Carson School first-graders (from left) Mekaylah Coleman, Camarion Williams and Ava Williams participate in a storytelling African dance as part of FamiliesFORWARD’s Musical Arts Concert.

Students provide crowd with fun evening
of music, dance during annual concert 

Under the bright lights of the Jarson-Kaplan Theater at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, about 65 Cincinnati Public Schools students took center stage in a performance for parents, other relatives and supporters in the 14th annual FamiliesFORWARD Musical Arts Concert.

TOP: From left, Kailey Clark and Naryau Branham, first-graders, and Jirla Loundou, a fifth-grader, from Hays-Porter School, participate in hip-hop. BOTTOM: DaNautica Wilson (left) and Chrisieyona Patterson, both third-graders at Bond Hill Academy of Math and Science Discovery, show their violin skills during FamiliesFORWARD’s Musical Arts Concert.

The students—in prekindergarten through sixth grade at Bond Hill Academy of Math and Science Discovery in Bond Hill, Carson School in West Price Hill and Hays-Porter School in West End—played violin, danced and performed Zumba exercise routines May 23, 2019, at the downtown theater. 

In addition, some members of the Withrow University High School Withrow Marching Band, under the direction of Michael Wade, performed at the end of the concert.

The students are part of the FamiliesFORWARD After-School Program at Bond Hill, Carson and Hays-Porter. The nonprofit United Way agency partner, founded in 1875, provides academic support, such as tutoring and homework help, and a range of enrichments including music, arts, technology training, field trips and social-emotional skill development in the After-School Program. It also provides services for students in grades 7 through 12 at Withrow.

The Musical Arts Concert, which occurred on the last day of school, is the culmination of weeks of instruction in the After-School Program. About 160 parents, grandparents and other relatives and supporters watched the youngsters perform.

Keir Griffith, a Hays-Porter teacher and After-School Program instructor, served as master of ceremonies for the second consecutive year.

Violin students from each of the three elementaries opened the concert by playing “Ode to Joy,” “Groove in D” and First Hip-Hop.” Hays-Porter and Bond Hill hip-hop classes then showed off their routines to “Motownphilly” and “Whoomp! (There It Is).” 

After a brief intermission, students in African attire, from the three elementary schools, performed storytelling dances: Kuku flower buds dance; Triba, song and dance; and Kuku, Sinte and Triba dance. They were followed by Carson and Hays-Porter’s Zumba dancers.

Wade, along with some of his fellow musicians, led Withrow students in a powerful brass/woodwind/drum finale set. Wade, who began playing trumpet in his preteen years, has performed or recorded with musicians such as David “Fathead” Newman, Bootsy Collins, Reggie Calloway, Teddy Pendergrass, the O’Jays and Maurice, Freddie and Verdine White (Earth, Wind and Fire).

FamiliesFORWARD Executive Director/CEO Deborah Allsop says the concert is a showcase of the students’ musical-arts abilities learned in the After-School Program. 

“Whether it’s music or art or technology, children perform best when they find something that interests them,” she said. “The concert also promotes teamwork. They work for weeks to perfect their sound or dance moves or whatever they need to do, and they learn it together. The instructors also help them to understand the importance of the history and culture behind the musical arts. It was a fun evening.”

— Bill Ferguson Jr.

Chrisieyona Patterson, a third-grader at Bond Hill Academy of Math and Science Discovery, keeps the beat on the drums during FamiliesFORWARD’s Musical Arts Concert. TOP: Withrow University High School Marching Band drummers Olivya Potter, Aminata Thiam and Asha Johnson, all sophomores, help end the Musical Arts Concert in an upbeat fashion. BOTTOM: Withrow University High School sophomore E'Ali McDaniel plays the trumpet with the Withrow Marching Band.