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Show 5 AGGIE / W LIFE FRIDAY MARCH 11,2005 Aggie Special - Z strips of chicken - 1 biscuit - 1 side item Kindergarten children create and perform their own opera BY NATALIE NAYLOR Staff Writer SMITHFIELD - Cows demand,a trip to the moon or else nobody gets milk. So goes the plot to an imaginative opera produced, written and preformed by kindergarten students. Helen Hells tern's afternoon kindergarten class at Sunrise Elementary School is one of 147 school classes throughout Utah participating in Opera by Children, an educational program founded by Utah Festival Opera. "Opera by Children is a mentoring process that involves every child in a positive, self-esteem building experience," said Darla Seamons, director of public relations for UFO. "By integrating all of the arts into the core curriculum, this program builds community, creativity'and communication." "Everything is decided upon by vote. This is totally the children's opera" Hellen Hellstern, kindergarten teacher, Sunrise Elementary To create the opera, Hellstern's class first had to get a little inspiration. Hellstern uses childrens' books to get the creative process of writing an opera started. After reading many books at the beginning of the school year, the class decided to base their opera on a book titled, "No Moon, No Milk" by Chris Babcock. It is a story about a dairy cow that refuses to be milked until she gets a lunar adventure like that of her great-greatgrandmothers, (the first cow to jump over the moon). Although much of the plot is the same, the class used their creativity to create new scenes and characters adding to the story and giving it a unique flair. In Hellstern's class there are three cows that demand a trip to the moon. Distraught farmers try to persuade the cows that the moon is no place for farm animals. "Cows want to go to the moon but people say they can't, cause cows can't go to the moon " explains Whitney Wood, a kindergarten student at Sunrise Elementary in Smithfield. Whitney plays one of the three indomitable cows in the opera. She said she wanted to play the part of persistent bovine because," they like, talk the most." After deciding on a subject for their opera, the next step is to write words and music. Although the help of a music specialist provided by UFO is used to get everything down on paper, the ideas are entirely the children's. "Everything is decided upon by vote," Hellstern said. "This is totally the children's opera" Children try out for parts in the opera depending on what suits their taste. In the opera version of "No Moon, No Milk," there are parts ranging from cows to clowns to penguins and pachyderms. Sets for the opera are designed by the children and are made of brightly painted cardboard refrigerator boxes. Costuming is just as creative. "Opera by Children is great because there is usually one area for each child to shine," Seamons said. "My favorite part in the opera is when we say 'yeah' at the end," said Kolton Lamb, who also plays the part of a cow. "Because you get to shout it out loud." "The value of this program has been hailed not only by the State Office of Education, parents and teachers, but also by the children themselves," Seamons said. "We receive numerous thank-you letters from school children each year." Opera by Children has been running successfully for seven years in Utah and is expanding to same satellite schools in California, Idaho and Washington. 95 E. 400 N. 752-9673 Available Everyday! BEST PRICES BEST BEST SELECTION CUSTOMER SERVICE Ryan Talbot/rta/bot@cc.usu.edu STUDENTS FROM SUNRISE ELEMENTARY rehearse the opera they wrote themselves and will be performing March 30. Opera by Children is available at no cost to teachers throughout the state of Utah. However, it takes the organization of a dedicated educator like Hellstern to make it happen. This is Hellstern's fifth year participating in the Opera by Children program. She does it for two classes, morning and afternoon. Her morning kindergarten class is performing an opera based on the popular children's book "Snowmen at Night." "I do it for the growth of all these kids," Hellstern said. You can watch both of Hellstern's kindergarten classes put on their operas as part of the Children's Opera Festival, performing at the Ellen Eccles Theatre in downtown Logan, Wednesday March 30. The Children's Opera Festival runs March 9-11,15-18, and 29-31 performances begin at 7 P-m. Admittance is free and open to the public; no formal tickets are required. ~nnaylor@cc.usu.edu •Pro Audio • Music Books • Private Lessons • Guitars •Bass L • Drums m^Acoustic Mrmtruments KSM Music 753-6813 • 50 W. 400 N. Summer 'Get Shorty' sequel too long This film is a continuation of John Travolta's character he portrays in the "Be Cool" critically acclaimed (PG-13) Grade: D 1995 film "Get Shorty." Travolta plays Chili Palmer, the coolest and most As we watch Travolta's confident mob boss ever. crusade to put Milian in the In the 1995 film, he moves out to Hollywood for some spotlight, we are introduced "business" and becomes to an enormous cast of chartempted to stay there acters who each add their because of the glamour and own color and humor to the These characters endless wealth. The story of film. Cedric the "Be Cool" begins nine years include Entertainer as a suburban hit later as we see Chili still livman, Andre Benjamin as a ing in Hollywood and using his mobster skills in the trigger happy gangsta, Vince movie industry as a savvy Vaughan as a racially confused record manager, Uma producer. Thurman as a trendy but Although "Get Shorty" struggling music producer was a popular and highly and The Rock as a gay bodyesteemed film, and con- guard (the list could go on tributed a lot to Travolta's and on). comeback as a great movie All of the characters are star, "Be Cool" falls extremely short. With excessive vio- all so colorful that combinlence, a combination of ing so many of them makes every type of comedy and "Be Cool" seem like a dizzythrowing in too many special ing kaleidoscope that never guest stars to count, "Be stops spinning, in hopes to Cool" quickly becomes too continually amaze the audience. much of a good thing. Sadly, I was far from At the start of "Be Cool", amazed. Even though "Be Chili Palmer is complaining about the rigors of working Cool" had the average runin the movie industry and is ning time of two hours I considering changing found myself repeatedly careers. Without any specific looking at my watch, wonplanning, Chili becomes dering how much longer I involveain the music indus- had to sit in the theater. try as he tries to promote a While Chili persists in his hot new singer (Christina new career, he discovers that Milian, "Man of the House") the music industry is just as with a big voice, big attitude treacherous as working for the mafia. The plot increases and breasts to match. Movie Review: in complexity, but lacks intensity, when every character wants to murder somebody else. Unfortunately, the director tries to make up for the lack of intensity by throwing in scenes of people getting shot to death. Thankfully, Travolta is able to deflect all of the surrounding dangers with his inherent coolness as he speaks smoothly and dodges swiftly in response to his numerous enemies. This role of the suave leading man who always finds a way out of any problem has definitely been done by Travolta before. This repetition in movie roles does not make Travolta's performance memorable. We also see other famous celebrity guest stars like Danny DeVito, Anna Nicole Smith and Aerosmith, who all add nothing to the story. The comedy in the film ranges from dark to physical to witty but combining all of them in large amounts creates conflict and excess. "Be Cool" does a fine job as an over-the-top comedy but it tries too hard and has no satisfying result. Like the music industry itself, it's filled with a lot of fluff and bling bling, which we don't realty need and which gets old really fast. Casey T. Allen is a junior majoring in English and reviews movies for the Utah Statesman. Comments may be sent to him at caseyal@cc.usu.edu Fall 2005 We've Droppe Rates! Kampus Korner Woodrose Forest Gate East Old Main View We Get You Closer to. Campus! LOGAN PREFERRED PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 435.752.5000 |