Talent Unlimited High School
Encyclopedia
Talent Unlimited High School is a public
high school
of the performing arts
located on the Upper East Side
of Manhattan
in New York City
. It is the smallest performing arts high school in New York City and has a family-like environment.
Since Principal Deena Forman came to the school in 2002, teacher turnover has led to a move away from "chalk and talk" classrooms. "New teachers bring energy to meet the level of students' energy, " Forman said. "I have a school full of actors and people willing to audition. They can't sit passively with that old style of teaching. "
Talent Unlimited is noteworthy for its successful pairing of arts and academics, as well as its budding ability to get teachers to work together. In the past people would close their doors while teaching, the principal said, but now doors are open and teachers collaborate. For example, American history students studying injustice went to see "The Exonerated," a play about six innocent survivors of death row. Freshman students performed in a production of Sophocles' Antigone and also studied ancient Greece in global history class.
Between English and theater teachers included representatives from Epic Theatre Center, an off-Broadway theatre company, which helps the school develop its curriculum. The group discussed ways to better coordinate the arts and the academic curriculum. One teacher suggested having kids dramatize vocabulary from the "word walls" vocabulary lists in English class. Another mentioned a play students were reading, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," which takes place in a concentration camp. Teachers realized the drama has ties to the Nazi-era backdrop of Cabaret, which the music theater class was producing. "That's a perfect correlation," one exclaimed. "I could use some guidelines too - some of this stuff is very graphic," another said.
The marriage of academics and the arts has paid off, the principal said, citing improved math and science Regents scores. More than 90 percent of the students in Spring 2004 passed the Math A and Living Environment Regents tests on which students used to perform poorly. Group work was in evidence everywhere from kids pairing up to write sentences using the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish class to students writing and acting out skits together in drama class. "It may seem like pandemonium, but they stay in their groups and they stay focused," said the drama teacher as we walked into his classroom to find happy noises, and some kids on all fours, crawling on the floor as part of a skit.
In this small school most teachers have their own classrooms, many personalized with displays of student work. "With 400 students we are very aware of the sense of community," says Forman. "We have monthly assemblies that integrate art and academics." Kids here get much more personal attention than at larger arts schools such as LaGuardia. The drawback is that the school offers fewer high level courses than larger schools and has a limited selection of after-school teams and clubs. Students may, however, take Advanced Placement courses at Hunter College through the College Now program, and they are encouraged to petition the administration for adding sports teams or clubs. That's how a debate team got started.
Students get two periods of instruction daily in their majors: drama, musical theater, instrumental music, vocal music, or dance, with the biggest number enrolled in drama and dance. The best dancers spend three hours a day at the Ballet Hispanico dance company during their junior and senior years, and some actually join that group.
Talent Unlimited, with its own entrance, shares space with other small schools in the Julia Richman Educational Complex, a beautifully renovated building with a swimming pool, a pleasant library, a health clinic, and a childcare center for the children of students.The school auditions students for instrumental talent, musical theater, drama, vocal, and dance. Being a small school of 400 students makes this performing arts high school exclusive. The school is not easy to get into. For example, for the 2009-2010 school year, 517 students auditioned for dance and only 15 were accepted. That shows a 3% acceptance rate in dance. The students are taught both their arts major as well as academics. Talent Unlimited continues to do so today as students follow a daily schedule of academic work and intensive performing arts instruction, both in the school and at professional studios. The school has received an "A" rating and been awarded a top 25 school in New York City (NY Post, 2009). The school has a 94% graduation rate.It has been noted that this school is extremely creative in the way that they combine their arts programs with the academic programs to make it more intriguing for students. Talent Unlimited has not been around for a very long time therefore there are not many Notable Alumni but this school has "extraordinary talent" -says Epic Theatre Ensemble. Epic Theatre Ensemble is a Off-Broadway Theatre company that is partnered with Talent Unlimited.
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
of the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
located on the Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It is the smallest performing arts high school in New York City and has a family-like environment.
