Sadly, as elective programs all over Broward and Palm Beach county are in danger of being cut from the school’s roster for budget reasons, one can only hope that there’s a bright spark. There is. At nearly the same time, Dillard’s Jazz Band placed 2nd in the Licoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Band Program against top high school bands across the USA. This excellent timing surely showed the county that music and art are still important programs to be instituted in schools.

“Subjects like music and art and drama are also important because they keep many students in school — students who may otherwise think about dropping out because there is nothing else that really interests them. Only a few kids are going to be able to compete in New York, but for many students, music and art and drama are the reason they stay in school.”

Source: As electives get cut, Dillard shows value in keeping music and art

The Dillard Dance Ensemble dazzled judges at Starbound Dance Competition, a national competition this past weekend.

“Candyland” – a contemporary solo by Ashleigh Robinson, placed 5th in the top 10 overalls of very accomplished
dancers; and, our trio “My Father” won High Gold and was top three of all duets and trios.

The national dance community is hearing about the Dillard Dance Department.

Dillard High School’s Center of the Arts jazz ensemble placed second in this year’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Competition and Festival in New York City Monday, culminating the three-day (May 8-10) event by performing with jazz great trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at the Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.

Dillard was among 15 finalist bands from throughout the country chosen to compete in the nation’s most prestigious high school jazz competition. Performing in perhaps the strongest field of bands in the event’s history, the Dillard jazz ensemble qualified during Monday afternoon’s competition to become one of three finalist bands.

Led by director Christopher Dorsey, the Dillard jazz band performed with the two other top-placing bands (Foxborough High School jazz band, Foxborough, MA, and Garfield High School jazz band, Seattle, WA) in a final evening sold-out concert and awards ceremony open to the public at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

The competition was held over a three-day period at Jazz at Lincoln Center and capped months of preparation by finalists, who were selected on the basis of audition tapes. The festival marks the 15th year of high school competition based on the works of 20th century bandleader and composer Duke Ellington. The festival and competition has gradually been expanded to celebrate the works of other composers, as well.

The 15 finalists were culled from hundreds of schools in the U.S. and American schools worldwide. Judges for this year’s competition included Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center; Ellington scholar David Berger; Mary Lou Williams scholar Ted Buehrer; saxophonist Jimmy Heath and bassist Rodney Whitaker.

At the awards ceremony, Marsalis presented prizes and cash awards to each of the 15 finalist bands. Dillard Center for the Arts accepted the second place trophy and an award of $2,500.

News release compliments of Nadine Drew, Public Relations & Governmental Affairs, Broward Schools.

The Dillard Dancers received a “High Platinum” and were 1st runner up in the Overalls for Duets/Trios in the Sr. Advanced Division at “On Stage America” regional dance competition.

Being less than a point away from the #1 place, gave us the opportunity to have our school announced (twice actually) in hopes of recruiting dancers into our program. The judges were highly impressed with the technical level and creative nature of this piece. Good job dancers!

Congratulations go out to junior Kevin Innes for winning the National Scholastic Design Gold Metal for his photograph “Bird on a Wire”.

Congratulations are in order for our very own Patrick Bartley. He was a member of the Dave Matthews Band in a live performance on the Grammy’s last Sunday night. Please be sure to congratulate him when he comes back. Patrick was one of the two student musicians to represent the state of Florida in the Dave Matthews Band’s live performance of “You And Me”. Way to go Patrick!