Unleash your rhythm and immerse yourself in the thunderous world of taiko drumming (kumi daiko). This intensive builds experience and energy as you learn the ancient art form; guided by our skilled faculty, Leanna Keith, you'll discover the power of your beats, creating captivating rhythms that resonate with the heartbeat of the drums.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musicianship Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Keep playing all summer with the Not Just Jazz Ensemble. Designed for students passionate about jazz and all genres of music, students will take their musical and technical skill to the next level in this class led by our Cornish undergraduate faculty.

During this  8- session course, you'll explore various jazz styles and develop skills in improvisation, arranging, and ensemble performance. Through rehearsals, students will refine their technique and musicianship to be ready to join bands of all genres and write original music.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musicianship Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

The Vocal Ensemble elective affords high school vocalists an opportunity to take their vocal technique and command of the voice to the next level. This serves as a foundation course, which will inform and increase stylistic abilities as vocalists progress as committed singers and performers. Combining genres (jazz, classical, contemporary), students and instructors will explore aspects of vocal technique, the physiology of the voice, musical styles, body awareness and commitment to the text.

This intensive will give vocalists the opportunity of focusing on healthy vocal technique in any style, as well as peer and instructor feedback on vocal performances. Through classroom discussion, listening sessions, studio performances, private lessons, and group masterclasses, the intensive will delve into all aspects of vocal use and technique.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musicianship Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Piano Lab is designed for those wishing to continue their piano development, as well as beginning learners. Learn music appropriate to your skill level while creating a foundational understanding of music theory through the study of chords, harmonic progressions, and scales. Through theory, hand placement and general chord knowledge, students will learn proficiency in song structure that will enable them to play music in all genres and grasp the knowledge to write songs or play with friends. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musicianship Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

In this all-levels hands-on intensive, teens will develop essential skills for powerful, versatile storytelling in words and pictures, including writing, drawing, visual language, crafting narratives, developing characters, inking, and production including scanning, Photoshop, and printing. Teens will craft several short comics, which will be collected in a final mini comic at the end of the session.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Art & Design Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Take your first steps into the world of stop motion in this class where you will design, armature and build-up a puppet capable of full stop motion animation. Students will learn the use of different materials that go into the creation of puppets, including wire, foam, liquid latex, epoxy resin and acrylic paint, etc. We will also discuss the varying styles of puppets as seen in films and tv (IE: “Pinocchio,” “Wallace and Gromit,” “Ted Lasso Christmas Special,” and “Robot Chicken.”)

This class introduces students to writing stories for the screen and gives them opportunities to write their own. Students will learn screenplay formatting as they study the structures of classic screenplays, and films made from those screenplays. Over the course of the intensive, they will write several scripts that demonstrate their growing understanding of classic Aristotelian ideas of the three-act structure, character development, dialogue, and alternative narrative forms. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Film Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions

In this elective students will create collages from existing video footage. Possible screen-based outputs include original stories, experimental documentaries or essays, and personal memorabilia. Activities will include viewings of exemplary works by accomplished artists; brief readings in the theory of montage (the assemblage or editing of film/video); discussion of sources, strategies, and protocol for legally accessing existing materials; and basic instruction in the use of digital editing tools. This elective accommodates any level of experience in video production, from absolute beginner to established professional. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Film Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions

This intensive exposes teens to the actor’s “instrument” - their body and voice - and the habits of healthy performance; establishing skills, concepts, terminology, and goals from which subsequent training can spring. Teens will learn about their  instrument as a complex and unified system, the mechanics of the body, and the steps performers can take to remain emotionally and physically resilient. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musical & Theater Foundations or Film Foundations program.

