2010-05-18 18:10:27 – “Many Faces of Love” - a multi-media presentation by AlphaMax Academy was hailed as an outstanding success by parents and friends.
AlphaMax Academy students scored a resounding hit with their inspiring performance of “Many Faces of Love.” The multimedia production was presented by the students and staff on Sunday, 16th May, at 6:30 p.m., at OnStage, the Patronaat Gebouw, in Paramaribo.
A packed audience of parents and friends, including several members of the diplomatic corps, cheered lustily as each segment of this carefully composed show finished. The first sequence was a three minute video done by Stephan Playfair and Daniel Lee introducing the theme of love. The first section of the show explored ‘philia-love’ as defined by the Greeks. This included a video showing the youngest members of the school at work and play, followed by another movie using Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' as both background music and theme. The latter showcased scenes of the Academy's Tai Chi Master Emiel Krak (Physics and Math Teacher) and his students doing their usual Thursday morning Tai Chi routine, as well as sports sequences.
The audience really came alive when the entire cast came onstage regaled in costumes – many reflecting Surinamese cultures – singing Burt Bacharach’s 'What the World Needs Now is Love.’ There was rapturous applause for this rendition.
This was followed by a drama sequence exploring erotic love in which there were four pairs of Romeos and Juliets playing excerpts from William Shakespeare's ' Romeo and Juliet', Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Portuguese Sonnets', Ivan Khayiat's 'The Tryst', William Shakespeare's ‘Live with me and be My Love’, and a modern rap poem from Avant. Interspersed in this section was a colorful dance (featuring six students) done to Bill Withers' ‘Watching You, Watching Me’.
The introduction to the final section featured four students with expressive readings from India’s poet laureate, Sir Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali. In this section, which focused on spiritual love (‘Agape’ to use the Greek term), students also did excerpts from St. Theresa of Avila (Spain), Sir Edwin Arnold’s “The Song Celestial” (the poetic English translation of the Gita), and Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Wine of the Mystic”. During the ‘agape-love’ panel, two dances were performed: Satyam ‘Shivam Sundarum’ and ‘Shanti Ki, Shakti Se’. The audience was enchanted with the brilliantly colorful costumes of the skillful troupe of 8 dancers who had received training and instruction from veteran Indian dance teacher, Mathoerie Jagmohan.
Throughout the program images were projected on a backdrop to link with the action on stage. The show ended with the cast, including technical assistants, singing "Lean on Me". The audience joined in as the show ended on a high note.
Many members of the audience said they were stunned by the discipline and professionalism of the show. In the words of one well-wisher who saw ‘Many Faces of Love’, “Very impressive! My wife and I were amazed at the range and quality of Academy student skills.”
