Wednesday 1 May 2013

Shanthosh's Thoughts on the Whole Project


  The whole project was amazing and I liked every single bit of it. From drawing the art to performing our own poems in front of a live audience, they were all a great experience. There is not a specific part that I liked in the project but if i had to say one it would be this blog. The blog let us show others are art and get feedback to about what they thought and also I got to see other's art and provide feedback. So this project was the beat and I bet my whole class thinks the same also.

  In this project I learned many things.The main one was that there is creativity in all of us and it doesn't have to be in art, dance or music. It can be in anything you do but you have to discover that yourself an hopefully you do. So if you think you are not artistic don't worry because expressing art can be in anything you do.

  This project had changed every opinion or thought I had on art and especially imagination. Before I was not a big fan of art and now I think i am since I know how to express myself.Also for me I did not a good imagination and after this program I think my whole brain and life is probably running on imagination and blood, oxygen, food, water and those other things. So this is my review on the whole project.

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Femi's Art Finale!

 



I liked a lot of things about the whole project.  Starting with doing art, not for marks or grades just to express yourself in the most creative way possible.  I also liked this whole blogging tool because we get to use technology (saving the trees) to write and comment on other people's art and explain your own piece of artwork.  I am so glad that our class was given the opportunity to be involved in the project, which was awesome!
 
While taking part in this project, I learned that inspiration can come from anywhere, even an apple :).  I also learned that you can express yourself using art, and not just visual arts.  Another thing I learned was that CREATIVTY ROCKS!!!!!
 
This project really changed me in a lot of ways including my feelings about art, imagination and creativity.  Before this project I wasn't too happy doing art (don't tell Ms.Walker) but now it is a whole different story.  Now I really like expressing myself with art becaue it is fun and uses imagination and creativity, which can help you in other subjects too and that's no joke.
 
So now, everybody should know....
 
 
CREATIVITY ROCKS!!!
 
 

Amina's thoughts about the whole experience :)

I personally thought that this project was really fun and creative. I loved the whole program and how it was planned, we all got to work together and see the deep side of art. I learned a lot about art during this whole project because art was really boring to me, but after this project, i got to know that art is not all about color, lines, and perfection. Art is really about what you imagine, its all imagination (in my opinion). This project changed me in a way, that i did not even know. I hated preforming on stage but now when this project was finished i think back to the nervousness and the excitement that was inside of me, oh i almost forgot the butterflies too. All of that only comes when you are preforming on stage. Also i would like to give a big THANK YOU to Enna, Robin and everyone from the nelson art center for coming and making this project a success. Another huge THANK YOU to all the teachers that were with us and who encouraged us.

The CR project by thirukkumaran

I like about the CR  project because we got to do a lots of thing like blog,draw picture perform the poem about humans right.it was very fun to perform because people will see you and you will to popual.i like it because we learned about human right because i didn't know about human right. 
i enjoyed the every thing about the crispy waffle.we learned about art and dance. 

i learned from the project was human right and art. in art they is no mistake.

the project change by not being shy and i get smart. so this project help me so much.             


thirukkumaran

This is the end

Well This Is It The End Is Here

 

the thing that i liked most about the poject was that when we were told to make something that we had no limit to what we did and that we were all going to end up with something different. and whatever we did was going to not be called ugly or that it was not good even to go into the art gallery. and that we had fun with art because usally when you do art you want it to look pretty but you never want to put what is in your brain on paper. and that we got to perform in front of people you took the time to actually listen to what we were saying and that child have a voice and the saying "kids should been seen and not heard" is not ture.



I learned that you  dont have to care what people think of your art as long as you like it that all that matters. and i learned that as people we have more human rights then you think and to have fun with what your doing and that you dont need to be scared to perform if you beleive in what your doing is right. 


And lastly the project change me because i dont care if people don't like my art because it is right to me. and now when i perform it won't matter what people think because i beleive in what i am doing what is right. to me and i see art in a whole new way now. and that people see thing in differnet ways so i don't have to get mad if people don't know what i am drawing.


Well this is the end to my blog i hope you like what i wrote and i really loved doing this project and i hope you enjoyed it to -Alessia Duarte  

My thoughts on the Crispy Waffles Project

The Crispy Waffles Project was a really fun and enjoyable project. My favorite part of the project was the performance. I liked the performance because we got to perform the poems we wrote about human rights and get to express it in movements. 

I learned a lot from this project  when we did the 2 drawings, I learned that we can express our feelings and thoughts in art. I really enjoyed that.

This project changed me a lot because of the 2 drawings we did. When the instructors said we can use our imagination i was really happy because i can do what my mind feels like doing. This changed my art skills and how I draw.
                     

Well so long and farewell.

This has been awsome partcipating with the creativity rocks program. now its done and we have to go so now we have to remember all of the fun times we had  creating the peoms and makeing daneces. but still this was very exciting and great to do.  I loved the full day we were going to preform because we made up new games and we preformed the dance.  I learned that creativity come from anywere and as long as your still alive you can create. This changed me a little bit because I think that our class is more connected now because we got to spent this time together it has created a better bond.  Any ways so long fare well and hope we will meet again  I will definatly remember this.
By: Lisa

My Final Thoughts-Abiraam

I liked this project because we got to draw 2 pictures and talk about each of them in a group. We also got to make a performance based on a poem that we made using the statements of the Human Rights this was all fun and I enjoyed.

 I learned that you can use your imagination not for just art but for everything that you would like to do like dancing. I also learned that your imagination can be wilder than you think it is.

The project changed my way of thinking of about my imagination since I thought it could only be used sometimes but now I know that you could use your imagination for other things too.

Nishanthan Arudsivam

   My thoughts of creativity rocks project was when we had to write a poetry and it was really fun because we can use our imagination.When we performed the poem I was really scared because I thought that I was going to mess up but overall our group did a really good job and I will never forget it.