Both an acting and a physical technique course, this class explores character movement in the context of a specific physical form: stage combat (armed and unarmed), including rapier, dagger, and broadsword. Performers develop greater specificity of movement, clarity of physical choices, and balance of one’s own energy with that of a partner. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Musical & Theater Foundations program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Discover the fusion of dance and cinematic storytelling in this Screendance intensive. This 4-week intensive will investigate Screendance from a creative and theoretical perspective. To explore and discover the future of dance films, students will examine the shape-shifting genre of Screendance that emphasizes the choreographic shaping and framing of movement for film. Students will be encouraged to cultivate their own artistic vision by participating in movement and film-making practices by combining the expressive power of dance with the visual language of film. Students will collaborate with other dancers and filmmakers in learning camera operation, editing, and compositional skills that will culminate in creating unique Screendances. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Dance Intensive program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Dancers will immerse themselves in solo, duet, and ensemble dance improvisation practices drawing from American post-modern and contemporary dance traditions. This improvisational dance intensive will be a deep inquiry into the body as a means to play and explore a multifaceted range of movement possibilities and expressions. Dancers will learn to develop connections to their unique ways of moving as a means to understanding their artistic voice. Dancers will be in collaboration with one another in exploring improvisational movement structures and scores for ensemble work, as well as exploring solo dancing, and duet forms, such as Contact Improvisation. 

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Dance Intensive program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions

From the basics of the Waltz to the Tango and Salsa, this intensive is designed for dancers who wish to explore the diverse and vibrant world of social dances. Students will immerse themselves in the rhythms, cultures, and social dynamics that make social dancing a joyful and dynamic art form. By learning the basics of partner connection, leading, following, and communication, students will collaborate with dance partners to create choreographic sequences within each social dance style. Social dance offers a vibrant and inclusive environment where you can embrace the joy of movement, connect with others, and celebrate the beauty of cultural diversity through dance.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Dance Intensive program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

Street dance is an umbrella term for many forms of movement that root from hip hop culture. Hip Hop culture includes forms such as Graffiti Art, DJ-ing, MC-ing and Breaking.  In this course, students will learn about how these mediums emerged and in what ways they relate to one another, while focusing on hip-hop, house, breaking and other urban based movement. Students will learn skills in musicality, applied rhythm, isolations, footwork, grooves, choreography, weight shifts and street aesthetic all while harnessing an understanding of the culture and its evolution at large.  

This intensive is open to students of all dance backgrounds. The class offers an immersive opportunity to refine your skills and explore within urban dance culture for movers of all skill levels.  

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Dance Intensive program. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

This studio course introduces teens to the expressive capabilities of digital games and the significance of game art in generating meaning and aesthetic experiences in gameplay. Teens will learn how to think and talk about games as both designed media objects and artworks in order to create game art that facilitates meaning, feeling, and perception in gameplay. Through analysis of game examples, designing game art concepts for fictional projects, and making functional art for a small game in collaboration with peers, students will learn how to engage critically and creatively with the process of game-making. Teens will make art for a "game mod," modifying a self-selected commercial game, and contribute original art to a small game project created for the class. 

* This elective requires each student to bring a personal laptop. 

Costume Design is focused on exploring the job of a costume designer and understanding their role as part of a collaborative design team working on a production. Teens will explore the role and processes of designing costumes from the initial reading of a script, to conceptual work and research, design techniques and principles, and completing design renderings. Using a short one act play, teens will experience the design process from initial organizational and research methods to introduction of design principles. They will also explore historical and style research, and learn rendering techniques and fabrics that will allow them to continue to create on their own.

All musicians, regardless of style or instrument, can benefit from learning the basics of music production. Through exercises and small projects designed to strengthen the technical understanding of music production, teens will be given the opportunity to write and produce their own music. This intensive gives an overview of software, including navigation, key commands, screen sets, and workflow. Using MIDI instruments for editing, audio recording, building beats, and mixing, the teens will be encouraged to let their creativity produce a final product that will get them to their next level.

