Julian Scigliano, Sean Tamturk, and Victor Pearce act in a scene from Del Chiaro’s “Christmas Special: The Movie.”

When someone says art, most people think of painting, drawing, sculpting, or some other medium usually used in the BHS Art course. But BHS is home to numerous talented students, who excel in other types of art, including dance, photography, film, and writing, and these talents should not go unnoticed.

Though many people associate ballet with France or Russia, ballet originated in Renaissance Italy, where nobles would participate in performances themselves. Catherine de Medici, who was married to King Henry II of France, brought the art form to the French court, where King Louis XIV popularized it. Ballet spread to Russia in the 19th century, where the most famous ballets (The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, for example) were choreographed.

Senior Elexi Kourtoglou participates in ballet Mondays through Saturdays and has been dancing for 11 years. She plans to continue dance in college as a double major and maybe join a company before medical school.

“It’s something that’s very creative, and I think that it’s definitely an outlet but I also think that it’s a great place where I can be creative and artistic and that’s definitely fun,” Kourtoglou said.

Almost everyone has heard the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Nicéphore Niépce took the first permanent photograph in 1826 , and since then, photography has become impressively versatile in purpose.

Senior Ashlin Pellegrini started getting involved in photography in seventh grade. She takes photos as a way to capture memories, and her photos are usually of people. Around sophomore and junior year, Pellegrini began to experiment with 35mm film.

Ashlin enjoys photographing people; this photo is of her friend Keegan.

“With film, you really have to think about the photo you’re taking before you take it,” Pellegrini said. “There’s something about it being tangible… it’s like I’m holding a memory.”

The creation of photography eventually led to the development of the motion picture, which grew with technology into the movie industry known today. Many different people and inventions contributed to the development of the film, two key figures being the Lumiere brothers: Auguste and Louis, who invented the combination camera and projector known as the Cinématographe in 1895.

Senior Lucca Del Chiaro makes videos for his Art of Video class, as well as just for fun.  He’s been making movies for about three years. The ideas for his movies are the product of a group (including seniors Julian Scigliano, Sean Tamturk, Drew Ehrlich, Erick Liu, and Lorell Perillat) getting together and talking about what they think would be funny. They try to put something surprising in every movie that will leave viewers questioning the film.

“I’d say [movies] are an easy way to receive a story, like to listen to a story, and watch one, and watch someone’s life unfold occasionally for the better, sometimes for the worse, but it’s unique in the way that it’s entertainment. It can be entertaining to watch, and it can usually distract others from what’s going on in their lives and take them into a different fantasy world that, well, anything’s possible, as cliche as it sounds.”

Writing, specifically, poetry can also be underrated as an art form because some people tend to wave away poems as being angsty or too hard to understand. What most people don’t know, however, is that poetry predates literacy, as it was used in preliterate societies to record oral history. Poetry is always closely linked with music, which is why it is very fitting that sophomore Emily Steinberger is passionate about both poetry and music (Steinberger plays clarinet in the BHS Band).

Steinberger started writing poems around seventh grade when her class had to write a poem about the Holocaust for Holocaust Memorial Day. She doesn’t usually have a theme for her poems, but they are almost always fiction, Steinberger’s favorite type of poetry.

“It’s just a beautiful form people can write about.  They can express it as something different, so they don’t have to face it head on, so it’s more of a private alternative,” Steinberger said. She either keeps her poems to herself or shares them with her creative writing group.

Art is so much more than the traditional painting and drawing, and BHS has so many talented artists who showcase these art forms. Take time to check out their work, and maybe try out a new art form for yourself! You can find links to these artists’ work on theburlingameb.org/culture.