The performing arts are integral to the lives of students at Princeton Day School.
From the first experience with music class in pre-kindergarten through exploration of music, theater and dance in middle school and advanced performing arts courses in upper school, our curriculum is designed to broaden and deepen student perception and understanding of themselves and others.
Our classroom environments encourage students to discover their own potential as performers.
Click here for a feature on a group of Princeton Day School Upper School students who were invited to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland this summer.
Music
The program combines a rich curriculum -- starting with Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly influenced classes in lower school -- with excellent instrumental instruction and many performance opportunities.
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Lower School, students gain competency in basic skills such as singing, rhythm, movement & dance, dramatic expression and instrument playing. Highlights include the Thanksgiving Sharing Assembly, the Lower School Holiday Concert, the Fourth Grade Operetta, the Final Assembly and a vibrant Lower School Strings Program.
Middle School students explore improvisation and composition, musical form and design, and develop sight-reading skills. Choirs, String Ensembles and Band are integral. All students in fifth and sixth grades participate in one of the ensembles. Private individual and group instrumental lessons are available.
Upper School students can learn and participate in performance-based courses, academic music courses and extra-curricular activities for enrichment. Private music lessons in voice and all instruments are also available through the Adjunct Music Faculty for an additional fee.
Music Opportunities
Dance
Focused on Upper School students, the Princeton Day school dance program offers classes for students of all levels of ability. Watch a video of students exploring Ethiopian dance.
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Beginning dancers explore a wide variety of dance forms and may enjoy guest artists from various cultures and countries including India, Bali, Haiti, Spain and others. More advanced students explore various ways of organizing dance into meaningful and communicative choreography.
Theater
Courses strike the perfect balance between creative freedom and self-discipline, encouraging students to develop the skills and techniques needed for a confident performance as actors or technicians.
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Unique opportunities include the Fourth Grade Operetta and Eighth Grade Musical, which include every member of the class. In Upper School, students audition for a fall play and a winter musical. The annual Performing Arts Festival is a three-day marathon of student-produced short works.
Facilities include the 350-seat McAneny Theater, equipped with state-of-the-art digital lighting and sound equipment, a scene shop and a costume room. Visiting professionals frequently lend their expertise.
The theater is augmented by a new dance studio, a rehearsal room, a scene shop, and a full range of technical facilities, including digital lighting and sound equipment.
Performing Arts Calendar 2012-2013 (pdf)