Every year Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) puts on its signature fundraising gala and showcase Expressions to raise at least $500,000 to ensure that BSA’s arts classes and the pre-high school program, TWIGS, have adequate funding for the upcoming school year.
Though performances are always the first weekend in March, the process for the next Expressions begins only a few months after the previous show is complete, making it a year-long process overseen by the nonprofit that manages BSA’s arts funding, the BSA Foundation.
In spite of early preparation, some parts of the show were created only a week before opening night, due to the record-breaking snowstorm in late January, and the subsequent pipe burst and discovery of black mold in the building.
Nevertheless, as BSA Foundation Director Stephanie Moore said, “Through adversity and challenges, artists have that resiliency to stop and bring light in the moment.”
The theme for Expressions 2026 is “The Power of Wonder & Awe,” which originated in an end-of-year faculty discussion last June, when Stage Design and Production (SDP) director Julianne Franz said she tries to “infuse wonder and awe to the work that happens at BSA.”
The phrase stuck, but in recent weeks the theme has become more relevant than one could have ever imagined. No one knew that BSA students would be out of the building for almost a month, making resilience and collaboration more necessary than ever before.
In the past few weeks we have cultivated the wonder, but now it is time to appreciate the awe – let’s dive into what you’ll see in Expressions 2026.
Visual Arts Video
As one of the only non-performance departments in the building, you won’t see any visual artists onstage at Expressions, but the first act of the night will reveal the art pieces hidden within the walls.
A video presentation of visual artist’s work will open the show, carefully cued to “Let Forever Be” by the Chemical Brothers.
Film and visual arts teacher Emma Ayala, who has compiled and edited the video for the past few years, said that selecting what artwork to feature proved difficult with the weeks off school.
“It takes lots of time to get all the artwork, compile it, hit the specific musical cues in the accompanying song… The work chosen was basically what I had available to me in the school building, which I came to while it was still closed,” said Ayala.
But the Chemical Brothers song she chose turned out to be quite apt for this year’s showcase: “‘Let Forever Be’ talks about acceptance of good and bad situations, and I think it’s appropriate that we adopted this song in response to being out of school for a month,” said Ayala.
Fading Borders
Fading Borders is, among many things, complex. It is a true collaboration between esteemed Dance Department faculty member Tony Wilson, costume designer Norah Worthington, with Mark Narravo and Pat Galluzzo, who worked on the technical and musical aspects.
When asked by Dance Department head Iris Anderson Grizzell to create a piece for Expressions 2026, Wilson became inspired by a piece of music, similar to a movie soundtrack, that is unlike anything he has choreographed to before. With the help of Narravo and Galluzzo, he was able to shape the music to mold his image of Fading Borders.
Wilson was also moved by how people “lose their memory but still maintain a sense of clarity,” after visiting a close friend who is struggling with memory loss. The third thing he was inspired by are Chiaroscuro paintings, specifically lighting in the painting.
Fading Borders also incorporates the use of projections as an essential part of the piece. Many BSA faculty members and students have poured their hearts into this collaboration. Junior dancer Georgia Harris said she wanted viewers to appreciate “the hard work and dedication it takes to be a student at BSA, especially a dancer.”
Though the piece has no storyline, Wilson invites you to focus on the “tidbits of humanity” and relationship between dancers in the piece, as well as the concept of “moving from dark to light.”
How To Find Lost Things
The Film Department lost their Expressions film and audio as a result of the pipe burst at BSA in February. Luckily, film senior Brennan Differ had spontaneously decided to back the film up at his house, which is the reason why we are able to view this piece of “magical realism,” a type of narrative short film.
The senior film students began working on the Expressions film when the school year began. Each student wrote a potential script, with Jude Harvey and Micah Berger-Sollod’s script ultimately being chosen by the department faculty. By December, they had reached their complete script.
Though they finished filming in early January, the process was not as smooth as it seems. From the water works to creative differences, a lot of hard work and adaptivity went into bringing the seniors’ creative vision to life.
