Sharing Students Within a School’s Performing Arts Program

Not unlike many high schools, our athletic programs carry heavy clout when in pursuit of those highly driven students, which makes sharing those students with the performing arts challenging, if not impossible. Though some can do both, in my experience, it is not without a huge compromise on the part of the arts program.

To address a student’s physical, emotional and intellectual growth, we do not mandate that a student choose a single discipline but provide the opportunity to explore all that our schools offer. Since sports saturate the airwaves with collegiate and professional competitions with athletes receiving exorbitant salaries, it is no wonder young people are drawn to athletics.

Within our arts department, we have active drama, dance and music programs, with many of our students involved in at least two of these activities. In discussing the never-ending battle between sports and music, we are quick to note that many of our students have pursued the performing arts beyond high school, and how few, if any, are still playing any sport following graduation.

In recent years, we have had a number of students who have chosen to major in music, while some have made music performance their livelihood. A number continue to try and crack the acting world with a wide range of success, from local theater to the Broadway stage. To be clear, I am not diminishing one’s involvement in sports, but more the “team first” mentality that robs some kids perhaps of the chance to nurture a skill that otherwise would remain dormant.

Within our fine arts department, it is through communication, establishing an arts calendar, and being flexible that has allowed our student artists to thrive.

Prior to COVID, our drama program’s yearly activities included a musical, a play, one-act student directed plays, and an entry into the state drama festival. The dance department did at least two showcases, and the music department had five scheduled concerts, two to three parades, and individual participants in the district, state and New England music festivals.

Because we share a multitude of students in all three disciplines, the teachers would meet at the end of the year to outline our performance and festival schedule for the upcoming year. Certainly, there is still substantial compromise (i.e., music festival participants; tech week for the musical; dress rehearsals for dance) where we must accept the fact there will be absences of specific members of our group. But overall, there is an understanding that we all attract similar students and that we are willing to share their talents, rather than creating resentment by mandating a student do only one activity.

Not long ago, we only had one performing venue that made establishing that arts calendar critical. But with the availability of our neighboring church building and the construction of a black box theater, competing for performance venues has not been a problem.

We are fortunate to work with colleagues who value the roles of a music director and recognize that my contribution to a shared student’s education will only serve to enrich their own program. It is important that your dance, theatre and music directors are all up front regarding their rehearsal needs especially as a performance becomes imminent. In planning that yearly schedule, you can identify where flexibility as a director will allow your students to maximize all their talents.