New Victory Arts Break: 360 ALLSTARS

360 ALLSTARS features an extraordinary ensemble of athletes and artists with supercharged special skills. But how did these allstars discover their talents? This week on New Victory Arts Break, we’ll develop hidden talents and start an allstar team of our own. Let’s go!

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Some of the videos in this Arts Break were filmed at the New Victory Theater. We acknowledge that New Victory resides on the seized homeland of the Lenape people and the intertribal territory of many First Nations. We celebrate and pay deep respect to all Indigenous peoples, past, present and future, and we encourage you to learn more about these vibrant communities.

Everyone has a special skill. But how can you turn a special skill into something worthy of the stage? The ol’ razzle dazzle, of course! New Victory Teaching Artist Ben Johnson has a four-step method for surrounding your skill with additional moments that give the audience everything they need to root for you and applaud your skillfulness:

• Step One: The Entrance
  • Come on stage. Show the audience how you’re feeling.
• Step Two: The Skill
  • Showcase your skill! Take your time.
• Step Three: The Celebration
  • You did it! Let the audience know how that makes you feel.
• Step Four: The Exit
  • Leave the stage with one last show of emotion!

Join Ben and Kyla Kantor from New Victory Education as they put these steps into action and show off some of their special (and not-so-special) skills!

After you’ve presented one of your special skills, ask a friend to teach you a new skill to showcase!

Take it from New Victory Teaching Artist Peter Musante—sharing a new skill is easier with a little storytelling.

As we make our way to the New Victory Theater for 360 ALLSTARS, let’s get in the competitive spirit with some mini-games—with an Arts Break twist. What’s the twist? You can only use your hands. 👋

Step One: Decide who will be competing in the first round of mini-game challenges—two players only.

Step Two: Select from the menu of options below for your first round of competition.

Finger Race!Choose a distance, like the length of your forearm or the height of a backpack. Using just your fingers, race from one end to the other!

Dance Battle!Both players dance for 30 seconds. Finger flossing? Knuckle nae-nae? Who has the most impressive moves?

Thumb War!Lock hands with your opponent and see who can wrestle whose thumb into submission. 1‑2‑3‑4, go! Best two out of three?

Simon Says!One player does something with their full body and the other player mimics it with their hands. You know the rules.

Step Three: If more people want to play, face off against each other in new pairs, or form a bracket and crown a mini-game champion! March Madness is just around the corner, after all.

Now you’re all set for 360 ALLSTARS. We’ll see you after the show!

Welcome back from 360 ALLSTARS! Now it’s time to assemble an allstar team of your own. Although the performers from 360 ALLSTARS came from all around the globe, your team will be made up of people from much closer to home—your family!

Materials: Costume pieces, coloring utensils, paper, Family Allstars poster template (optional)

Step One: Gather your team and pick out a cool team name. Here are some that we came up with. Feel free to use them or come up with your own!

Hardcore Parkourers
Blue Daring Dolphins
The Fun–Filled Family
Extreme Trick Pros

Step Two: Pick out a team uniform! What can you all wear that screams “ready to perform!”? The same color? Similar hats or accessories?

Step Three: Go back to the Ol’ Razzle Dazzle activity and find a special skill for each member of your team to showcase.

Step Four: Draw your family poster for the upcoming performance. Freestyle your own design or use our template. Include your team name, your acts (in costume!) and a catchy team slogan to attract an audience.

Kyla from New Victory Education and Katherine from the New 42 Youth Corps each designed posters for their Family Allstar ensembles! Kyla’s contains traditional circus acts like a strong person and tightrope, and Katherine’s depicts acts inspired by her life as a NYC college student—getting coffee, commuting by car and juggling all her devices.

Step Five: Gather an audience and bark a big introduction! “Presenting team name!” Then, one by one, perform your special (or not-so-special) skills. At the end of your Family Allstar act, don’t forget to all take one final bow together.

Come one, come all! Bark like a true circus ringleader with New Victory Teaching Artist Marisol Rosa-Shapiro.

Thank you for developing and performing your skills with us, inspired by 360 ALLSTARS! Continue sharing and showing off your special skills with Arts Break activities from these allstar New Victory Teaching Artists.

Show off your moves with pathos! Dance your feelings with Sun Kim.

Get deeper into the groove and explore house dance with Olney Edmondson.

Have some silly fun building a bag of circus tricks with Hassiem Muhammad.

Gather some household objects and create your own circus act with Billy Shultz.