History
The school started as a pilot program in January 1973. Students took academic courses at their home high schools and attended Talent Unlimited in the afternoons. The director of the program was John Motley, conductor of the All City High School Chorus. The music teaching staff included Arlene Lieberman, Robert Vitale, H. L. Smith, II, Camilla Williams and Fred Norman. This first class performed at Gracie Mansion for Mayor John V. Lindsay and Marian Anderson.Campus
It is within the Julia Richman Education Complex along with the schools: Urban Academy, Vanguard High School, P226M Junior High Annex, Ella Baker School, and Manhattan International High School.Curriculum
Visit Talent Unlimited High School and you might hear the chorus singing a finger-snapping version of the jazzy tune "Get Happy." Wander into a drama class and you'll find kids waving their arms or crawling on all fours in skits. Leotard-clad dancers leap across the auditorium stage. Everywhere you go in this small school, kids seem jazzed up, happy, and self-assured. Talent Unlimited admits students after an audition, but it balances a strong performing arts program with engaging academics.Since Principal Deena Forman came to the school in 2002, teacher turnover has led to a move away from "chalk and talk" classrooms. "New teachers bring energy to meet the level of students' energy, " Forman said. "I have a school full of actors and people willing to audition. They can't sit passively with that old style of teaching. "
Talent Unlimited is noteworthy for its successful pairing of arts and academics, as well as its budding ability to get teachers to work together. In the past people would close their doors while teaching, the principal said, but now doors are open and teachers collaborate. For example, American history students studying injustice went to see "The Exonerated," a play about six innocent survivors of death row. Freshman students performed in a production of Sophocles' Antigone and also studied ancient Greece in global history class.
Between English and theater teachers included representatives from Epic Theatre Center, an off-Broadway theatre company, which helps the school develop its curriculum. The group discussed ways to better coordinate the arts and the academic curriculum. One teacher suggested having kids dramatize vocabulary from the "word walls" vocabulary lists in English class. Another mentioned a play students were reading, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," which takes place in a concentration camp. Teachers realized the drama has ties to the Nazi-era backdrop of Cabaret, which the music theater class was producing. "That's a perfect correlation," one exclaimed. "I could use some guidelines too - some of this stuff is very graphic," another said.
The marriage of academics and the arts has paid off, the principal said, citing improved math and science Regents scores. More than 90 percent of the students in Spring 2004 passed the Math A and Living Environment Regents tests on which students used to perform poorly. Group work was in evidence everywhere from kids pairing up to write sentences using the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish class to students writing and acting out skits together in drama class. "It may seem like pandemonium, but they stay in their groups and they stay focused," said the drama teacher as we walked into his classroom to find happy noises, and some kids on all fours, crawling on the floor as part of a skit.
In this small school most teachers have their own classrooms, many personalized with displays of student work. "With 400 students we are very aware of the sense of community," says Forman. "We have monthly assemblies that integrate art and academics." Kids here get much more personal attention than at larger arts schools such as LaGuardia. The drawback is that the school offers fewer high level courses than larger schools and has a limited selection of after-school teams and clubs. Students may, however, take Advanced Placement courses at Hunter College through the College Now program, and they are encouraged to petition the administration for adding sports teams or clubs. That's how a debate team got started.
Students get two periods of instruction daily in their majors: drama, musical theater, instrumental music, vocal music, or dance, with the biggest number enrolled in drama and dance. The best dancers spend three hours a day at the Ballet Hispanico dance company during their junior and senior years, and some actually join that group.
Talent Unlimited, with its own entrance, shares space with other small schools in the Julia Richman Educational Complex, a beautifully renovated building with a swimming pool, a pleasant library, a health clinic, and a childcare center for the children of students.The school auditions students for instrumental talent, musical theater, drama, vocal, and dance. Being a small school of 400 students makes this performing arts high school exclusive. The school is not easy to get into. For example, for the 2009-2010 school year, 517 students auditioned for dance and only 15 were accepted. That shows a 3% acceptance rate in dance. The students are taught both their arts major as well as academics. Talent Unlimited continues to do so today as students follow a daily schedule of academic work and intensive performing arts instruction, both in the school and at professional studios. The school has received an "A" rating and been awarded a top 25 school in New York City (NY Post, 2009). The school has a 94% graduation rate.It has been noted that this school is extremely creative in the way that they combine their arts programs with the academic programs to make it more intriguing for students. Talent Unlimited has not been around for a very long time therefore there are not many Notable Alumni but this school has "extraordinary talent" -says Epic Theatre Ensemble. Epic Theatre Ensemble is a Off-Broadway Theatre company that is partnered with Talent Unlimited.
Extracurricular activities
The Talent Unlimited Choir has appeared on the WCBS show "Holiday in Bryant Park" in 2007 and 2008. They backed up beloved Broadway singers, Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello in 2007, and Broadway leading man Cheyenne Jackson and acclaimed cabaret singer Michael Feinstein in 2008. They also performed in December 2009 on the NCM/Fathom special "The Christmas Sweater - The Road to Redemption," which aired live from Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City and was hosted by Glenn Beck.Notable alumni
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