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Friday, May 8, 2020
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Friday, May 24, 2019
One Jump Ahead
May 24, 2019
Constance Gibbs
Constance Gibbs
It’s a whole new world in Disney’s remake of the 1992 animated film Aladdin. Most of the story remains the same. A lowly “street rat” meets a genie, falls in love with a princess, and tries to save a kingdom from the evil Jafar. But the new movie is live-action, not animated. And it features dynamic new dance scenes.
JAMAL SIMS is the film’s choreographer. A choreographer designs the physical movements in a dance. For Aladdin, Sims and his team were inspired to combine different dance styles. “It was fun to incorporate traditional styles of Arabic dancing with hip-hop,” he told TIME for Kids.
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| SANTIAGO FELIPE/GETTY IMAGES; DANIEL SMITH/DISNEY ENTERPRISES |
One performance features dancers at a parade. Sims says it was challenging to put together. “We had eight horses, six camels, and other real live animals in this procession with the dancers,” he says. “Everything moving down the street had to move in perfect sync.”
Sims says he strongly relates to the movie’s theme of being who you are: “Having the courage to show up as yourself and know that you’re good enough is a big thing for me.”
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Geography Champion
Can you name Norway’s northernmost plateau? Texas eighth grader Nihar Janga can. It’s Finnmark Plateau. By answering that question, Nihar won the 31st annual National Geographic GeoBee on Wednesday.
The GeoBee is designed to encourage students to learn about the world. Students from grades 4 through 8 can compete for a chance to win college scholarships.
Nihar will receive a $25,000 scholarship and a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society. He will also take part in an expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour II.
This isn’t Nihar’s first time as a bee champion. In 2016, he shared the top prize with Jairam Hathwar at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. And he was a finalist in last year’s GeoBee.
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Nihar Janga won the 31st annual National
Geographic GeoBee in Washington, D.C., on
May 22.
AP PHOTO/JACQUELYN MARTIN
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This week, the National Geographic Society also held finals for its first-ever GeoChallenge. The nationwide team competition challenges students to develop innovations for urgent problems. This year’s theme was plastic pollution in our waterways. The winning team was from Flushing Christian School, in New York City. The team built a model of a device that would use filters to remove plastic debris from a river. The prize was $25,000. The team members will receive guidance from National Geographic employees as they further develop the project.
Got the geography bug? Registration for the 2020 GeoBee and GeoChallenge opens in August.
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