Rosina Andrews, who has just graduated from three years of full time dance training at Performers College, under the direction of Brian Rogers has planned a new timetable for Thursday evenings at the Performing Arts School that she used to train at before leaving to go to vocational college. The college that she attended 'provided a balanced curriculum that provides the necessary challenges and encourages standards that are obtainable and reflect the intended profession.' (2007, www.performerscollege.co.uk) which she believes is essential to valuable learning and wants to encompass this into the childrens training a a younger age
The first new class is Musical Theatre.
'Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole' (2009, Wikipedia)
As stated above musical theatre combines elements which are primarily practiced separately, in these classes Rosina aims to begin to practice these elements and work on the childrens development of performing more than one task at a time attributing to the final product of a musical theatre piece. Currently there are 45 running musicals in the Westend of London, so it is vital to be efficient in this collaboration of dance, song and drama if you want to succeed in theatre.
Secondly there is a new class aimed at our younger students, HipHop.
Approximately 19% of children (ages 6–11) and 17% of adolescents (ages 12–19) were overweight in 2000.(2009,www.overweightteen.com) As a dance teacher to younger pupils it is vital that exercise is kept fun and up to date to motivate children to stay healthy. Although introducing HipHop to the schools timetable is to integrate different styles at a younger age it is also a vigourous yet fun form of exersise. 'Benefits of starting dance early, in addition to teaching responsibility, teamwork, and commitment are avoiding childhood obesity, encouraging a healthy lifestyle and continued physical activity as they get older, building motor skills and making new friends' (2008,Vincent Iannelli) and most of all from our point of view at MTPAS is reducing the fear of the unknown (HipHop style) so the children can grow and improve in there versatility which as stated before is essential in the dance industry.
The final class being introduced is aimed at our students hoping to continue their training at a higher level.
Advanced Jazz will enable our older pupils to gain the mentality, stamina and perseverance of a dancer at vocational level. We aim to slowly introduce techniques of further dance training before they leave for dance college by treating them like professionals and creating an environment similar to what they would receive
'A first year at a vocational college establishs an awareness of a "dancers life style" for the purpose of developing a healthy, thinking, able dancer capable of further training in pursuit of a professional career.' (2008, www.Performers College.co.uk.) I aim to prepare the students mentally for what they are going to recieve prior to entering the colleges for them to gain the most out of their training.
These classes are set to take place on Thursday Evenings at the Myra Tiffin Performing Arts School.
I very much enjoyed reading through your academic piece of writing. As you state, versatility is very important in the world of Performance. At Performer’s College, where I also trained, we were always being told to have ‘The Triple Threat’, meaning dance, singing and acting. It is very important to be able to do what the director/chorographer asks you to do. This is how to stay ‘ahead of the game’.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see that you have gone back to your old dance school with the knowledge that you have gained from your professional training and are passing it over to younger generations. How are your pupils coping with the new classes that you have introduced? Are they enjoying them?
As you say Musical Theatre is all about combining dancing, singing and acting together to have a good overview of everything and introducing co-ordination. Hip-Hop is a new dance style that hopefully they can adapt to and eventually the moves will feel natural to them, which is another sting to their bow in terms of dance styles. Finally the technique learnt in Advanced Jazz will help with every performance aspect. Having a good grounded technique is vital to succeed in dance, and that is why starting at a young age is so important.
How long have you been teaching these classes for? It would be interesting for me to know if you have seen improvements in the children’s attitudes, confidence, technique and versatility?
I enjoyed your style of writing, as despite stating academic facts, it was very easy to read and follow. However, please note that there are spelling mistakes in the text.
I look forward to your response.
Thankyou Ciera for your comment i'll check the spellings! silly me!
ReplyDeleteIn response to your questions; I am just about to finish my first 12 week term of teaching the classes and Yes, i do see a drastic improvement. However i must admit that they are not all normal children, some of them take dance classes every night of the week including body conditioning, gymnastics , singing and drama (although i do stress that this is all under their own choices and no forcing them to do anything is placed on them or their parents) and also have been involved in numerous professional productions so they are far above average once a week dance school children. In contrast to these children who are undeniably talented, my classes are also attended by the child that only does on class. Notably i have seen progress with both sets of children.
Within the Musical Theatre class, the students picking up skills have become quicker, attentions to details have become sharper and the overal outcome of the routines have become more and more professional. They have risen to the challenge of planning their outfits and researching the class before and also a there is a family atmosphere in the class due to the facebook group they have created to discuss ideas and outfits. At Performers I found that the most valuable learning received was from my peers, and i am proud that my children I teach are beginning to learn from each other rather than just me, the teacher. Have you come across learning from other sources rather than the main leader?
During the HipHop classes, the most apparent improvement is the rise in confidence levels. We have worked on improvisaton, freestyle and commercial styles which are very alien to 7years old who just take ballet classes, but i have realised that 7-9year olds act much older than previous generations. A general consensus at the beginning of classes about the recent X factor shows or whos number 1 and a general observation of the outfits worn to my classes suggests these children are infact mini teenagers, which in some way is worrying and other ways postitive because hopefully they will approach their teens with a broader perspective and knowledge. I have some star students in this class that indulge in every correction and comment, striving to be their best, i have 100% enjoyed seeing this class broaden their perspectives with such professionalism at such a young age.
The class i was most dreading was Advanced Jazz, I have quite a relaxed attitude towards teaching but the main objective of this class was the stricter approach. This class has evolved into slightly different than originally planned, i have tried to focus on technique although from week to week i feel the students need just to dance so I have included routines within this. i have noticed a big difference in their acceptance of different styles especially floor work and contemporary although i do not recieve as much enthusiasm from these than the younger students, i'm not sure if this is because they are 'terrible teens' or that my class is not as stimulating.