Prior knowledge of music production is not necessary, all levels are welcome. We will do our absolute best to cater this class to each person's ability, supporting those who are newer and challenging those who are more advanced.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Music Foundations I & II program. Please see that description or email extension@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

* This elective requires each student to bring a personal laptop.

Music for Film, Games, and TV affords teens an exciting opportunity to write their own soundtracks to Hollywood blockbusters, epic video games, and favorite TV shows. In a creative and supportive environment, teens will gain fundamental skills, with particular emphasis on composing for media; as well as learn the ins-and-outs of digital audio production, including a full introduction to Apple’s Logic Pro X. The course begins with an overview of how music interacts with media and the basics of writing and composing. Students will study “the dramatic arc” from a composer’s point of view as well as receive a detailed explanation of Logic’s powerful tools like MIDI editing, audio recording, electronic music production, building beats, mixing, virtual instruments, synthesizers, and how to produce professional sounding music.

Teens do not need to have prior experience although it is helpful to have some basic ability recording audio or MIDI in Apple’s Garageband and/or Logic. Both beginner and more experienced students are welcome.

Cinematography is a key element in making a director’s vision a reality. In this intensive, teens will work on set and location, gaining experience in the basic fundamentals of cinematography. From camera selection, lenses, and filters; to learning about basic lighting, color theory and how to integrate special effects, these intensive covers necessary elements of filmmaking. Teens will begin by learning the art of filmmaking and how to communicate their message. After having a deeper understanding of basic video principles, teens will learn how to integrate the technical side of cinematography to reach their goal.

Life drawing (drawing from live models) is a core skill for any budding visual artist. Teens will develop perceptual and conceptual skills through exercises, critiques, lectures, and strong drawing practice. While working with a live model throughout the intensive, teens will gain the skills of translating what is observed through the techniques of drawing. 

Additionally, teens will become familiar with contemporary and traditional art history as it relates to the figure. Specific instruction will include construction of the figure/body, figurative proportion systems including the head and face, and a volumetric understanding of the planes of the body through line and light. Teens will explore various black and white media, develop visual awareness, and enrich their capacity for observation and self-expression.

Engaging, powerful photographs come to life through ideas, perspective, voice, and memory. In this class, teens will put aside all digital devices and explore the world of film and “alternative” photography.   During week one we will work with Holga toy cameras and medium format film as an introduction to light sensitive materials and the traditional darkroom.  Referencing the work of Juanan Requena we move on to camera-less photography, making photograms and cyanotypes, and then bring our photographic marks to the 3D world by printing onto different substrates like foldable books, masks and lightboxes.  

Everyone is now a photographer! Learn how to make great photos, not just “take” them.

This elective explores both traditional and digital illustration and introduces the tools to make illustrations come alive with animation! Teens will learn the basics of pose, movement, and expression through a process of drawing to create animated sequences in the digital time-based media technologies of animators.

Learn about bringing theatre to life through aspects of performance production. Each day, teens will explore professional back-stage environments and studio costume design, lighting, scenic, and/or sound design.This elective is perfect for the teen who loves theatre, ballet, music, really any aspect of live performance, but prefers to be the person behind the curtain making the magic happen.

This is a hands-on course for teens with a limited background in graphic design. Teens will be introduced to graphic design through introductory projects using Adobe Illustrator. They will learn to draw with vector lines and be introduced to color theory, typography, hierarchy, and shape. Through research and by developing analytical skills, teens will learn how to draw and use type in Adobe Illustrator and gain knowledge of graphic design principles.

In this all-levels hands-on intensive, teens will develop essential skills for powerful, versatile storytelling in words and pictures, including writing, drawing, visual language, crafting narratives, developing characters, inking, and production including scanning, Photoshop, and printing. Teens will craft several short comics, which will be collected in a final mini comic at the end of the session.

While this intensive may be taken independently, it is an elective that is designed to work in conjunction with our Art & Design Pre-College Foundations program. Please see that description or email extension@cornish.edu if you have any questions.