           Gbemisola Akerele's View of Crispy Waffles

   The best thing I love about this project was drawing my emotions, writing the  poems my group made and also dancing and performing the poem.
    I learned that drawing pictures is not just a way of expressing our feelings but we can also use dancing to express our feelings. 
    The project changed me in a way that I will use in future. For example I  really learned to love poems and this project made me write more poems.

Jay Patil's thought on the project .


My thoughts on the creativity rocks project was that it was great. My group and I worked toghther very well. And to see it all unfold was absoulutly amazing. I learned that creativity could be expressed in any way. This project changed my oppininon on creativity. Now I truely know that creativity rocks!

My thoughts about the -Project- - Malaika

                  I personally loved the whole project but if I were told to go deep into details and stuff , (which I am :/ ) I would say I really liked the part where we got to do the art and let our minds lead us not our hands. We had absolutely no rules. We were told that our mistakes were art too. I learned allot of things from this project and one of them were there is no Right or Wrong in art. I also learned that imagination can take you any where in the world.The project changed the way I thought about art, i think art is a really pretty and beautiful part of life and if we didnt have it life would be boring.

My thoughts about the project -- Asvija

To me, the project was all about creativity and fun. My favorite part was when we preformed because now all our hard work paid off. Also my favorite part was when we were rehearsing because i got to see all the other groups performances. I learned that art is not about drawing,  painting and sketching but is more about creativity and imagination. This project changed me by taking away my stage fight for about 4 hours. I felt like I could accomplish anything. When we were on the trip, my friends and I enjoyed ourselves more than normal because preforming this was like being real performers because we didn't know anyone in the audience. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERY ONE WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THE CREATIVITY ROCKS PROGRAM!!! THANK YOU......!

the great art that 7c made nigiuna

                                      The great art that 7C made


I like how are class was making art it was so much fun.And how you can draw any thing you want and i like gbemi hers was really good and funny it made me so happy when i look at it. and i like my on to. My was like you were like kinda happy are for you guys to it maybe some thing that you like.I leand that you can use your imagination in any thing you want to draw. And how you can draw any thing you want and and dont be scared to do it and also the same with your imagination.    

Saturday 27 April 2013

The End and Finale.

       Okay, so this will be my finale blog entry ever on this blog. Let's make it a good one. So after being with this program since November, the experience has been exhilarating! After being in this program for quite some time (years), it was the first time where I actually had this much followup to the initial field trip. My initial feels on the program were like how all other field trips went to the Neilson Park Centre. Honestly, I felt that it was a snooze-fest (no offense). I knew what was coming; I knew that we were going to make some oil pastel drawings and we were going to discuss them. I thought that was it. What I didn't anticipate was this whole big performance and this blogging thing that came later. Frankly, I thought it was a nice experience and something different. I've already talked about how I felt with the initial thoughts on the trip, but now, let's talk about the whole spoken word process!

       The first thing we did was choose a human right from a list. My group had some difficulty choosing a right due to some indecisive people *cough*. So like any group of wise men, or should I say 'wise guys', we decided to take a vote. Eventually, we chose the right: Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial. We choose to this right because my group thought it would be the easiest to write about and take the least amount of time. However, due to time constraints, we actually took the longest time to write than any other group. I actually found that ironic how in our effort to try to find the right which would save the most time, we actually took the most time to write our poem. Funny ain't it? Heh...

      Over the next weeks, I got assigned to a poem with my partner, Adrian. Our poem that we had to recite was about the right: Everyone is equal despite differences in skin colour, sex, religion, and language. Much to my dismay, it turned out that this poem just somehow ended up being twice as long as any other poem. Thanks Brian... We learned the to coordinate our voices to deliver the poem more effectively, which is quite hard; harder than you'd expect. Not only getting the timing down was hard, but you'd also have to do this in sync with the movers of your group. Speaking of which, our movers were Sion, Sabhat, and Jaedan. I think they did a good job conveying the poem, but occasionally, they requested us to slow down parts, but other than that, reading was pretty straight forward. One of the most problematic parts was at "Whether black or white, it doesn't matter." That seemed to be where I would mess up a lot. I had slow down at that part but also pause before reading it. I felt that this would often through me off balance and completely change up the pace of the poem. Another controversial part of the poem is at the line "I may be a female." This would initially always get a chuckle. I think its due to the little kid in all of us. Eventually we got over this (we had to), and got our routine pretty down pat.

       Later on when we were ready, we did some rehearsals. The first couple of times were just by ourselves and we ended with Mrs Walton doing a final nit-picking session (where she stops us multiple times during our performance to make it perfect). I didn't like that part very much, mainly due to the fact that I GOT STOPPED THE MOST TIMES OUT OF ANY OTHER GROUP! Argh, I nearly had a heart attack! Anyways, with that aside, the next rehearsal we did was with all the other classes. My class was the last performance which gave me time to study the script. At first we did everything like normal but then Mrs. Walton decided to have all the speakers say the last line for effect. I personally thought that this added to the performance and ended it with a 'boom'. Overall, I think the performance was pretty good.
     
       Well, now's the time for the big performance. When we arrived, it was like a blast of nostalgia right in my face. I don't know if you can relate though? So basically long story short, we bummed around, played ninja, had a coaching session for the speakers, and ate pizza. Until the big performance where we had get real and clean up our act. But before that, we also did 2 rehearsals. The second of which was not my finest moment... Basically at the end, me and Adrian were supposed to say the last word (vanity) together, however, I missed it and it sounded like "Vanity-ity." Shortly after, I whispered "Dammit," and it got picked up by the microphone... So... Yeah... Enough about that, on the actual performance though, thankfully, I didn't repeat the same mistake. Could you imagine what would've happened?! I was so relieved that it actually felt like time sped up, as it seemed like moments later I was back at school.

