FAIRHOPE, Ala.— On Thursday December 11, Fairhope High School hosted its fine arts night in celebration of the holidays as well as a way to showcase students performances. The event took place at 6 p.m. inside the FHS gymnasium and featured performances from high school and middle school arts programs.
“FHS Art’s night is fantastic, the arts are so important and essential to High Schools and to life because it brings people joy, expansion and perspective,” said Principal Jon Cardwell.
The FHS Jazz band opened the night with the song “Birdland” by John Higgins capturing the festive feel the showcase carried despite being a Christmas jazz song. The band followed and closed their performance with the Christmas classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Paul Martha to set the Christmas tone of the night.
“The arts mean so much to me because dance has always been my safe place and a way for me to express myself,” said McClellan Allen, senior dancer.
The Fairhope Dance Collective performed the next act and danced three different dances all choreographed by dance teacher Brooke Eubanks. These performances included dances to the songs “The Spectacle,” “Razzle” and “My Only Wish” introducing different holiday tones to each performance.
“The two performances we did came from the fall showcase and our performances were inspired by the circus, Ardeane, and called The Greatest Show,” Eubanks said. “We presented a newly choreographed Christmas dance in inspiration of the holidays that included a Rockettes inspired kick line style dance.”
The Middle School and Encore Ensemble performed songs “DJ Christmas” by Alan Billingsley and “Up on the Housetop” by Mark Brymer. Following these performances was the Girls Choir and Concert Choir featuring songs “Ring Silver Bells” by Audrey Snyder, “Mary Did You Know” by Roger Emerson, “My Favorite Things” by Mac Huff and ended the night with “Sing Noel, Noel” by Albrecht and Althouse. Concert Choir soloists included Emmy Kuhn, Myles Shreves, Roderick Farrington, Avery Payne and Kaityn Kelly- featuring performances throughout the concert choir’s songs.
“I had a private choir performance and it brought me to tears, it was just beautiful and goes to show how fantastic our arts program is,” Cardwell said.
The night ended with a closing performance by Concert Choir and the Middle School and Encore Ensemble singing “Carol of the Bells” by Masa Fukuda. Fine arts night allowed differing arts to have a special moment to show off their hard work and interests within their passions.
