Students happily tried out ballet dance moves at the Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in preparation for seeing The Nutcracker as part of The Garde Arts Center’s Schooltime Performance Series this past winter. It’s just one of the ways the New London-based school and others in the region use performances at the Garde to complement the school curriculum.

“The benefits of participation for our students are numerous,” says Angela Maurice, a second-grade teacher at Nathan Hale who has been bringing classes to the performances at the Garde for about seven years. “Students are exposed to classical music and dance. They learn how to participate appropriately as an audience, and some students even become inspired to further pursue an interest in ballet.”

For more than 30 years, the Garde’s Schooltime Performance Series has hosted students in Grades K-12 for curriculum-based professional theater and arts performances during the school year.

It all started when Executive Director Steve Sigel was contacted by several children’s touring companies asking if they would rent out the theater to bring schools in for shows. After witnessing how successful the performances were, Sigel decided to hire them as part of his effort to introduce students from the region and across the state to the independent historical theater.

“It’s really an introduction to New London for a lot of young people, and it’s been an important tool to remind the community of just how diverse we are,” Sigel says. “One of my favorite memories is watching this kid get out of a bus, look up at the theater and say to his teacher ‘is this what the city looks like?’ It was as if he was in Times Square and it touched me because he lives here in Connecticut but in a rural community, and bringing him down to a city, even a small one, meant a lot.”

With support from Dominion Energy, the Schooltime Performance Series presents 10 to 12 shows each school year put on by some of the nation’s finest education-based touring theater and dance companies.

Over the years, the performances have included mini operas from Salt Marsh Opera, dances from an Afro-Brazilian contemporary dance company, and many more.

“We try to mix it up and try new things,” says Sigel.

The performances are often tied into what students are learning in English, history, social studies and other classes. Each show comes with learning guides that schools can use before or after attending.

“They’re musical versions of books and we pick them to be a mix of pre-K to middle school with a smattering of high school,” Sigel says, adding that the Garde receives feedback and advice from area teachers and the New London Education Foundation on what they offer.

This year’s performance of Eastern Connecticut Ballet’s The Nutcracker was particularly special for the students at Nathan Hale Magnet School as it was the first field trip they’d taken since COVID restrictions were lifted, and the students saw one of their own classmates performing on stage as one of the characters.

“The performance fits into our curriculum in many ways,” Maurice says. The students studied different kinds of dance with our dance teacher, including ballet, and our music teacher taught students about the music in The Nutcracker. We also make connections through text and vocabulary.”

Members of the ballet company also visited with the students before the performance, telling them about the story of The Nutcracker and the dances they would see.

For many students, the performances are their first introduction to theater. That exposure, according to many studies, can encourage collaborative and divergent thinking and even help to teach empathy. And students that have some form of theater education tend to have increased vocabulary skills and perform better on standardized tests.

“These performances bring together communities that are often isolated and don’t have the opportunity to be a part of a bigger community,” says Sigel. “When the students leave, we announce the school and the kids are cheering for their school and other students are hearing about that school. The most important thing isn’t what’s happening on the stage but what happens in the theater.”

UPCOMING SCHOOLTIME SHOWS

The Schooltime Performance Series presents shows for students in Grades K-12 with support from Dominion Energy as part of the Garde Arts Center’s comprehensive arts education programming for children. Book tickets by calling the Garde box office at 860-444-7373, ext. 1. The 2023 series includes the following shows:

Warriors Don’t Cry, March 1

Based on Melba Pattillo’s memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Recommended for Grades 6 to 12

El Otro Oz, March 14

A bilingual musical featuring salsa, merengue and Mexican folk-infused music, inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Recommended for Grades 3 to 7

Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School, March 30

Junie B. and friends deliver the definitive word on surviving and thriving school in style with a jillion tips, tricks and trip-ups. Recommended for Grades K through 4

The Lightning Thief, May 11

Percy Jackson and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods. Recommended for Grades 3 through 6

The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, May 19

Blast into outer space for an epic musical interplanetary field trip! Recommended for Grades K through 5