       Overall, I thought that this experience as a whole was certainly good. It took a little time for me to get into it but once I did, it was rewarding. This performance to me was one of those moments where I don't want to do it, but I'm happy about myself that I did it. If you gave me another chance to do this, I certainly would. Seeing the whole performance come together was certainly something to remark and I don't think that the moment could be captured again. It was like watching the end of a good movie or something like that. Where you feel completed that you watched it all but sad that its over. I can relate because the movie "Wreck-it Ralph" gave me the same feeling. I loved the quote: "I'm bad, and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one that I'd rather be than me..." Anyways, as I'm writing this, I'm wondering, what is one quote that you strive to live by? I'd love to get some interesting results! Anyways, I'm getting off topic, but to all reading this, cheers!

All good things must come to an end...


Hello to all!
As you know, on Thursday, November 29, 2012 Mr. Cornell’s class went on a trip to the Neilson Creative Arts Centre.  Since we do this trip almost every year I thought that when we returned to school the next day, that concluded our work with the amazing Milkweed Collective.   However, I was thrilled to find out that the fun wasn't over!

In Drama, Dance and Music class we were all split into groups of three or four and were told to create a poem about any Human Right that we wanted.  Sabhat, Tashifa, Rashawn and Baarath were in my group.  The right that we chose was: Everyone has the right to say what they feel and to receive information.  We decided to only focus on the first part.  And instead of focusing on the importance of our right, or what it means.  We decided to address the fact that it is not really a right that we have.  I thought that creating the poems was a great experience because, I personally really like spoken word/poems.

In our next Drama, Dance and Music class, were were split into groups based on whether we wanted to read a poem or create and perform a dance to accompany it.  Baarath and Harsimran were in my group.  We were assigned to do the poem that my group had created.  I really liked the fact that once we were assigned our poem, we got to make the action anything that we wanted, so there wasn't a lot of structure.  I liked this because I think structure would have liited our creativity and not allowed us to think out of the box.  This was the poem:

They say that I can say what I feel
All I wanna say is that none of this is real
We built up a façade with breaks made of lies
But all it is doing is leading to our ultimate demise

The truth is what I yearn to speak
Yet my words to you are accepted as weak
I want to proclaim from the tallest tower
That I am no longer satisfied by this illusion of power

Once we had created our presentation, we practiced twice with Ms. Walton and Mrs. Orszulik’s class on the stage.  Although it was a little bit smaller than our real presentation space, I think that this was very important for us to understand the big picture of the project.  I did not really like that we were not allowed to see the other groups perform while we were practising.  But when the video is released, we will get that opportunity.

When it came to the actual presentation day, I was quite excited.  After practicing twice in our real presentation space we got pizza, cookies, juice and water while we waited for the audience to arrive.  Then we played a game called Ninja till it was time to perform.  I was not nervous at all that entire time.  However, moments before it was my time to present, I got extremely nervous; my heart was racing, I couldn’t breathe, and I forgot everything.  But we went downstage, and it seemed to fall in place!

One of my favourite parts of the program was getting watch a slam poet named Andrea Thompson perform.   Her words were thought provoking and very engaging.  Her words of advice to everyone after her performance were to keep a journal, create a writing group and write poems in my spare time.  These are amazing ideas and I am already working on keeping a journal and writing poems in my spare time.  I'm very glad we had the chance to meet such a talented artist.

Overall, I think that the Creativity Rocks Program was a great experience and I would love to see more schools get involved.  It seems this wonderful blogging experience has come to an end, and I will no longer be posting.  I’d like to end with a quote by the prominent cartoonist and writer, Scott Adams:

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

Friday 26 April 2013

Blog #4: Creativity Rocks! - Iqbal Banwait



                Hello readers of “The Crispy Waffle's Syrup Blog”! My name is Iqbal and today I shall be blogging about the program our class participated in, “Creativity Rocks”. This was a program which had four main activities/parts which were creating artwork, blogging, creating “Human Rights” poems and our performance. Today, I shall discuss a bit about each part, my role in each and the process in which we completed each part. So, let’s dive straight in!
                The first thing we did in this program was create artwork. Just like all the other activities, the artwork was for research in creativity. I personally had a lot of fun creating the artwork and felt a bit more creative in the process. You probably know quite a bit about this as the other students and I have already blogged about this earlier this year.
The second part of this program is coincidently blogging! If you have been following our blogs, you know that we first blogged about our trip to the Nelson Art Center and the pictures we created there. Then, our second blog was a comment on another person’s blog. The third blog was about other students in our grade and the artwork they also created. Blogging has been a long process and we have been doing this for quite some time. I overall enjoyed it.  Now I am going to be talking about the more “juicy” events...
                The third part of “Creativity Rocks” was creating “Human Rights” spoken word. Up until this part of the program, I had no idea what spoken word was and at the time, I was really interested in learning about it. Unfortunately, I was away on the day that my class created the spoken word poems so I kind of missed out but, at least I got to see the final product! The poem my classmates made was amazing and I realized that even if I did come, I probably wouldn't have helped the poem. I actually mighty have made it worse as I am terrible at poetry. Anyways, using the poems we started to put together our performance!
                The fourth and final part of this whole program was our performance. Our class’s performance was an interpreted dance while the poems we created were being recited. I wasn’t a good speaker so I volunteered to be a dancer. We split into 4 groups for the 4 different poems. My choice of being a dancer was a good idea as it helped even out the number of dancers and speakers per group. After we had decided on who’s doing what, we started practising. We practised for about 3 periods in total (a period is about 50 minutes, so about 2h and 30 minutes) at our school. This excluded the 3 dress rehearsals. Long story short, we put a lot of effort into the performance and on April 17th, it all paid off. I had worked a lot with the two other dancers in my group, Rashawn and Chealsea, and the two speakers in my group, Saksham and Brian. Sometimes, the dancers and speakers would work separately but we came together in the end to see how far each other had got. We soon had to practise together more often though as we needed to time our moves with the poem. I still remember how our dance/drama/music teacher, Mrs.Walton, had done this exercise where you’d perform and she would find every little mistake you made and make you fix it. You then had to redo the whole performance from the begging every time. Our group was one of the more luckier ones as we didn’t have to redo the performance as often as others. It still was annoying though but looking back, it was probably what helped us do so well during the performance.  Speaking of the performance...
                At the performance, there were a lot of different people ranging from parents, artists, politicians, teacher, principles, and even some representatives from “Creativity Rocks”.  The performance was at the Nelson Art Center, the same place where we created out artwork. Speaking of art, when I went into the gallery, I was so surprised and happy to see my artwork.  It felt so nice to have it up there. Truth be told though, I think it was my first painting that got me up there as it was quite unique. My second painting was horrible though. Anyways, that’s a topic discussed in a previous blog. During the performance, we all tried hard not to mess up, especially me. It all turned out really well and we even got an amazing applaud. I know I’m kind of all over the place but did I mention that there were photographers? Here, have a look at some of the pictures:  http://jeremysale.zenfolio.com/creativity_rocks_2013 !
I think it’s about time I wrap this blog up. I overall enjoyed the program and hope to do it again next year but, only if we do different activities.  I actually learned quite a bit through this program and I am really thankful for being in it. If you are another student reading this, I highly recommend that you try to get your class to be a part of this program! And remember, “Creativity Rocks”!

