These Young Masters Put Some Motion Into Pageant

Students at J.H. McGaugh School on Thursday pulled off a pint-sized version of Laguna Beach’s Pageant of the Masters, but there was nothing puny about the performance.

In front of a huge backdrop, a re-creation of artist David Hockney’s “Nichols Canyon,” kids dressed in workout wear and business suits with cellular phones glued to their ears brought the famous painting to life.

But unlike Laguna’s Pageant of the Masters, the actors and actresses passed up posing for a more pop version that included dance. As the song “The Hills of L.A.” played in the background, these kids zipped across stage on in-line skates and drove prop cars.

“We’re trying to show all the things that go on in the L.A street scene, from the business lady on the car phone to the aerobic girls at the beach,” said Jean Mangone, the school’s learning specialist who directed the pageant.

At McGaugh, students start learning about art history in kindergarten.

“By the time they’re in fifth grade, they can tell you just by looking at a painting ‘that’s a Van Gogh, that’s a Matisse,’ ” Mangone said.

This is the 15th year the school has held the Pageant of the Arts program. Each year, another artist is added. New this year is Claude Monet’s “Terrace of Sainte-Adresse.”

In September, the school’s 800 students started painting a copy of Monet’s famous work on a 20-by-40-foot canvas in art class. Fourth- and fifth-grade students began practicing a dance choreographed to match the art in January.

Instructors say the goal is to teach youngsters that art is something they can appreciate throughout their lives, not just in art class.

“Even in high school they may not have this kind of experience that takes them from art to music to dance,” Mangone said.

Students will perform the Pageant of the Arts program for the public at 7 p.m. tonight and Saturday in the school auditorium, 1698 Bolsa Ave.

Tickets are $2 for adults and $1 for children.