As dancers stretch, choir harmonizes and band students practice early in the morning together — again. Fine arts is among the many electives that bring students together. After almost two years of online school, fine arts classes are back to hands-on learning.

Being online made an impact.

“Last year was very difficult. Especially with dance, you don’t have room in your house, online there’s not much we can do,” Conquerrette captain Natalie Perez said.

Coming back to school is different.

“The difference is basically you can’t do anything online, since your coach is on the other side of the screen. It’s just very different. You can mess up or catch lag anytime. There are many negatives of being online instead of being live,” choir president Dennise Rodriguez said.

 Practices are an important part of these electives.

“Coming back was a rough start. We haven’t heard each other play and started practicing all over again. COVID-19 just made it harder for myself and others around me to reach the expectations that the band wants,” band trumpet player Miguel Garcia said.

Activities are difficult online.

“We had to record our videos, our performances and try to be in sync. Also having to teach was hard, since some videos were mirroring,” Entrelace captain Liliana Vizcara said.

Being on campus makes a difference.

“I love being here at school because we get to do stuff we didn’t get to do online. In choir we didn’t get to sing because of the audio and now we practice with our voices, and in Fuego there’s a lot of little things you get to fix in person,” Fuego dancer Alandra Carr said.

These classes are very hands-on.

“I am excited to be in a hands-on format once more. The performance of the orchestra as a whole is further enhanced by the physical presence of students due to the sentimental affiliations created when producing music. The creation of sounds with others is therefore significant to my own,” orchestra violin player Ramses Soto said. 

Students miss being together.

“We get to do our traditional stuff like pep-rally and the football games. And have school spirit as the band,” Garcia said.

Many are already performing in Plaza Palooza

“We dominated, all the time,” band bass drum player Brandon Moore said.

“Everyone did so good! We were on time, in sync,” Vizcara said.

But with COVID cases rising, schools may close again.

“We got used to being back here and excited for everything. So if we were to go back it would be a very hard to transition once again,” Perez said