A Day with Akil Dasan

On Friday March 14th, teens from DTE’s TheaterWorks program at SBCHS went to P.S. 27 to watch Akil Dasan perform for elementary and junior high students. He performed songs that he had written and produced.

One thing I liked about his performance was his beat boxing skills. He would beat box a famous song and all the children in the auditorium would start to sing the song. It was a nice sight to see. After the beat boxing, he rapped things he had written while playing the guitar. The only problem was that the kids started to lose attention during the more serious songs.

After performing, he took questions from the kids in the audience. All of his answers had a positive message. One of the kids asked him how he learned to break dance. He said he learned it from youtube, and at first it was hard, but if you keep trying you can do anything. I appreciated how he was trying to encourage kids to follow their dreams and never give up.

When the questions were over, the audience left and a group of kids stayed for a workshop. The purpose of the workshop was for the students to learn some of the skills Akil uses when he performs. TheaterWorks was asked to participate to act as role models. At first, many of the kids didn’t want to participate, but once we stepped up many of the kids did as well. After Akil shared his skills, we put on a little show which we only had fifteen minutes to put together. We were split into three groups: music, dance, and vocal. The performance was very powerful and we all had a great time.

– by Daesan Lassiter, photos by David Etienne

Student Thoughts – Drama Club at BIHS

Hi, my name is David Etienne, and I have been a student at the Brooklyn International High School for three years. It gives me a lot of joy knowing that I have been part of Drama Club.

When I used to be back in Haiti, my country, I used to be a performer. I acted, danced and sometime read poems. When I came to the United State on May 16, 2003, I cried. I cried for many reason and one of them was the fact that I was leaving behind something I really loved doing. When I got to the U.S. during Junior High, I didn’t have a chance to do much. I only performed once in my two years of Junior High School. In September of 2005, I started school at the Brooklyn International High School. After a couple of days, a lady came to my class and mentioned Drama Club. Before I even went for the first time, my heart had already signed up to be a member.

I was a member of Drama Club during my Freshmen Year, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to go to a place where I was on the same level as the seniors. I allowed myself to learn from the teachers and the other students. I was performing, which is what I felt I was meant to do.

Sophomore Year was not so different from freshman year. I gave the staff a hard time when it came to being on time, but I always managed to make it onstage. In my second year of Drama Club, I was no longer a newcomer. I had the opportunity to grow more each time we met. In Drama Club, I was welcomed. I didn’t have to change anything about me. If I had something on my mind, the other members made me feel comfortable enough to share.

This is my third year with Drama Club. Junior Year is one of the busiest years in High School. At the Brooklyn International High School, all the Juniors have to do internships. With so much school work to do, students rarely get time to do any after school activities. My friend Jean and I are the luckiest ones because our internships are with Drama Club.

As for right now I am just hoping that in my senior year, I will have the opportunity to keep on coming to Drama Club. And I know for fact that if I end up not having the chance to be part of Drama Club in my senior year, I will still be a member of Drama Club always. Because everything that I have learn from the performers and staff members will stay with me until the day that I die.

– David Etienne, Junior at BIHS and DTE Intern

Meet Our New Interns!

Dance Theatre Etcetera is thrilled to have three extremely talented High School students from our programs at South Brooklyn Community High School and Brooklyn International High School beginning as interns. They will be working with staff members on Spring programming, as well as learning administrative and artistic skills.

David Etienne is a junior at the Brooklyn International High School and is a member of the Performing Arts Program. He is originally from Haiti. He came to the United States at the age of twelve. He loves to do many things, such as dancing, playing sports and making people laugh. He has been to many places. David always tries to make enough of an impression so that people remember him.

Daesean Lassiter is an energetic young man. He currently studies at the South Brooklyn Community High School and is a member of TheaterWorks. He is dependable, willing to learn and loves when people give him constructive criticism because it helps him better himself. Daesean’s main goal is to learn as much from the world as possible.

Nebajoth Jean is a student at the Brooklyn International High School and a member of the Performing Arts Program. He is very active and understanding. One of the reasons that he is so interested in working with DTE is because he loves to write poetry and music. Nebajoth hopes to become an actor and a screenplay writer.