Final Blog of mine... Harsimran Darhan

  From the simple trip to the Neilson Creative Art Centre, to the final presentation, this process was nonetheless one of the most interesting experiences of mine. At first I thought "Yay I get to draw what I want for one day", but I then realized it was much more than that. To start off I would like to "blog" what my favourite part was. Blogging. Funny, that I'm blogging about liking to blog. Blogging was my favourite part because I had the chance to talk about my peers' pictures, my pictures and overall my experience. So here I have it, my final blog.

  Might I say that the Neilson Creative Art Centre is a wonderful building, showing many different pictures by famous artists. After visiting it on the first day, I enjoyed it. It was calm, relaxing, and I had a fun time drawing. After a few months though, I learned that we would be going back there. In our Drama Dance and Music class, we started to create spoken word poems based on one huge topic. Human Rights. It turns out that human rights was the theme of Creativity Rocks. 

  Spoken Word was new to me. I had never written or performed it, or that's what I thought. Anyways, after creating the poems, we got into our groups. Members in my group were: Debbie, Baarath, Shazi, Baseer and I. Debbie, Baarath and I decided to act while Shazi and Baseer decided to speak. Our performance seemed cool, but had a strong message. Our topic was : Everyone has the right to be free and receive information.

  So far, I was enjoying what Creativity Rocks was planning for us. But I still had one question. How did creating drawings at first relate to human rights in anyway? I was confused at first but I was interested too much to care. It turned out that we were going to perform at the Centre on the final showcase. We had quite a few rehearsals before the big day.

  Then came the final performance. It was on Wednesday April 17th. Our class had chosen to wear the colour green. Mr Orszulik's class and Ms.Walton's class chose to wear black and blue. Once we had arrived at the centre, the classes started to rehearse. One huge thing I noticed was the fact that the famous paintings on the walls were replaced by our own drawings! I noticed mine on the wall and got a picture taken with me standing beside it. There was a small attendance at the centre, but that just meant only a few people were about to witness our amazing acts. A nice thing that was given to us was a free diner, with pizza and juice. Anyways when it was my turn to perform, I felt a little worried that I'd mess up. It turned out that the performance went well.

  Well there you have it. My final blog. I liked working with Creativity Rocks, but I had a few questions left un-answered. Overall it was a magnificent experience that I've never had a chance to do before.

Below is a picture of me and my painting. Hope you enjoyed my blogging!



Blog #4 By Adrian (Yay For Creative Titles)


            

This will be my last post about the “Learning Rocks” process/adventure. Truthfully, I would have loved to blog more about the adventures that we had while making/presenting our finished product, but we as a class (and as a school!) have blogged more than most people blog in their lives! So, without further ado, onto the last blog!
            Our class had spent three periods practicing for the presentation in the gallery of the Neilson Creative Arts Centre. The people that acted out the scenes for us (Sion, Jaedan, and Sabhat in my group) had obviously practiced more than that. Mingwei and I didn’t really have to practice as much because we were only saying the poem, but we still practiced nonetheless. Our poem was four paragraphs long (the longest poem from our class) consisting of four lines each.
Throughout these three periods, Mingwei and I had practiced speaking the poem, while Sion, Jaedan and Sabhat made up all of them moves and then practiced them. During the second period, we had a mock presentation and we were critiqued on our performance. From there, it was just a matter of fine-tuning our presentation and getting it ready for the big day.
However, that wasn’t the only thing we had to worry about. Every class had to have their own colour that they wore on the day of the performance. Unfortunately, our class had many troubles with this. One of my friends had said it was like “slamming your head on a wall covered with spikes”. In the end, we chose the colour blue. There was only one problem with that though; Mrs. Walton’s class had already chosen blue! We were back to the drawing board. After a long three days of deliberations, we finally came up with the colour green. Nobody seemed to object, so that was the colour that we had gone with. Green is the universal colour of peace anyways, which made me think it would be the best colour to go with.
The day of the presentation, we had a tech rehearsal, which was basically practice for the real thing. We used the stage as our practice area, and everything worked out perfectly. We were ready to finally present!
When we were ready to preform, I felt kind of nervous, but not overly nervous because there wasn’t a lot of people at the gallery staring at me. We did the performance, and it went perfectly. There were no signs of mistakes as far as I know. All in all, we did very well and I’m proud of North Kipling as a whole. The one thing I was curious about during the entire process though was: what did Human Rights have to do with the gallery? 

Thursday 25 April 2013

I guess it's over....

  Hello people of this website! This is the last blog we will be doing, so I was hoping some creative idea would come. Guess what, there's nothing. B-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-p. *That was my brain.* So, basically I'm supposed to be doing this blog about that trip we all went to, "Creativity Rocks," everything we did there, and the process behind it. So, we all know that we did poems, and what better way then to tell what happened then a poem. Yay! so, this is my last sentence before I go all rhyme on you guys, this is going to be hard....


