For Dress Extra Day, students and staff were encouraged to: Go Big! Dress Up! Wear That Thing! Congratulations to our winners, Georgia, Echo, and Charlotte, for their truly extra effort.
Tomorrow is Slime Day! Join us during tutorial period for a slime-making workshop.
The Literacy Course students are pleased to present a series of interviews with SOLE students about their cool projects, experiences, and adventures outside of school.
Andrew Russell
May 24, 2022
We have a star here at SOLE! SOLE student Miku starred in a ballet performance of Sleeping Beauty. Last week I interviewed Miku about her experience. Here’s what we talked about.
Andrew Russell (AR): What were some of the struggles that came with doing this?
Miku (M): I’d say there weren’t really that many struggles. I’ve been on stage before so it wasn’t really that much of an issue, really. I would say that some of the struggles would be like finding time to do it, because sometimes, like rehearsals, they come up on short notice and you can’t really change anything. It’s either you go or you miss it.
AR: What was something you learned from this experience and how could you apply that to future ballets?
M: One thing I learned is that if something happens when you’re on stage, you typically just wanna keep on doing what your part is. You can’t really just stop in the middle so you kinda just have to deal with it, own up to it, and depending on what it is you might get laughs from the audience but yeah. So really I’d say that the lesson you kind of learn from that is if a mistake happens, let it happen and try not to do it next time.
AR: What was one of your favorite memories from doing this experience?
M: Well there’s a lot, but I’d say one of the greater ones was just all the people there. Not only the dancers but your fellow supers, which are basically actors not dancers. And also the staff there are really nice, really talkative.
AR: Do you remember what your reaction was when you found out you got the part?
M: I guess I was kind of surprised. It was the same ballet that my dad was going to be doing and he is well known in the opera and somewhat in the ballet industry as an actor so when they reached out to him, they asked if I wanted to- no actually he asked if there was a part for me. So then they looked into it and said yeah; I was kind of surprised.
AR: So you kind of had those expectations, since this is something that your father did?
M: Yeah!
AR: Can you describe how it felt on the first day of the show? Do you remember what you were feeling that day?
M: I was kind of excited; I mean a little bit scared, like I had the stage fright. Well, not really stage fright, but I had butterflies in my chest, but it was pretty exciting. The part I had, I was right next to the dancers for the most part so I could see all of them up close, and yeah. It was a really good experience.
AR: I just have one more question for you. After this experience and the ones that came before, do you want to continue doing ballet? Is that a career path you want to set out for yourself?
M: Honestly? Yeah. The first ballet I did was five or six years ago, it was Sleeping Beauty. And then I just recently did Sleeping Beauty a few months back and now I’m doing rehearsals for Swan Lake. So yeah, I think it’s something that I want to do and you also get paid for doing it so yeah.
AR: That’s all the questions I had. Is there anything else you want to say?
M: I will say though, this came up a few questions ago. For struggles I’d say like one of the struggles you might get is the costumes. Cause I know the first time I did Sleeping Beauty, two of my costumes had a lot of buttons and if you missed one you’d have to redo it all over again. They are also just really hard buttons to do up, in general.
It’s June, and things are getting busy as we wrap up the year. Please see this important update on our end-of-year schedule.
June 6-9 – Spirit Week (Student Council)
MONDAY: Dress “Extra” Day (Go Big! Dress Up! Wear That Thing!)
TUESDAY: Slime Workshop (during tutorial)
WEDNESDAY: Trash Clean Up (during tutorial)
THURSDAY: PRIDE DAY – Wear Rainbow & BRIGHT colours; Button-making (during tutorial)
June 7th – Period 1: Virtual presentation of the play Mischief by Roseneath Theatre, with cast talkback. Part of SOLE’s acknowledgement of June 21st: National Indigenous People’s Day.
