Mesa Arts Curriculum
The Academy offers an academic and arts program that is fully aligned with Arizona State Academic standards. We also offer programs for gifted students, students who require additional academic assistance, English language learners, and special needs students
Arts Classes
Art: In Art, students focus on art from the early ages to Modern American Painting. Depending on the art period being studied, students will work in any of the following media: pencil, charcoal, chalk/oil pastels, tempera/acrylic paints, mixed media, clay and other forms of sculpture.
Choir: In Choir students explore basic music skills (i.e., note reading, musicianship, tonal memory, etc) in addition to learning pieces of music from various styles and proper vocal technique. Choir is one of our performing groups and presents two concerts a year.
Dance: Dance students receive a basic overview of ballet technique which is the basis for all dance styles. Students will learn basic dance vocabulary as well as the body and how its muscle groups affect its movement. Our dancers will study a variety of styles like modern, ballroom, tap, African, and swing dance. All dance students will participate in two performances a year.
Drama: In Drama students learn basic theatre vocabulary, read plays, study improvisation, explore Shakespeare, dabble in stage makeup, and explore stage combat. Additionally at the end of each semester they will prepare and present a performance piece displaying the skills that they’ve acquired.
Guitar: Our guitar students learn how to read music, and apply it to the guitar. They will gain basic skills in counting, keeping time, open chords, tuning and playing various parts within a composition. Students will explore repertoire that spans from traditional pieces to more popular songs that can be found on the radio. Additionally, our guitar students give at least two performances a year.
Multi Media: Students have the opportunity to use computers to work in several different mediums (music, video, digital, etc). Multi Media students also have the opportunity to archive school activities and memories through their work on the yearbook and video library.
Musical Theatre: Musical Theatre students work on becoming a triple threat. They hone their skills in acting, singing, and dancing by critiquing theatre and working on pieces that employ the use of all three. Musical Theatre is one of our performing groups and will perform at least two times a year.
Photography: Photography students learn the basics of digital photography. They will learn to develop an eye of a photographer. They will learn to use the tools in the GIMP program (crop, collage, cut, paste…). And they will also learn the different types of photography (Action, Commercial, Portrait….)
Service Learning: The purpose of Service Learning class is to develop or increase the students’ sense of responsibility to their community, to their club/school, as well as to themselves by participation in community based activities