The Expedition: 

We all went on a expedition
To learn about creativity was our mission
We would make drawings like we do every year
For me, the judges were the only things to fear
But once we arrive
It appears I might possibly survive
We saw art and we were inspired
Our imagination we inquired
Then with pastels we cut through the white of the paper 
Through the colours we caper (search it up) 
We worked long and hard and shared what we had to say
And soon we were on our way
Our colour creation, we left back there
That was all the art I could bear
The Assignment:
Ms. Walton, the teacher of Drama, Dance and Music
She told us of a project, ecstatic
A poem about human rights and a dance to express
So into groups we split with success
All of us having talents we possess
Poems I enjoy already
 With a group of Sabhat, Rashawn and Debbie
We put our pencils to work
Our feelings and screams forth 
I admit, that was the part I enjoyed
We wrote as our words deployed
But the expression did not stop there
Our message we wished to share
So in to groups once again we split 
 With our movements the audience would take a hit
With a group of Abdul, Josh, Tien and I
Speakers and movers, this was worth a try
Our group was smaller than the rest
With two speakers, and two movers, we would try our best
"Everyone has a right to a fair and public trial" 
Was the statement we received, 
The planning sure did take a while
We sought a solution for the limitation
 Join the movers in the last move, was our alteration
With other classes, we practiced
This performance should be perfected
Though there still was a misunderstanding
What were the people of Neilson Arts demanding?
What did the art of the past days relate to the poems that we made?
Everything seemed to be in a haze
But we continued eagerly 
At four o'clock, on a Wednesday afternoon we rode off on the bus freely

The Performance:
Once again we arrived at the place
That we had said farewell to months ago
But this time the gallery had a new face
And art was no longer my foe
Blue the colour of 7C, White the colour of 7B, Green  the colour of  7/8G
 Beautiful colours to see (My favourite colours!)
We prepared once more for the presentation
Forgetting the need for an explanation
Between the art and the poems and the human rights
For the place was a great sight
But admittedly, the cookies and pizza tasted best
But to present was our real quest
While the time passed
The question I still asked 
How does this all work together
But either way, we passed the time with a game
Making our performance the best was our aim
I cannot recall the time when the guests arrived
My anxiousness revived
The groups followed the order
The distance between our time and now was getting shorter
When our turn was close
The green people (7/8G) rushed to the stage and took their pose
The mike was passed down from one to the other
It (the mike) would make noise once in a while
It reached further
The dancers went on withe their style
I was anxious and excited
The room was brightly lighted....(You try thinking of so many rhymes!)
Then it was our turn
My stomach started to churn
But we said our lines with the most conviction
The last few lines were our constriction

"I declare.... Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial.
Accused of a crime I didn't do
Just standing there when the guns went pew
Walked down the aisle in an orange jumpsuit
Had to follow orders of they'd shoot

It was almost time
The last verse we would chime 
All I needed was a chance
Decided guilty at a glance
They can't play fair if only they knew
I was accused of a crime I didn't do"

We stood in front of the stage
In a triangle, holding our gaze
Abdul trapped in the center
And we spoke with a loud tenor
"I was accused of a crime I didn't do"
Our part was over and we left the stage
We hadn't failed, so my fear could fade
The poem that we had written
Debbie, Sabhat, Josh and I
It was almost finished
The speakers yelled the line out
The dancers bent down, there movement like a shout
"That I am no longer satisfied with this illusion of power"
The audience cheered
Art was now not something I feared
So I ate more cookies (Not too many! I'm not that greedy!)
And soon enough we were on our bus once more
Back home, what a bore
But the poems and dances were done
From art I'll always run
And the program was really fun! :D

    Whew!Now that took a while, so don't you people dare under-appreciate it... hmph!
Well, I guess the program was really fun, but I still don't really, perfectly get the whole connection. Hmmmm...
  Oh well, that was my poem! You know how long it takes to write that many rhymes. Well, I couldn't mention everything  so, get ready for even more writing! Mwah haha...this is so tiring. There was a poet there too, hmm...Andrea Thompson? She was a really nice too, her poem was great as well. I really don't have much to say, well, there were a whole lot of politics in that room! By the way, the artwork was absolutely amazing and so much fun to see! I remember seeing all of the ones I commented on, and a bunch of people's that I had no idea about. =.= By the way Baarath, your's still makes me feel queasy, not in an offensive way! It was a really nice experience overall. I'm not sure if I stressed this fact enough, but what was the connection? Well, Ena did try to explain, but I don't think that it was that visible of a connection, so I didn't understand what she was saying. It did feel like an assignment instead, since I couldn't see the connection. Anyways, what were your feelings on the relationship between the human rights and the paintings? But over all, at the end all I have to say is...

I guess it's over....

P.S You're not allowed to criticize my poem, unless it's good! Actually, you can. It's gonna be called constructive criticism either way. Hope you liked it....

P.P.S It feels so good to be only doing one blog this time....

P.P.P.S Here is the poem my group wrote, if you didn't get it; we wrote different poems than we presented! 

They say I can say what I feel
All I wanna say is none of this is real
We built up a facade with bricks made of lies
But all it is doing is leading to our ultimate demise
I want to proclaim from the tallest of towers
That I am no longer satisfied with this illusion of power...

P.P.P.P.S the pizza, cookies and juice were good!This is my last P.S. 














                            








Sion's opinion on the final performance

   On April 17th, 2013, Mr. Cornell, Ms.Walton and Mrs. Orzsulik's classes all went to the Neilson creative art centre for what we( oh sorry, forgot to mention that I'm actually part of this group, so I'm going to be addressing this as first person) knew was our final performance for the creativity rocks program. You could feel the excitement, anxiousness and even confidence in the air as we walked through the doorway of that
gallery. I thought, "Finally! Look out audience, here's a show to remember!"