I am hoping to post some videos of my work for my WBS pals to see and to comment whether you think learning so much from a young age is acceptable or does it take the fun out of 'hobbies'.
Hi Rosina, I enjoyed reading your Marketing Writing particularly that it is written in third person makes it interesting. Firstly, I have to agree with Ciera and would advise that you thoroughly proof read your work considering spelling and grammar particularly in your ‘Hip Hop’ paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI would also recommend that you take a look at the hand book at the chapter “Harvard Referencing” as I believe that you have not given sufficient details when you have referred to websites. Alternatively try www.libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm which I found an extremely useful site.
To help break up your Marketing Writing, I would suggest each sub-heading for your classes, (for example, “The final class being introduced is aimed at our students hoping to continue their training at a higher level.”) could be in bold and a larger font. I believe your piece will not only be more pleasing to the eye, but also better sectioned, making it appear less to read and therefore more appealing.
For people who are interested in partaking in your new classes, an address/contact details would be useful. I would suggest adding the relevant information at the end of your piece.
Would it make the school sound more appealing if the readers knew of more pupils’ success? Just a suggestion, but I can see that you have exceeded the word limit already, so maybe see where other people’s suggestions take you. Along the same lines, the children’s’ responses to your classes (as I notice you have told Ciera you have almost been teaching for 12 weeks now) may make the classes more appealing.
I was very interested in your response Rosina. It is very good to see that both sets of children are mixing together, and working as a team. They seem to be very encouraging, and maybe the ones that do not attend extra curricular classes as often will improve with the help of their peers who attend more often. They seem to have built a strong bond and friendship, which is very important, and one which hopefully will last a long time. It is great to see that ‘Facebook’ is having a positive impact on them and enabling them to communicate and discuss something that they are passionate about.
ReplyDeleteIn reply to your question about learning from other sources other than from the main leader (teacher), I believe that you can learn from anything and everything. Every situation is a learning experience, however, primarily I think that you do learn from a leader (teacher). If you want to learn more about the subject you can them attend seminars, watch DVD’s and documentaries, read and talk to people who may be knowledgeable of the subject. There are many ways to learn, however a good teacher can inspire you to want to learn more.
It is great to see that Musical Theatre is helping your students to pick up routines faster (which is essential for later auditions) and that their attention to detail is improving. Having good attention to detail can make you stand out from a room full of other dancers.
It is also good news that confidence levels are rising from Hip-Hop classes. As you state the younger generation is growing up faster these days and by introducing Hip-Hop you are moving with the times and introducing a new dance style to them. However, I do feel that children these days are losing out on their childhood and trying to grow up too quickly, but good discipline in class should keep them grounded and focused.
It is good to mix some fun routines into Advance Jazz, as simply working on correct technique can bring along boredom. However, you must stress the importance to the students of needing a good technique in order to develop further as a dancer. It is good to see that you are adding various styles to the class, along with floor work. The class might take slightly longer for them to adjust to, maybe because it is still new to them, or maybe they simply don’t enjoy Advanced Jazz as much as other classes? A possibility would be to ask them for any feedback? This could benefit you and the students in the future.
I do believe that it is important to have a balance between fun and discipline. Dancing requires correct technique to be undertaken in a safe manner, to avoid injuries, and therefore you have to be firm with your students. Many students will quit dancing when they realise that they do not want to attend classes anymore, this can be for many reasons. Maybe they were forced to attend by their parents, they have simply lost their love for dancing, or because of injury. However, the ones that do carry on and end up dancing professionally will be eternally grateful for the discipline and correct technique that you installed in them.
Hello Ciera,
ReplyDeleteI did in fact ask advanced jazz for some feedback, their comment was...
'we love this class but we are quiet because were concentrating'...I was very pleased by this as I had been worried that the class might had been boring, but obviously the silence was concentration not boredom (sigh of relief!). A couple of them have also just had auditions for colleges and a lot of them have had mocks so now the tension in the class has lifted.
I agree totally with children missing out on their childhood, facebook, iphones and shopping seem to have replaced Arts and Crafts, Polly Pocket and playgrounds how I used to play. A class i taught the other day was very interesting as I did hip hop with both ages. I felt that they had swapped places, my 8-12 years were acting like 15year olds and my older ones were acting younger! I found it quite hard to get the 'attitude' i wanted from the older ones but found it very simple with the younger ones! However I think I have found the answer...the older ones care too much whether they are going to look stupid, what there wearing or who there talking to rather than my little ones just go for it. I knew teenagers are more sensitive whilst at school or home but i hadn't expected them to bring their low self confidence into dance class whilst with friends, i had thought it was a time to let go. In my next few classes I am going to focus on building their esteem and confidence as I think this is the most important factor of success in any industry.
(just a quick question is what we are discussing task c?)xxx
Thankyou Sophie for your help! I have just posted another version of my marketing style, with a few added extras. Unfortunately i cannot get the colours and images properly on to my blog but i have added in some quotes about the classes from the children and I really think it gives a positive and inviting look to the style of writing. I have also tried to compact my writing so now they are not over the word limits. Have a look at my new versions and let me know what you think :)
ReplyDelete)
ciera i mean task e sorry! x
ReplyDeleteHi Rosina,
ReplyDeleteI asked at the campus session on Monday and yes this is task e, it can be comments about the style and the context.
Ciera