Lights, camera, action! The sixth graders performed in the Barker Performing Arts Center on October 12 for the first wheel performance of the 2016-17 school year. A middle school tradition, the wheel showcases the students’ talents in the four fine arts fields – dance, drama, music, and visual art – at the end of each quarter. “We do the wheel, so that we can expose them to the arts, which in the long run, will help [the sixth graders eventually] choose their elective,” explained Fine Arts Department Chair Ms. Nancy McAllister. She, along with Mr. Bob Bayless (drama), Mrs. Rachel Rudner (dance), and Mr. Andrew Winters (music) organize the performance.The overall theme for this year’s wheel is music, and the specific motif for the quarter one wheel was “The Beatles and Beethoven.”

The students who took music during the first quarter showed off their skills via the Fab Four’s “Here comes the Sun,” “We all Live in a Yellow

Submarine,” “Octopus’s Garden,” and “Hello, Goodbye.” In addition, the dancers performed a ballet piece to Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” a 60’s dance medley to The Beatles’ version of “Roll Over Beethoven,” and a hip-hop number to a modern remix of Beethoven’s “Für Elise.”

Even though it was their first experience with the wheel, the students enjoyed the performance. “It is a new experience [for those] who haven’t danced, and it opens a whole new possibility to the [Fine Arts!]” said sixth grader Kaya Kutner. “You get to learn [activities] that you haven’t done before,” added sixth grader Maddie Domnic. “It is also very funny to see what people come up with [for their skits].”