  Before I continue my cocky statements of how well we did, let me clarify a few things and give a little background before I thought, "Finally! Look out audience, here's a show to remember!" . The creativity rocks program was a program that we all participated in organized by the staff of the Neilson Creative Art Centre. It was designed to help hone our imagination and learn to get in touch with our creative side. Personally, I found it a little simple as a new-comer in this,(my colleges actually did this before) because all we really did was draw pictures. It did require us to use our imaginations, but I would have personally liked something a bit more challenging. Anyway, after the drawing part of the program, we were later told that we had to make up spoken word poems and make an intricate dance to dance to it. I found this unique, as I've never made a spoken word poem before. However, it was difficult to see the connection to the drawing part of the program. Regardless, we were able to all create unique spoken word poems about the declaration of human rights, and creative dances to go along with it. I personally found it fun, and a good experience.Both the speakers and the dancers who were going to be part of the presentation found themselves undergoing intense practicing to make it better and better. Sometimes, it was quite challenging, but the end result was what me go, "Totally worth it!" at the end. Finally, after so much dedication and work, we were all ready to perform.

   Now back to when we got to the neilson creative art centre. Boy, was it great. Not the beginning, where we had to do a whole rerun of the performance, but when that was over, and we all got pizza! Yes, that was really generous and thoughtful of the staff there, and I thank you once again. However, the pizza wasn't what made the time fly by, but when we all got to go outside to the backyard they had and play! It was amazing, people running around, laughing, it was what really made all the remaining nerves disappear. Soon, the time came for us to present. There weren't that many people watching us, but the fact that many high positioned people were watching was quite nerve wrecking. We weren't backing out though, oh no. We wet up, danced our best, and got a long round of applause afterwards. My mind was a little blank when I was there, but I do remember that feeling of adrenaline pumping through me as I danced it out!(of course, everyone was good) Overall, I thought it was a unique experience, and something that I probably will never face for a long time. I found the weird connection in the program a little, um, weird, but other then that, it was greaat.



 
 

'Crazy Art Adventures with Chelsea" Entry #4 - The Grand Finale!



                **AHEM** Welcome to my final blog, entitled "Crazy Art Adventures with Chelsea Entry #4- The Grand Finale!". So today, instead of blogging about specific artwork, I'll be talking about the program I've participated in called "Creativity Rocks!" (which is why I started this blog). I'd like to start by saying that this was the first time I've participated in such a program, and it was not at all what I expected! I'm not sure if it was better or worse (in the middle, maybe?), but I did enjoy many parts of it. We started the program in November, ultimately leading up to our recent performance at the Neilson Park Creative Art Centre in April. Our performance consisted of spoken word pieces, dance/movement, and the display of the original artwork that we created in November. But before I get into the performance side of things, I should talk a bit about the planning process.

                The first thing we jumped into doing was writing spoken word pieces in groups. Each group chose a human right and wrote a couple of stanzas about it. My group chose the right that declares "Everyone is equal despite differences in skin colour, sex, religion, and language". We chose this right because we felt that it was one of the most powerful and important rights of them all. Today, many people are bullied or discriminated against for such factors, and it is important that we do not forget the right we have! We as a class put all of the stanzas into one strong spoken word piece called "We Declare...".  

                We were then assigned to choose whether we would like to be a speaker (someone who recites the poem) or a mover (someone who acts out the poem). I chose to be a mover, and worked with a group to create interpretative actions that suited our part of the spoken word piece. It was much easier than I thought it would be to create actions! One of my favourite actions went along with the line that stated " And if you're a women, then you should be treated the same as a man". We had one group member in the middle with his arms out, representing a scale. Myself and another group member were on opposite ends of his arms, pretending to be weights. We would make ourselves appear taller and shorter with the movement of the scale, concluding with us both at the same level, representing equal treatment! Being a person who loves dance, it was fun to create actions like these - it was like dancing with words as the music! Of course, every dance has to take some practice. Practicing as a class was intense and every movement had to be precise! We even had to collaborate with the speakers on the timing of the words at which we would perform movement to. We eventually began to practice with other classes, and intertwined our smaller presentations into one large presentation, with the powerful overall theme of human rights.

                Walking into the Neilson Park Creative Art Centre and seeing my picture on the wall was a nice feeling. A warm and fuzzy feeling, I should say. Just like fuzzy pajamas. I like fuzzy pajamas. Anyways, we immediately started to practice in the performing area. Being in a somewhat new space, I found it pretty difficult to adapt to! For me, the hardest part was finding the centre of the space, and making sure I stood there when necessary! After practicing a few times, I got the hang of it and did my part without any thought. Like a mindless zombie. Who has really curly hair.
                To me, performing at the event held at the Neilson Park Creative Art Centre was interesting, but not...  cómo se dice.... special. I think that's an appropriate way to say it. We, as a class, have performed at many school-wide events to hundreds of people, so there was little courage taken to get on the stage. Maybe I only feel so because I didn't take many risks in the actual performance - I didn't put myself out there! I should have tried something new! When I look back at the planning process, I really regret not doing so. But more to the point, I feel that overall, the performance went well and we got an excellent response from the audience! I'm so proud of us all!

                As mentioned above, this is my fourth and final blog. Thank you so much for giving up your time to read my entries - it really means a lot! Before I started blogging, I didn't think I would have the courage to post my weird and crazy opinions online, but the Creativity Rocks program and the support of people like you have really changed that! Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for us, my friend. There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm just going to say it like it is - it's over. I'm sorry, but I have to go now. Don't get me wrong - it's not you, it's me. I just can't do this anymore. Hey, we can always be internet friends! Maybe one day we'll look back at this whole experience and laugh. But right now you got to move on. You should probably go for a walk and find some real friends or something - you spend too much time on the internet anyways. Hey, maybe over time you'll start seeing other blogs, you know? You just have to understand that I'm a different person now. We need a break from seeing each other. But hey - it's been a good run. I'll miss you. Goodbye friend, and good fortune to you.



                For the final time, this is Chelsea Santoo, saying have a scrumdiddlyumptious day.  :')   Happy teardrop.





