Parallel Octave collaboration kicks off National Poetry Month

Last week, WBS launched a partnership with Parallel Octave, a Baltimore based improvising chorus.

Parallel Octave director Dara Weinburg and group members visited WBS’s 7th grade workshop at Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School. The workshop taught students about the the role of the Greek chorus in theater and discussed modern uses of the chorus in literature. To help students gain an understanding of a chorus, Parallel Octave led students through readings of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “Recuerdo” and Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” After experimenting in how to read the poems as a chorus, Parallel Octave recorded the students’ reading of the poems (recordings will be available on the WBS website next month). WBS looks forward to bringing Parallel Octave into more workshops.

Parallel Octave director Dara Weinburg works with WBS workshop at Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School

WBS 7th grade students rehearse for a recording of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Recuerdo”