Students in the Spotlight

Daniel S. has won 1st place in the Northern Virginia's Music Teacher's Association Woodwind's Concerto Competition (Elementary division).

If you've attended a few Gesher events, you probably know Daniel as the "Music Man".  Daniel plays the clarinet and piano and composes music for both instruments.  He also sings and acts.  He has acted in several Gesher plays--you may remember him as "Joseph" in Gesher's Chanukah 2009 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Daniel has played piano and clarinet and sung as a member of Gesher's Middle School Band since its inception.  He has played both instruments at Gesher talent shows, Purim celebrations and Chanukah events.  Completely at ease on stage, Daniel is happy to provide music for special occasions at Gesher.  He has played the clarinet at Gesher's graduation ceremonies for the past two years--one year, playing his own arrangement of a piano/clarinet duet with his brother.  Recently, he played the clarinet (and also shared the stage with brother in a clarinet-trumpet duet) at a Congressional Chanukah reception hosted by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz at the Library of Congress. 

Outside Gesher, Daniel plays the clarinet in the McLean Youth Orchestra.  He has participated in several clarinet and piano competitions, most recently winning an honorable mention at the Music Teachers National Association Junior Woodwinds Competition at James Madison University.  He is preparing for another clarinet competition in February.  Daniel enjoys sharing his music with the broader community:  for his Bar Mitzvah project last year, he played both of his instruments at retirement homes--an activity that he has continued this year.  He played the piano in a Chopin program for residents of the Virginian in November and played the clarinet for the residents when Gesher's choir visited the Virginian in December.  He has also injected some diversity into the holiday festivities at a local Hyatt, playing Chanukah music on the piano in their lobby.  Last year, Daniel played the clarinet in a "Musical Minyan" at his synagogue, Olam Tikvah.  Known for his impressive "Tekiah Gedolah", Daniel has also volunteered to blow the shofar at his synagogue and hopes to have that honor at High Holy Day services this coming year.

Rachel has been a competitive gymnast since 2005.  She began gymnastics at age three in Alpharetta, GA.  When she moved with her family to Virginia, she joined the Optionals Team at Capital Gymnastics in Burke, VA, where she practices 23 hours per week.

She is currently in competition season as a Level 7 gymnast, having recently placed first all-around at the Commonwealth Cup in Virginia Beach with a 36.825.  Her highest score this season was a 36.9.  She will be competing in Maryland in January and again in March, with a national meet in California in February, and the State competition in Virginia at the end of March.  Rachel loves her family, puppy, sisters, friends, the cello, reading, hiking, swimming and snorkeling, is on Student Council at Gesher and works hard to maintain her straight A’s in school.

Lars R. has been studying at the Washington School of Ballet for 4 years. He has performed in the Washington Ballet's Nutcracker for three years, each time with a different role in the Act I party scene. For the past two years, Lars' roles have entailed, among other dancing, partnering with ballerinas from the Washington Ballet's professional Company--mostly during its ballet version of the Virginia Reel.

Lars auditions for the Nutcracker at the beginning of October. Every weekend thereafter he rehearses for several hours on both Saturday and Sunday at the Washington Ballet's HQ in NW, DC at first without and then with the Company. The show opens after Thanksgiving at THEARC, and then the cast rehearses at the Warner Theater before moving the production there the first week in December. This year, performances ended on December 26th.

Lars appeared in 11 Nutcracker shows this year. The Washington Ballet has three separate casts for the boys and girls in the party scene. The boys who are not at the pre-professional level range in ages from 6 to 14 yrs. old. When he's not performing, Lars still needs to be on stand-by if one of the two other boys who also plays his role in another cast is very sick, his parent’s car breaks down, and the like. He was called in twice his first year.

Lars gets wonderful experience learning about working and rehearsing to handling unexpected things that happen during live performances, being part of a world-class production, and the privilege of working directly with Septime Webre, the Artistic Director of the Company. This year he also had the experience of meeting a girl who participated in one of the shows through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Theresa followed him on-stage as his “younger sister.” It was her wish to be a ballerina, and though she met Mr. Webre a year before at the studios, this was the first time she was strong enough to come on stage. Lars is going to stay in touch with her.

For her Bat Mitzvah project, Shoshana raised $800 and collected bags of blankets and towels for A Forever Home Rescue Foundation which works to find homes for abandoned, abused, and neglected dogs.  Many of these animals have to be socialized and/or rehabilitated before they are adoptable. Shoshana is herself an adoptive ‘parent’ of one of these dogs.

Miryam M. is performing in the musical theatre production of "Oliver" at the Little Theatre of Alexandria in Old Town, Alexandria from January 15- February 5, 2011. The classic “Oliver!”, written by Charles Dickens, is being directed by Roland Branford Gomez and produced by Rachel Alberts, Robert Kraus, and Eddie Page.

Oliver! is a heartwarming musical about a young orphan in a large London workhouse, who draws the wrong kind of attention to himself when he asks for more at the dinner table. Oliver! will tug at the heartstrings of young and old with its emotion, drama, and outstanding classic musical theater numbers, including "Food, Glorious Food"; "I'd Do Anything;" and "Consider Yourself." Don't miss Miryam M. in the LTA's production of this family musical.  

For information and tickets, call the LTA box office at 703/683-0496 or go to www.thelittletheatre.com.