                Do you feel really sad? I feel really sad. That ending really brought the mood down, maybe I shouldn't have said some of that stuff. No, I'm kidding - WE ARE NEVER, EVER, EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER. But here's a link that will lead you to some complimentary pictures of the event that you can remember me by:



THE END- Sabhat Khan

Well , hello there dear reader. I'm sad to say that this is my fourth and final blog. However, I'm so glad I've got something pretty cool (for me) to blog about. This blog is going to be about our performance at the Neilson Creative Arts Centre.  So let's get started!

To me, the entire process felt like a DDM project. We were split into groups (my group consisted of Tashifa, Debbie, Rashawn, and I). We created the last poem (which was performed by Debbie, Harsimran, and Baarath-and spoken by Baseer and Shazi). I felt the poem was truly powerful. Also, at the end of the performance we say the last line of the poem as the performers start leaving the semi circle and walking forward. The unity I sensed at that moment was powerful and serene to me.

Now, let me talk about rehearsals. We had one run through with Mrs. Walton in which she payed attention to little details. We got stopped a million times, but it's okay. I was totally not disheartened, I took it as "I get to perform even more!" We finally started getting things together, and after that one rehearsal, most of my rehearsals (with Sion and Jaeden) were pretty good! Then we had some rehearsals on the stage with all three of the classes. I was so annoyed because I had to be turned around and I couldn't see people's performances, which I really wanted to see.  Abdul and I kept on bumping into each other during the transition, but it all worked out in the end.

Once we arrived, I met a lady, and I talked to her about how I enjoy spoken word. She then replied, telling me that she did spoken word! Later that evening she dedicated an extremely amazing spoken word to our school, that truly left me touched. Her name was Andrea Thompson (I think). While we were waiting for Mrs. Orzsulik's class (and some of Mrs.Walton's class), our class ran through our performance a few times. I wasn't too nervous to be honest, but Abdul was constantly trying to freak me out and get me nervous. His attempt's failed! Take that, Abdul!

Now, here's comes the personal part. The part of me, my performance, and how I did. This is really a matter of opinion, and I couldn't even see myself, but here goes. I wasn't really nervous up until the second when I heard "No one should be discriminated against because of religion, gender...etc." That was our transitional phase. The poem I performed to, was based on this. As I twirled on stage, all I hoped was to give my all.  I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but I get so disappointed when everything goes perfect until I make one tiny thing go wrong. Then, all the awesomeness, washes away (for me), and I get upset about that one thing. Not a good quality of mine, it makes me too harsh on myself. As the first few words came out of Adrian/ Mingwei's mouth, the movements came out of my hands. It was almost natural, like a second nature. I didn't know that I enjoyed performing so much. I glanced at Sion and Jaeden occasionally, I'm sure they glanced at me to.  The pressure of wanting to be unified, to meet the standards we had set for ourselves, left us all trying to do everything we could to make it memorable. I often mess up, but I don't think I did. Of us movers (Sion, Jaeden, and I), I most definitely couldn't pick who was "the best."

I'm proud of myself. It's just one line, where Mingwei says "Whether black or white it doesn't matter," I am on floor during the line prior to this, so I have to make a swift, yet elegant, leap into the middle to be able to do the moves in time. This section is where we all have to be perfectly in sync. During the rehearsals, Mingwei usually didn't pause for long enough, and I would just barely swoop in. During the actual presentation, the space was bigger, therefore I had to jump farther, and I think I was a bit late. I wasn't too disappointed  however, because I doubt that someone actually noticed (maybe they did, but I don't think they cared). I would've been truly upset with myself, if I had forgotten a move. Although, I'm pretty good with improvise, if I forgot a move, I would keep replaying the scene afterwards.  I would do this in my mind's paranoid audience perspective. This would make me feel like the situation was a lot worse that it really was. All in all, I was truly satisfied with my performance.

The overall performance, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Is that weird? Let me just say, that, once we got out of the performance space everyone started doing their own little grooves, like a really odd Harlem Shake. I can't even express how happy that made me. We were all comfortably dancing oddly to express our happiness and how well we'd done. It was a gesture that was passed through all of us. It truly touched my heart, the smiles on everyone's face brought me pleasure. This may sound sappy, but that moment was golden, more valuable than anything else that happened that night. No one looked angry with themselves, not even me (that's a first)! It was mutual happiness. I liked that. I know my previous sentence was only three words, but I'm at a loss for words, and those three words are the truth. I was so happy as I heard all the words from the lips of each different speaker tie in, into this massive wave of words. Words that otherwise might have not been said. Words, that, I'm ever so glad to have heard. I really wish I could have watched the movers. I restrained myself though, I had to be loyal to Ms.Walton. I promised I would restrain myself, and I had to fight my urges to turn my head, even a little, just to see. Wow...I'm more curious than I thought.

Here's our poem (we had the longest one):

We Declare...Everyone is equal despite differences in skin colour, sex, religion, and language...

You may be black, you may be white,
You may not speak English but you can still fight.
Boy or girl, day or night,
Doesn't matter when you still have rights.

What you believe isn't the fact,
It's not how you speak- it's just how you act.
Being treated equally matters much more,
Differences should be what we celebrate and adore.

I want to live like an equal.
Racism should not be the sequel.
I may be a female,
But that doesn't mean that I'm for sale.

Whether black or white, it doesn't matter,
Don't discriminate, don't make me sadder.
Just because someone may side with Christianity,
Does not mean they have excessive amounts of vanity.


Well, this blog got a bit long. The thing is, the entire story (Creativity Rocks) could be looked at like a fairytale.  From the preparation for the ball, to the anxiety of losing a slipper (my shoes actually did almost come off-it was frightening), to the lovely (and often sappy) ending. I guess that night, that little dance party we had, the smiles, the relief, is truly worthy of a fairytale reference. However, every great story has to come to an end.  I guess this is ours, and as much as it pains me to say, I must say it anyways, but, this...is...

THE END

Happily ever after everyone! ;)

Here are some pictures from the event :

Us playing Ninja. We're cool like that. 













Rashawn, Chelsea, and Iqbal, performing. our performance is next!



The End! Had to end the blog off with smiles. Oh look! We're all black and white! Fancy, no?

