Friday, January 13, 2017

A Blast From The Past (not just for a nostalgic teacher)

Sometimes it happens to us that "something" sends us nosediving into the past. Suddenly we find ourselves in an intensive spin into the realm of memories. For me, mid-winter is a likely time for this to happen. Recently, it started with a phonecall from a former student. In the late 1990s he had been an ardent participant in our schoolshows, also taking part in the organizing nitty-gritties. The shows ran three times a year: at Grad-time before the summer break, at United Nations Day in fall and at the Christmas break. We talked for quite a while about those days at school, which he as a refugee from the Middle East experienced as valuable and formative. Even for me this time period is precious, rich in new experiences from my unexpected re-entry of teaching  at a Senior Secondary level.
Our school was housed in a complex acting as a center for several Gothenburg suburbs, all with a high percentage of recently arrived immigrants and refugees. The school had an explicit constitution-like policy with emphasis on the equal rights of all humans, regardless of origin, color and creed.
Teacher Kenneth "Kexan" Eriksson, the
driving force behind the Schoolshows
The schoolshows as mostly extracurricular activity reflected these values in an assertive and exuberant way. But not at the expense of aiming at good quality in song and dance.
Swedes and students with foreign roots joined to practice and perform together. This could not have happened without the guidance of an exceptionally dedicated and music-crazy teacher. This in itself worked small wonders of "integration" and at the same time radiated strong and positive vibes into the student audiences.
 The phonecall made me go through my video archive and dig up vintage schoolshow footage for publication on Youtube, in recognition of a phenomenon that has meant a lot to the active performers and thousands of students attending throughout the years.
In the mid-90s I filmed shows myself with a small camcorder. This inevitably produced videos of doubtful image and sound quality, probably limiting the videos' value, to be appreciated mostly by those who were there at the time. Generally, the live sound at the performances was a lot better than what could be caught by a small camcorder. From the early 2000s on it student teams at times produced videos of much higher quality, tapping sound right from the mixer board.


The example film here from the graduation show 1996 was a sort of "debut" for me in live-event filming. It was a challenging task, finding myself wedged-in most of the time in a lively crowd. And I loved every minute of it. Catching some of the better headbanging-closeups I've seen. Well-rehearsed and surprisingly focussed performances met a spirited audience. Sure, a fair number of the white-capped graduates had a glass of champagne that morning, as is sort of tradition. But the good-naturedness of the event is all over the place and makes me smile after all these years. And I know that many of the performers still speak enthusiastically of these days. And they would have all the right in the world to join in with John Lennon shouting out and singing "Yeah, we'll all shine on..."

For more Schoolshow films from other years and seasons  go here.


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