By Lucy Gellman
the Hillhouse Band takes the stage. Lucy Gellman Photos.
As the sound of Lil Uzi Vert’s “What You Saying” drifted over the stage, Janeska Marrero stilled her mind, steadied her breathing, and snapped to attention. Around her, dancers posed in perfect contapasto, their hands on their hips. Marrero leaned in, hand-in-hand with freshman Marilyn Robinson, and began to move. As she rose, arms extending to their full wingspan, she could feel her grandmother’s spirit shifting right along with her, and eased into the dance.
Friday, an infectious, often danceable and earwormy joy came to James Hillhouse High School during an encore, all-school performance of its inaugural arts showcase, a collaboration among the visual, dance, music, and theater departments that has been months in the making. The brainchild of teachers Stefania Munzi, Marta Medina, Millette Nuñez, Lily Echevarria, and Andrea Landsbach, the performance marks the first time that artistic disciplines have come together, with a new focus on collaboration that teachers have started to grow this year. Josh Smith, who conducts the Hillhouse marching band, also came on board, as did Assistant Principal Dr. Daniel Bonet.
In roughly 80 minutes, it featured not just dance, music, and theater, but also a fashion show celebrating Latin American culture across a diaspora. It follows an arts-specific fundraiser that Munzi led earlier this year, to raise money for supplies that range from paint to basic set pieces to costumes for the dance team (those are still a dream deferred). She said that ticket sales from an opening reception last Wednesday brought in another $300.