Differ, who directed but didn’t write the film, found it challenging to “find the right vision without having the idea.” Though the film has a theme of “passing the torch,” Differ wants you to feel a sense of wonder and awe while watching the film, focusing more on the emotion evoked than the storyline.
Prelude from the Holberg Suite
The string orchestra is known for their deft, fully-memorized performances of standard classical repertoire in Expressions, and this year follows that trend with an essential piece: the Prelude from the Holberg Suite by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.
“It’s a standard in the string repertoire, and it’s just a wonderful piece. These students hadn’t played this before this year, so I try to include it in a string player’s studies while they’re here,” said string orchestra director and Music Department head Mellasenah Edwards. “It is also one of the first string orchestra pieces I played when I was a student here in the early 80s.”
This string orchestra is also memorable for their self-led performances, sans conductor. Junior violist Aubrey Guertin enjoys the community built through listening and watching the other musicians while playing.
Excerpts from The Prom
The senior acting class already has a heavy workload, and the actors’ Expressions number, often a selection from their senior musical, is no exception.
You’ll see the actors present two pieces combined together from this year’s musical, The Prom, restaged to grander proportions to fit the ballroom stage.
The Theatre Department’s initial plan for a collaboration with the nonprofit organization Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Collective was quickly derailed by the weeks off school, and Theatre Department head Becky Mossing had to plan accordingly.
“Because we have not been in school, we are at a point where it needs to be something I know will work and be successful, and that the students will feel confident about. It’s my responsibility to ensure that our department is represented in the best way possible in Expressions,” explained Mossing.
But even without weeks of rehearsals, students already knew the numbers from The Prom, and Mossing said their first rehearsal back from the time off went well.
“My hope is that students feel comfortable and confident even with a little less rehearsal, and that maybe in some ways it’ll be a good thing, because students will realize what they’re actually capable of with less time, and that’s really magical,” said Mossing.
Nothing Left to Do But Dance
Choreographed to an iconic song, Dance Department faculty member Leah Allen’s “miracle piece” began rehearsing less than two weeks before Expressions. Allen’s jazz number is yet another collaboration, but instead of a cross-department collaboration, Nothing Left To Do But Dance connects BSA dancers and students in the younger TWIGS (To Work In Gaining Skills) program.
Showcasing the versatility of the Dance Department, this piece provides a dynamic contrast to Fading Borders, as it is very upbeat and may have you dancing along in your seat. Don’t be fooled by the fun, though; Nothing Left To Do But Dance is challenging for the performers dynamically, technically, and stamina-wise.
It may appear difficult to choreograph a piece with a range of dancers from ages eight to eighteen, but Allen says it has been a “supportive and fun experience” for everyone involved. The TWIGS and BSA dancers have become close, working on everything from difficult transitions to partner cartwheels, all to bring wonder and awe to the ballroom stage. As junior dancer Jaylin Gardner said, “Be sure to party with us!”
The Finale
The finale act, often a medley of popular songs, pulls out all the stops: there’s vocal soloists, a backup chorus, a stage band, and the string orchestra comes back to join the singers as well.
The 2026 show’s finale follows the recent popularity of the Land of Oz, featuring arrangements of music from The Wiz by Charlie Smalls, as well as Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”
“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You can get a solo when you’re an underclassmen, but that’s rare, so everyone is looking up to this. We get to sing these non-operatic songs that we genuinely love, and because it’s the finale, we take it very seriously,” said junior singer Chelsea Dixon, who is one of the solo vocalists in this year’s show.
Dixon noted that, as the only non-operatic opportunity vocalists get, the Expressions finale auditions are intense. “Everyone really wants to get a solo, and it’s nerve-wracking auditioning,” she said.
As you listen to these refreshing arrangements devised by BSA chorus director Mark Hardy, consider the energy and joy that goes into the music by both faculty and students alike.
After weeks off of school, that quintessential Expressions energy is running high among the students and staff of BSA. To see the wonder and awe in action, you can catch the show on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., Saturday at 5:30 p.m., or Sunday at either 2 p.m. or 5 p.m. Tickets are available online.
To contact this writer, email Muse Newspaper at musebsa@bsfa.org.
Featured photos by Julia Marks for The Muse.
