CONEJO VALLEY TEENS CONTEND FOR SPOTLIGHT : AGOURA HIGH PLAYERS AMONG 4 COUNTY STUDENTS HONORED FOR ART.Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer One 17-year-old spends about five hours each day playing his saxophone instead of hanging out at the mall. Another hardly ever listens to hard rock, choosing instead to practice jazz classics by the hour. A third loves to dance to the music of a long-dead composer, while a fourth dreams of pirouetting into a dance company. The hard work of each of these Ventura County teen-agers has paid off in a chance at a Spotlight Award - a prize recognizing 12 of the most promising performing arts students in the Southland. The competition brings together students from Ventura to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. for classes, auditions and a final performance. The four Ventura County students - three from the Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by and one from Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. - competed with 800 other students for 60 semifinal slots in six categories: classical instrumental music, jazz instrumental music, classical voice, musical theater/pop voice, ballet and modern/jazz dance. As semifinalists, each will take a class taught by professional performers before going on to the next round of auditions. Twelve of the 60 semifinalists - two from each category - will win from $2,500 to $5,000 in scholarships and will perform at the ninth annual Spotlight Awards gala and dinner at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. . Mark Smidt Soon after he started playing the trumpet, Mark Smidt bought Miles Davis' ``Color of Blue'' on compact disc. ``I wanted to hear what it sounded like to hear a professional play,'' said Smidt, a junior at Agoura High School Agoura High School is a four-year high school, freshman-senior, in Agoura Hills, California, United States. It is the largest high school in the Las Virgenes Unified School District, with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. . ``For that, you have to listen to classical or jazz.'' Next he bent his ear toward Clifford Brown Clifford Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings. and Dizzy Gillespie Noun 1. Dizzy Gillespie - United States jazz trumpeter and exponent of bebop (1917-1993) Gillespie, John Birks Gillespie . Listening to jazz geniuses cemented his relationship with jazz trumpet playing, he said. Smidt, 16, practices three to four hours a day and hopes to snag the judges' attention with his rendition of Gillespie's ``Night in Tunisia.'' ``I like the melody and it was written by Gillespie, a trumpet player,'' said Smidt, who started playing about four years ago. ``Plus I'm very comfortable playing it.'' Smidt, one of about 15 students competing in the instrumental jazz category, hopes to study music in college and go on to work as a professional trumpet player. Kirsten Inhat Kirsten Inhat choreographed the dance she will perform for the judges at her next audition. ``It's in the lyrical style,'' said the 16-year-old Simi Valley High junior. ``The style is between modern and jazz and it places more emphasis on the emotional. I find lyrical dance Lyrical dance is a fusion of ballet and jazz dance techniques. Lyrical dance challenges choreographers and dancers to use motion to interpret music and express emotion. A lyrical dancer's movements attempt to show the meaning of the music. more challenging because of the emotional side to it.'' Inhat choreographed her piece to Elton John's ``The One.'' She splits her focus between jazz, modern dance and ballet, and hopes to join a company after college and later become a choreographer. One of the biggest boons for semifinalists is a chance to take a class with a professional, Inhat said. ``Not only will the teacher be great,'' Inhat said, ``but it's also a chance to work with all these other dancers. I always learn a lot from others in the class.'' Erik Reumann Erik Reumann got hooked on a horn in Verb 1. horn in - search or inquire in a meddlesome way; "This guy is always nosing around the office" nose, poke, pry, intrude search, look - search or seek; "We looked all day and finally found the child in the forest"; "Look elsewhere for the perfect gift!" middle school. ``I didn't start playing until the sixth grade,'' said Reumann, also a junior at Agoura High School. ``I took what was called an exploratory music class where I got to try all the instruments. When I got to the saxophone, that was it. I've played the sax every since.'' Reumann, 17, will play Kern Hammerstein's jazz standard A jazz standard is a jazz tune that is held in continuing esteem and which is widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire. ``All The Things You Are'' for his next audition. Reumann would like to someday form his own jazz combo and work as a studio musician. ``I like to perform and I'd also like to try to compose,'' said Reumann, who practices about five hours each day. Briana Haynes Briana Haynes liked the evil, stern other-woman character in Ludwig Minkus' 1877 ballet, ``La Bayadere ba·ya·dere n. A fabric with contrasting horizontal stripes. [French bayadère, from Portuguese bailadeira, dancer, from bailar, to dance, from Late Latin .'' ``Usually I'm attracted to innocent, angelic characters,'' said the 17-year-old senior enrolled in an independent study program. ``So this was a challenging role for me.'' She picked a solo from the ballet because it combined long, flowing movements with jumps and leaps. ``It has a lot of drapy, flowing moves, but it also has some ecstatic bursts.'' Haynes saw the romantic 19th-century classic in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. last summer while studying on scholarship with the American Ballet American Ballet was the first professional ballet company George Balanchine created in the United States. The company was founded with the help of Lincoln Kirstein, and was populated by students of Kirstein and Balanchine's School of American Ballet. Theater. ``I saw it with my dad, who was visiting. It was the first time I've ever seen him cry during a ballet,'' Haynes said. Haynes spent her junior year studying on scholarship with the Pennsylvania Ballet The Pennsylvania Ballet is a ballet company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established in 1963 by Barbara Weisberger. The company became a regionally important institution, and performed in New York for the first time in 1968. in Philadelphia. She hopes to delay her education and go straight to a ballet company. Like Inhat, the other Ventura County dancer competing in the spotlight awards, Haynes calls the masters class an award in itself. ``My class will be taught by Elyse Borne, ballet mistress for the American Ballet Theater,'' she said. ``It can only be great.'' THE FACTS The ninth annual Spotlight Awards gala and dinner will be at 8 p.m. April 8 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Ticket prices range from $10 for the performance to $150 patron tickets for the gala and dinner. For information, call the Music Center of Los Angeles at (213) 202-2271. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1) Agoura High's Mark Smidt, trumpet, and Erik Reumann, saxophone, are finalists for the Spotlight Award, which honors top Southland talents. Tina Gerson/Daily News (2) Dancer Kirsten Inhat of Simi Valley practices for the Spotlight Awards. Evan Yee/Daily News Box: THE FACTS (see text) |
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