Alumni News

Brian Haher’ 98 and his classmates in “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”

1990s

Brian Haher ’98, as a special Back to School present to Ms. Miller and Ms. Thorne last month, sent some photos from when he was in Kindergarten in 1993.

About the photos, Brian said, "They are from a Spring Show that featured my class doing a little play about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. As you can see, my schoolmates are wearing costumes based on scenes in the book. Andrew McCurtis is the Caterpillar, Alex MacNeil is the Five Oranges, Nolan Quinn is the all the food the Caterpillar eats on Saturday and I am the Three Plums. The high part of the show is that when we did our Chicken Dance. The photo on the left shows me either taking a bow or doing the dance. The costumes that we wore for the dance were cloth ribbons and party hats with feathers glued on them to make us look like chickens and the costumes we wore for The Hungry Caterpillar were made by us and we may have made the chicken costumes ourselves! The song we used for the dance (which started out with bird or chick sounds) is Dance Little Bird by a group called The Lucky Birds and to go further into the history of the song and its dance, it was composed by Werner Thomas who was an accordion player from Davos, Switzerland. The original name of the song was "Der Ententanz" (The Duck Dance). It is rumored to be a drinking song sung at Oktoberfest. Sometime in the late 1970s, the song acquired the name "Vogeltanz" (The Bird Dance) or "Vogerltanz" (Little Bird Dance or Birdie Dance), although these names never caught on seriously in Germany. On some sheet music and recordings it is called "Dance Little Bird", even though the dance was not popular as it was in Europe. The song has become known under numerous other "birdie" names such as "Danse des Canards", "El Baile de los Pajaritos & "Dance Little Bird" to name a few. The dance was reintroduced in the United States in 1981 during the Tulsa, Oklahoma Oktoberfest. A German band decided to play “Dance Little Bird” and taught the crowd how to do Thomas’s Duck Dance and to demonstrate their love through dance in costumes. The event organizers scoured the greater area of Tulsa area in search of a duck costume before the party got started but there were no duck costumes available anywhere near Tulsa. At a local television station however, a chicken costume was available which was donated for use at the festival, giving the "Chicken Dance" its name and it has been making kids and adults dance like Chickens or Ducks ever since. I hope you enjoyed my little story but what I have learned at Parkside was not to run away from the classroom and explore (since my days at the Old Parkside School on 100th Street) and my favorite memory of Kindergarten was when we listened to songs from Michael Jackson's Bad album as we played musical chairs!"

Seve Chambers ‘97 has been a freelance reporter covering New York City culture, music, local events and history for media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Blog, The Local, Vulture, The New York Press Club and Okayplayer. He current works as a social media manager for Interactive One, and is currently expanding his work to digital media strategies and diversity and inclusion for companies looking to create a safer, more representative workforce.

2000s

Rachel and her fiancé, Andy.

Rachel Kahn ’00 is currently a Librarian with the New York Public Library system. She creates public programs, co-chairs the Horror Committee, and plans to become a research librarian with a specialty in cinema and the arts. About her experience at Parkside, Rachel says “I’ve done a lot of things that I credit Parkside for in believing in me. I have two masters degrees, have presented at conferences, and even volunteered as a talent liaison for the New York Film Festival. My most recent news is that I became engaged to my partner of six years, and that two Parkside alumni will be in my wedding party!

Tommy Roche ’03 wrote to let us know that he has recently started studying real estate, and hopes to become an agent!

2010s

Street Spitzley ’13 started college this fall, attending Millersville University where he is majoring in broadcast journalism. He also has plans to study abroad in China, Japan and the United Kingdom. He says “In January I got accepted to Millersville University, and when I found out over Zoom I was so excited. Thank you Parkside for an amazing 5 year experience.”

2020s

Lucas Jiao ’20 writes to say that he has been “chillin’ and vibin’,” and is doing well at the Browning School since graduating from Parkside. In middle school he has participated in the math team and been part of several performances. He’s made some new friends, started learning Python and Algebra 1, and completed a science expo on encryptions. He also received an award for excellence in music! To his Parkside friends, he says “YOOOOO! Wassup everyone? Long time no see! I’ve definitely changed a lot since the last time I’ve been at Parkside.” We wish Lucas and his family well as they move to China this year!