June 8 – Transform TO (Whole School)
June 13th – Dual Credit Celebration Lunch
June 14th – Social Science Fair – classes invited to Caitlin’s HSP/HSB Period 3 class for a tour
June 16 – Prom
June 20 – Last day to hand in TERM 2 work (not including Culminating Activities)
June 20: ROM Historical Danforth Walk, afternoon, Rachel and Caitlin’s classes
June 21 – National Indigenous Day – School-Wide Livestream – PLEASE WEAR ORANGE
June 22 – Culminating Activities Due
June 24, 27, and 28 – Credit Rescue Days – for students who have not yet handed in Term 2 work or Culminating Activities- students can sign in from home if they are not required by teachers to attend in person
June 28 – Grad
The Literacy Course students are pleased to present a series of interviews with SOLE students about their cool projects, experiences, and adventures outside of school.
By Braeden McLean
Today I had a very interesting and inspiring conversation with an up and coming producer from Toronto, Ontario. His name is Jacob and he goes by XanKalibur.
Braeden: When did you first start producing music?
Jacob: I started producing music in late 2019 just for fun, but I was really inspired by a bunch of artists I grew up listening to. Like, Mac Miller, Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Peep.
Braeden: How did you get into producing? Friends? Family? Or just interest?
Jacob: Friends, general interest,YouTube videos, and I also watched other people’s interviews on how they started.
Braeden: What’s your favourite thing about producing music?
Jacob: My favourite thing about producing is probably the creative freedom and the fact that you can create anything out of just a couple notes.
Braeden: Who is a producer or artist you look up to?
Jacob: For producer and artist I would probably say Mac Miller because he produced a lot of his own music and was also skilled at writing. So with those two combined I would have to say that he’s my favourite producer/artist.
Braeden: What is the process you go through to produce your music?
Jacob: I usually start on my laptop not having ideas yet. I kind of just open up the program I use called FL studio. Then I’ll select a couple drum sounds or start with a plug in with a sound that I want. Then I start making chords and melodies and stuff like that.
Braeden: What are some tips you would give to young producers?
Jacob: It’s kind of discouraging when you start because sometimes you have to find your style but the more time you put into it, the better you become. Which is basic knowledge for anything, but is important to keep in mind when you first start producing.
Please click here for the SOLE Community Update, including information on Heritage Days, Pride Month activities, Prom, Two-Spirit Indigiqueer Pride Week, Alternative Summer School, Student Council activities, and more!
It was opposite day at SOLE, with students dressing like teachers and teachers dressing like students. Here’s a sample! More fun events coming up include:
Monday, June 6: Dress Extra Day
Tuesday, June 7: Slime Workshop
Wednesday, June 8: Trash cleanup
Thursday, June 9: SOLE Swag Day
tdsbCREATES is a board wide arts festival, running since 2014, that connects local artists with classrooms to foster creativity and explore the art forms of dance, drama, spoken word, media arts, film, visual arts and music.
This year, their curated showcase is virtual. We are proud to announce that two SOLE students, Calen and Cate, have work that was accepted for the showcase. They worked with mentor photographer Elaine Chan-Dow to create Photoshop collages on the theme of Intersections.
Check out their work, and the work of talented creators from across the TDSB, below!
TDSBCreates 2022 Virtual Showcase
SOLE Student Council has been busy planning awesome activities and events!
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Positive Affirmations Project at the end of the hall, and add your own note on a post-it!
May 30: Dress Like a Teacher Day (teachers, dress like students!)
June 6: Dress Extra Day
June 7: Slime Workshop
June 8: Trash cleanup (morning), TransformTO workshop (afternoon)
June 9: SOLE Swag Day
Thanks to all of our amazing volunteers who helped out at last night’s Open House. It was our first in-person Open House since the pandemic, and your enthusiasm and energy made it a roaring success!
Registrations for the 2022-3 school year are now open! To get started, please fill in our application form.
Please see the community update for information on Heritage Months, the 2022-3 school schedule, the TDSB budget town hall, student trustees, and how to opt out of the e-learning graduation requirement.