All drawings must be returned to the Alliance by October 13th at 6:00pm.
2009-2010 Activities
"Le Ballon rouge" theater adaptation, May 27th, 2010
An actor of the Adventure Theater
during the Q&A with the students.
This hot and humid Thursday morning was an occasion to bring together students of not one, but three AFEI schools to Glen Echo Park in Maryland, and with good reason -- the park's Adventure Theater was showing an adaptation of Albert Lamorisse's famous story "Le Ballon rouge"!
Having previously studied it in their AFEI classes, the students from Burroughs, Randle Highlands, and Ketcham were no strangers to the plot. They delighted in the actors' vibrant renditions of the characters, and no doubt related to Pascal, the play's young protagonist who develops a friendship with the red balloon. After the play, the actors and staff were kind enough to stick around for a Q&A with the students.
The outing to Glen Echo Park wasn't over: after a tasty lunch (thanks to the talents of Petits Plats Restaurant's sandwich craftsmen), the students were offered a ride on the park's sumptuous carrousel. Of course, the AFEI teachers Outra, Kevin, and Abibata, as well as many educators from the three schools, could be seen joining in on the fun!
Tété and Eric John Kaiser workshop, March 26th, 2010
A memorable Friday morning saw Parisian guitarists Tété and Eric John Kaiser charm all of Ketcham ES’s AFEI students in their gym-turned-music venue. Fresh from their performance the previous night at the Smithsonian’s Baird Auditorium, the two musicians received a warm welcome from an expectant audience.
When time came to do the honors, Tété started things off with a few acoustic tunes. Immediately stepping down from the podium and away from the mic, the Sénégal-born prodigy made a point of walking by the students or sitting down near them while playing, in order to create an intimate, interactive performance. The mood was friendly and subdued, with the children hanging on to his every word and soothed by his warm and generous touch.
Eric John Kaiser was a different story. Determined to give them the show of their lives, he pumped up his electric gear to please the students with a high-energy festival of sounds they will never forget. The now Oregon-based entertainer looped the sounds of his motifs to give him liberty to add layers of melodies on top of his grooves, particularly during a creative reprise of Outkast’s “Hey Ya”, proving himself worthy of the likes of psychedelic wizard Keller Williams. At the end, he led the students into chants in pure rock’n’roll fashion, but with a French touch, grooving to the words “bonjour”, “merci”, “au revoir” and the like – thereby ensuring AFEI’s mission to promote openness to French culture, both linguistic and artistic!
View a video from the Tété/Kaiser workshop
Aurélien Kairo workshop, November 12th, 2009
3rd grade students of Randle Highlands Elementary School participated in a workshop conducted by French hip-hop dance sensation Aurélien Kairo. After leading the class in various warmup exercices, Aurélien guided the several dozen boys through a series of dance moves such as the “locking” and the “rolling,” amidst the ostensible excitement generated by their challenging nature. The workshop ended with a highly energetic series of solo breakdances, courtesy of Mr. Kairo himself as well as the students (and even their professors), delighted in this chance to demonstrate to Aurélien their knowledge and practice of hip-hop. This was the perfect conclusion to another overall educational yet ludic clinic facilitated by the AFEI program.
Download a clip from the Aurélien Kairo workshop