oBerman
printeD with permission of matthew leichenger
printeD with permission of alan YousefzaDeh
music for the soul: Student musicians from Advanced Jazz Combo perform at the Vibrato as people listen and dine, top. Martin Riu ’13 and Robert Lee ’14 play guitar and bass, left. Daniel Sunshine ’13 drums near the bass in the back of the stage, above.
Jazz bands, teacher perform in first show
By Jensen Pak
With dimmed lighting and the aroma of food permeating the restaurant, the Vibrato Grill buzzed with activity as the Harvard-Westlake Advanced Jazz combo and the Jazz Explorers stepped onto the stage. These students performed the Vibrato Grill on Oct. 14. Reservations were required to attend the event. The Advanced Jazz combo and the
Jazz Explorers are both groups that are part of the jazz band class. “The instrumentation of the group is pretty rare because of the addition of Nick Lee [‘14] on trombone,” Jazz Explorers drummer Daniel that a trombone is in Explorto take advantage of that and do some interesting arrangements with three-part harmonies between the trombone,
tenor and guitar.”
Performing Arts teacher Shawn Costantino performed with his own band. “My band is a group of friends and musical colleagues time,” Costantino said. “We played with the students at Vibrato because many of the guys in the band teach the jazz students in the combo classes here at Harvard-Westlake and we like the mentoring and
musical fellowship that we get by sharing the stage with our students.” Although the combos held they had previously played at Back-to-School Day and the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Kutler Center. ed great that night,” Sunshine said. “We practiced a whole lot way to kick off the year.”
The Harvard-Westlake Film Festival has selected four of the judges for its March 15 event. Cheri Gaulke, the Upper School Visual Arts Department Head, said there would be additional judges added later on. The four judges selected are Janet Scott Batchler (Corin Batchler ’14, Sabrina Batchler ’15), Roger Corman, Norman Lear (Madeline Lear ’13) and Tim Ryan. Batchler is a screen writer, whose titles include “Batman Forever.” She teaches screen writing at USC and has won a honorable mention for the Crystal Heart Award for her Corman is a producer, director, and actor, as well as the great uncle of Kyle Corman ’15. He won an honorary Academy Award in 2009 for his work. Some of his notable include “The Silence of the Lambs,” “The Godfather Part Lear is a television writer and producer who has produced sitcoms including “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times.” Tim Ryan is a senior editor at Rotten Tomatoes, a movie reviewing website. Before he became a rewiewer, Ryan worked as a reporter at the Manchester Union Leader and the Westerly Sun. He will be returning for his third year as a judge.
Sophomore hopes to compete internationally in ballroom dancing
By Mila barzDukas
Calvert is currently dancing at Nadia’s Rhythm Room On the day of Katherine on Ventura Blvd, a studio that Calvert ’15’s 12th birthday, she specializes in ballroom dancsigned up for ballroom dancing ing. lessons shortly after becoming She dances every style eligible. but considers her best dances to be the Jive and the Tango. For her, the hardest style to and the singing classes, but dance is the Rumba, mostly my parents because it is a wanted me to take dance, nique that features a lot really want to of hip action, I have the whole be a ballerina as opposed to sequined dress. There’s or anything footwork, she like that, so said. tanning involved, H e r the week before and room dancing teacher Paon TV and it sha Balykin is the morning of the looked fun,” also her partcompetition you Calvert said. ner, and she become thoroughly A couple described him of years later, as a “crazy orange. And your hair she switched Russian.” She turns into a helmet.” to a more secredits the rious studio fact that she —Katherine Calvert ’13 doesn’t have because she wanted to a partner her compete. age to the fact “One of the best parts of that not as many boys particiballroom is being able to com- pate in ballroom dance as girls. pete and win,” Calvert said. are doing ballroom right now dancing before, and that was are dancing with their sisters or have had a partner for a - long time,” Calvert said. Calvert started ballroom competitions.” dancing later than most danc-
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ers her age, and she says she probably won’t be able to get a real partner until she turns 18 and moves up a few age divisions. Because she dances with her teacher, Calvert competes under the category “Pro-Amateur, which consists of a dancer and a teacher. She has been to competitions all over the country including ones in New York City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. She hopes to start dancing internationally once she has more experience. “There’s a competition in go to, but the big competition Las Vegas in December,” Calvert said. The competition will feature dancers from all over the country as well as professional performances. Calvert expects to be performing over 50 routines a day. Calvert says one of her favorite things about ballroom dancing is watching professionals perform because they are the best of the best. She especially likes Yulia Zagouruychenko, a United States Latin Champion. a while back and had a little fangirl moment and took pic-
printeD with permission of Katherine calvert
Ballroom Dancer: Katherine Calvert ’15 holds a souvenir and poses with her dance teacher and partner, Pasha Balykin. tures with her,” Calvert said. The physical preparation for a competition is unlike a lot of other sports. dress. There’s tanning involved, the week before and the morning of the competi-
tion you become thoroughly orange. And your hair turns into a helmet,” Calvert said. in ballroom, Calvert also plays water polo and performed in the fall musical, “Oklahoma,” as a featured dancer.