Anticipation was in the air on the Monday morning of January 22, 2024. Students buzzed together in groups, moving back and forth to peek into the sunlight-filled, empty dance and music studios of the Poly Arts Center. The rooms were ready for the sounds of woodwind and brass instruments, and the soft shuffling of shoeless feet moving across the dance studio floor. Grade 5 dancers took the bragging rights as the first students to use the studio. All week, Middle School dancers and musicians had the new performing arts studios to themselves while Upper School students focused on midterm exams. 

First Event to First Classes in Poly Arts Center

Students and families who attended Afternoon of Student Choreography (ASC) on Sunday got a glimpse of the new spaces. “We couldn’t have asked for a better first event to celebrate the new Poly Arts Center,” said Michael Robinson, Head of Arts. “We had an incredible audience show up to support our students, and those attending brought enthusiasm as they toured the new classrooms and viewed the cross-divisional student artwork in the new gallery space. ASC was so impressive this year, and the choreographers and dancers really showcased why the Poly Arts Center is so important to our program’s growth and success.”

“With new seating areas and improved accessibility to the connecting buildings, there’s a quality of life improvement providing greater ease of movement and space to spread out.”

Michael Robinson, Head of Arts

Connection and Presentation

The long awaited Poly Arts Center means more than just a new physical space for students and faculty, it represents a new era of performing arts at Poly where a path is paved for exploration by a literal connection between spaces. The Poly Arts Center is a state-of-the-art space to highlight the high caliber of our programming and our students’ creative talents and aspirations.

“It has been so wonderful to see students discovering the new classrooms and community spaces that the Poly Arts Center provides,” said Robinson. “With new seating areas and improved accessibility to the connecting buildings, there’s a quality of life improvement providing greater ease of movement and space to spread out.” Visual artists now have a bright, brand new exhibition setting in the Howard Aibel Lobby Gallery. On the second floor, world-class studios allow students to deepen their skills and hone their performing arts. On show nights, after the curtain falls and the applause fades away, friends and families return to the Brandman Family Theatre Lobby to congratulate their loved ones on a spectacular performance.

Here’s What Students Have to Say

“I’m very excited about the new arts building because I’m a passionate student of the arts. This to me represents Poly’s investment in the arts and their commitment to making it more of a focus at Poly. The new dance studio is really awesome, the large windows let in a lot of natural light, the floor is great for dancing and turning, we have bars, the temperature control is much better than the old studio, which was either too hot or too cold, too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer!” – Zeke Weis ‘24

“The building you can see from almost all the classes. Dance really has a presence on the campus. Whereas in the old studio, you can hear the music sometimes but having the building here, people are seeing what we are doing in class. They’re appreciating our movement and it’s made a statement on campus about dance and arts at Poly. – Miyana Holden ‘24

“…Poly cared enough to take the time and money to open up a place for us to work on dancing. It’s almost like we are performing all the time for the school. I can see the dancers from my English class. It’s inspiring… We’re not hidden away anymore, we’re showing what dance is at Poly. It’s cool that during ASC we were the ones that opened the Arts Center, it shows what dance means to Poly.” – Eden Golomb ‘26

For more information about the new Poly Arts Center and how you can support it, visit Poly Arts Center.