In the last 10 years dance and how it relates to the world has evolved so much. Whether it be the prevalent use of hip hop and street dance in contemporary Musical Theater or the infectious fun moves of Tik Tok. In this elective, students will learn about the shift in culture with movement and understanding the styles that got us here! 

Students will learn current street dance styles, commercial jazz/hip hop and other styles being popularized in Theater and Social media. 

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.

In this class, students will strengthen skills for confident singing, focusing on character-driven vocals, ensemble singing, and general singing technique. Each student will have the opportunity to sing solo material, as well as group singing. If this is your first time dipping a toe in the world of musical theatre, or if you're looking to brush up on your musical theatre skills this class has something for you. 

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.

This elective focuses on live, improvisational music that allows the student to learn music communication between band members. Like throwing paint on a canvas, students will learn how to combine a simple melody or bass line into a foundation for a track they can record. Students will perform on their own instruments, or try new instruments on stage. 

By listening to their own creation in an ensemble, students will critique their ensemble work and make real-time edits to form them into a track. Students will work with the instructor on digital audio recording and learn why and when to use music production tools to create the sound they are looking for. 

Students should expect to leave with a 4 to 5 song EP that they all worked on throughout their time in the ensemble. No recording or audio engineering experience is necessary. 

Previous Recording Ensemble Samples

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.

Learn the fundamentals for live sound engineering to create a finished product for an artist's live audio performance needs. You will learn the principles and technical aspects of the world of sound reinforcement by diving deep into PA setup, mixing consoles, dynamic, spectral and modulating effects.

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, and inking. Teens will craft several short comics, which they will collect 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.”)

Learn about the instructor, Nikki Rice's, experience creating the Ted Lasso Christmas Special Puppets!

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 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

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 Swing to Latin Hustle, this intensive is designed for dancers who wish to explore the 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. Students will practice the basics of partner connection - leading, following, and communication - in a variety of social dance styles including partner dances, circle dances, and cyphers. Participants will be asked to improvise, learn choreography, converse about their personal experience, and hold hands. Social dance offers a community focused 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 intensive. Please see that description or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.

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.

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 technical theater.  Each day, teens will explore through professional back-stage environments to give them an understanding of what it takes to run a performance from the back end. This elective is perfect for the teen who loves theatre, ballet, music - any aspect of live performance - but prefers to be the person behind the curtain making the magic happen.

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.

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.