The Last Stand ---------Re-Post


           On Wednesday, April 17, 2013, Mrs. Walton’s and Mrs. Oursulik’s grade seven classes, along with Mr. Cornell’s seven and eight class went to the Neilson Creative Art Center to perform a collective poetic, and dance  piece on the theme of human rights.  This performance was the culminating task to the Creativity Rocks program, in which these three classes participated.  A video of the performance will be available on the art center’s site sometime this month.

Now, you might be wondering what exactly this Creativity Rocks program is so I will elaborate.  The Creativity Rocks program was a multi-layered program based around the arts, and creativity.  It was funded by the Youth Take Charge Program, and North Kipling was one of the 14 schools selected to be part of it, and the only one in Ontario.  Each group was given a different theme, and ours was human rights.  The program started with all three classes individually going to the Neilson Arts Creative Center were they went through a session where we created two different art pieces (see my first blog for details).  After that, we followed up on those art pieces with blogs commenting about the first section.  After this, we also commented on two of our classmate’s blogs (see my 2nd and 3rd blogs).  That was followed up by commenting on two pictures of students from other classes (see my 4th and 5th blogs).  That concluded the first visual section of the program.  When I think back about it, it was almost like a separate thing because what happened there didn’t get carried over to the next section.

A few months after we finished the first half of the program, we re-visited it in March.  This time, we were told about the upcoming performance, and our task.  We found out that we had to create a presentation on human rights.  At first we thought that it was only our class, but later found out that the three classes would create one big performance. For now, we focused on our part.  The first thing we did was get into small groups and created two-stanza poems on one line we chose from the Declaration of Human Rights.  After that, we combined them into one big poem about human rights, titled “We Declare.”  From there, we had to create interpretative movements for our sections.  We chose who would speak and who would move.  After we had created our small group part, we practiced as a class.  We then found out we would be presenting with all three classes, and we all wondered how.  A week before our presentation, we practiced with the other two classes.  We were amazed at how well Mrs. Walton had coordinated it to make it look like it was all one thing from the very start.  A special thank you to her; it would not have been possible without her.  Now that we had come up with the presentation, there was only one thing left…PRESNTING!

On Wednesday, April 17, we arrived at the Neilson Creative Art Center and ran through the performance.  The speakers also got to work with a poet named Andrea Thompson (I was a mover so I didn’t).  About an hour later, the show started.  It started off with a few speakers including a sponsor representative, the Milkweed Collective (specifically Austin and Ina), two city counsellors, slam poet Andrea Thompson, and a few other people.  Then it came time for our performance.  It is very hard to explain so that you can properly visualize it when reading so I recommend watching the video instead.  After we performed, Andrea Thompson also told us what she thought about our performance and shared a piece she had written when she was smaller.  It was about human rights and it was pretty cool because it was jazz and rap combined.         

When I look back at the presentation, I think about a different way it represents human rights.  When it comes to human rights, we always hear that every person can make a difference and when we come together we are strong.  In our performance, it was similar.  All of us worked on it and did a little bit.  There were three classes and about five groups in each and about six people in each group, so when you think about it, there were a lot of people, meaning it was a big presentation.  However, to us it didn’t feel that way.  Each one of us did a small part but when there were so many together, it was something bigger, yet it didn’t require that much effort on all of us.  This is the same for Human rights, if we each do a small bit, we don’t feel a burden, but when that small bit comes together, it is something bigger.

During the week we were in the art center, something else special was going on too.  The center was having its first ever, student-only gallery!  All the artwork in the gallery was created by g.1-8 students who participated in the visual art aspect of the program.  There were about 300 something pieces of art created and about 60 in the gallery.  Most of the art in the gallery was created by students from our school.  Most North Kipling students had their work on.  As for the other pieces which didn’t go up, they were being projected on a slide show so everyone had the opportunity to show their work.  My work wasn’t in the gallery. 

Two days after the performance, Mrs. Oursulik had taped our class’s part and showed it to us.  When I was first doing my movements, I was thinking I was pretty okay, but when I saw the video, it all changed.  When you see yourself from the third perspective, you can finally find out what your work is really like; and I realized that I wasn’t as good as I thought (I didn’t think I was good to begin with).  In fact, I think I was one of the worst.  I wish I could have seen myself like that before so I could have fixed my flaws.  The next time I present something similar, I will probably film myself so I know what I am really like.  (Mostly, I was much choppier between movements and moving faster than I thought I was going).

Overall, the program was really good. It was both fun, and educational.  One thing I did not however understand was the linkage between the visual art section and the performance because they didn’t seem similar.  Secondly, in the beginning, we weren’t exactly told, what exactly the program was.  We were extremely lost until pretty much two or three days before the performance, which I think wasn’t the best thing.  I would have preferred to understand the steps of the program, which would have enhanced the program.  My favourite part was the visual art as it was the part where we used our creativity the most.  I also thought the blogging was a good asset, as we got to share what we wanted to about our pictures, and we only had to say it once, and not repeat it for all 19 people.  Overall, it was a great experience.  I would like to end with two poems (I didn’t make them).  The first is pretty straight forward, while the second is pretty deep (I like the second one more).


To be Creative, by Milliande ---

To be Creative
is to unleash the fire within
that at first simmers slowly
biding its time
until it can contain itself no more

To be Creative
is to watch the fire carefully
guarding its flame
until the day
when the roar is needs to be heard

To be Creative
is to listen to the call of the fire
and release the fear
that it is strangled by
and surrender to joyfully watch it dance 


A poem about Creativity, by Sam Walter Foss (1895)

One day through the primeval wood
A calf walked home as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bellwether sheep
Pursued the trail o'er hill and glade
Through those old woods a path was made.
And many men wound in and out
And dodged and turned and bent about
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed -- do not laugh --
The first migration of that calf,
And through this winding woody-way stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.
This forest path became a lane
That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street;
And thus, before we were aware,
A city's crowded thoroughfare.
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.
Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed this zigzag calf about
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way,
And lost one hundred years a day;
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.







-----Abdul