On April 7, Aragon’s Jabberwocky Literary and Arts Magazine hosted the first San Mateo Union High School District-wide art showcase at the Aragon theater. The show featured student work from Aragon, Burlingame, Capuchino and San Mateo high schools.
The art showcase accepted a variety of artistic mediums.
“The idea started … [in] December, and initially [was meant to be] a poetry slam or a spoken word competition, but we wanted to make it more inclusive to all different types of art,” said Jabberwocky president and senior Angelina Parker. “[We] also [wanted to] expand it so students [outside of] Aragon could participate. There’s very few opportunities for students from different schools to collaborate.”
Jabberwocky adviser Genevieve Thurtle expanded on the idea of uniting the district.
“I love the idea [of] bringing students together from across the district in a way that isn’t competitive,” Thurtle said. “This is an occasion where students can showcase their work [and become] a community of artists, which is important.”
The show began with Burlingame sophomore Lucas Keeley’s dramatic retelling of “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, followed by Aragon junior Kent Ha’s cover of “Wake Me Up” by Avicii. San Mateo senior Alexis MacAvoy then performed Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto, 3rd Movement,” and an original poem “Zombies and the Apocalypse” was read by Aragon senior Kentaro Regan.
Later in the show was a performance by freshman Anjali Datt, who showcased a traditional Indian dance called Bharatanatyam to a Carnatic remix of “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran.
“I wanted people to understand [the music],” Datt said. “I’ve been recently listening to a bunch of fusion songs, so I was like, ‘You know what, I like the rhythm of this’ and people will know [fusion] songs, so using [them] would be a good idea.”
San Mateo senior Keren Kreindler performed two original songs: “Gone” on her guitar, inspired by a complicated romantic situation, and “After Hours” on the piano, an imaginative telling of a forbidden love story.
“Sharing my songs is something that’s meaningful for me,” Kreindler said. “If I don’t get much of a chance to do that in the future, I want to make sure that I take every opportunity that I get, even if it’s something small.”
Aragon freshman Samantha Green continued the show with the poem “Campfire.” Next, Capuchino senior Teagan Brooks performed a dance called “Work.”
Sophomore Cassie McMillan then shared an excerpt from her unfinished novel, “A Dead, Alive Soldier” following the story of an illiterate mute soldier who has a multitude of stories to tell. For McMillan, experiencing others’ creations was also fulfilling.
“Sharing [art] is really cool, but I [was] also really excited to see what other people have created,” McMillan said. “There’s a lot of talent in lots of hidden places and I [liked] to see [them] come to light.”
After an intermission, Aragon seniors Sydney Johnson and Audrey Chao danced to “Harmony.” Afterwards, Aragon freshman Emily Peng played Boccherini’s “Concerto No. 3 in G Major” on her cello, school sophomore Isabella Bianco read a poem titled “Sweet, Sweet Haze” and San Mateo seniors Samantha Young and Niru Thirunarayanan sang “For Good” from “Wicked.”
Aragon junior Alysia Evans Asano then performed a jazz piece to “Feeling Good.” Evans Asano, who has been a ballet dancer for the past twelve years and a jazz dancer for the past eight, ventured out of her comfort zone for her first jazz solo and created this piece with her instructor last December.
“I got to show the people at my ballet studio and the people at the competitions that I’m not just about ballet,” Evans Asano said. “[From] the last year that I’ve spent just training ballet, I’ve brought back things that I used to enjoy doing with a more adult twist to it.”
Next, Aragon sophomores Yael Boaz and Frankie Mayor performed spoken word poem “The Inner Workings of Bruce ‘Batman’ Wayne’s Brain,” and Ha returned with a cover of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra.
To end the night, Aragon senior Zoe Neil performed their piece “Endings,” a comparison of reality and the starry-eyed expectations people have of it.
“Poetry is so emotional, and it … captures the heart of the human experience,” Neil said. “You can just start writing and it [comes] directly from the emotion in your veins … Sometimes I have a harder time writing longer [pieces] and I like that [with] poetry, you just can sink your teeth into it. That allows [poetry] to be an outlet for me in ways other mediums can’t be.”
Some audience members noted the personal and cultural elements of performances.
“I also do Indian classical dance, so it was really cool to see somebody else doing a piece that mixes both Western and Indian styles,” said Carlmont senior Ruhi Koppula. “I really resonated with that performance and could see the hard work that she put in.”
Others left the theater appreciative of the show.
“I was transported to another world,” said audience member Michelle Cinq-mars. “There were so many pieces that left me breathless; I had goosebumps. I told [my friends] at the end of the show [that] if we could just bottle up all the creativity, all the energy, all the beauty that we had tonight, we could solve all the world’s problems.”
