Hair Raising Start to the Term!

Kensington Lower Primary class started Term 2 in style. They performed an improvisation called " A Shock for Emma". The scene took place in a hairdressers so the children took on different roles eg receptionist, hairdressers, clients , nail ladies etc. All was going so well until poor Emma who asked for a perm ended up with a bright blonde frizz! The children really enjoyed acting as mini adults.The improvisations help develop communication skills , multiple sentence flow and stage techniques but above all they are FUN!

Hare and the Tortoise Race !

Another great dress up day for our Sunninghill Lower Primary class. The kids acted out a small improvisation based on the well known tale of the Hare and The Tortoise. At the beginning of term the children are given a schedule of dress ups for each week It really helps them to get into character for their play or dance drama.This weeks dress up was especially fun as each child had to make a mask of an animal in the forest. Some children go to town (and parents!) - how fantastic was our little tortoise's costume . Well done to Renee Pedegava (age 8yrs) !

The improvisations (plays) help to encourage interaction between the kids and therefore improve social skills. Drilling of the lines during these improvs help in projection of the voice as well as developing self confidence. And of course , the children have fun in the process!

Adult classes Warming Up!

Our Sandton adult class which meets on Tuesday evenings 6.30 - 7.30pm at the Field and Study Centre, warm up prior to the main body of the lesson. Exercises based on Thai Chi movements help to clear the mind and body from the stresses of the day.Many of our adults have full time jobs and come to drama to relax or to develop confidence or just to take themselves into another world. Lauren , their highly qualifed teacher who trained at one of the top drama colleges in London, UK is concentrating this term on characterisation. She is doing this through first understanding which of the four elements (Earth,Water, Fire and Air) a person feels they are.They then chose a person/character they know or have met and gradually take on their characteristics by studying them. This character will then manifest itself over the next few weeks by the students imagining their character in different areas of their life.

Boksburg Youth Theatre Up, Close and Personal!

Our talented Boksburg Youth Theatre ( 13- 18 yr olds ) which meet on Tuesday evenings began their lessons by warming up physically as well as verbally. Sometimes its harder for teenagers to open up and socialise than it is for the young kids. Here our teenagers are encouraged to move around and take up eachothers space as well as acknowledge each other in a non verbal way eg winking at eachother, shaking hands , nodding or high fiving. Its a great ice breaker whilst having fun! Once physically energised , the students then go on do some voice training including breathing, projection and resonating exercises. They are trained to use their voices effectively which will help them to become confident speakers whether its for theatre performances, auditions , interviews or public speaking.

How Clumsy !

Last week, all our Lower and upper Primary students were having fun dressed up as adults at an elegant party on board a ship. They were performing a mime to music in which they had to move in time to music with exaggerated gestures and facial expressions.The music changed as the ship became caught up in a storm. They had to enact the ship rolling from one side of the other. Lots of expressive movement as they surged with the boat, trying to stay upright.As the ship settles back down , the students had to show their relief and calm themselves down before mingling with eachother again. Mime to music encourages our students to express themselves non verbally use their bodies and faces.
The skill of miming and non verbal communication is very useful when it comes to our drama kids going for auditions for TV commercials which often require just facial expressions. The children who attend the Drama Academy do really well at auditions and we often get great feedback from the casting directors who are impressed by their acting and performance skills.

Houghton Student stars in SABC series!

Houghton student Okwethu (12 years old) has been attending the Helen O'Grady drama Academy for just over a year. The drama programme has certainly helped her in securing a featured role in the new Soul City 10 series which has just started filming. We can't tell you her role as its still a secret but watch out for this space. She is very excited and she will be busy shooting over the next two months. We are all very proud of her.

Today,Okwethu was at her drama class at St John's College,Houghton.The photos show Okwethu with her drama group warming up their voices during speech exercises. The movement section involved them learning about even and uneven rythm. They also had fun in their improvisation where they had to show off their rapping skills !

Spuds Away!

Every one must have heard about the hype and buzz around the Spud movie which is being filmed later this year. A special mention must be made to 4 of our students who were short listed from hundreds auditioned across the country but unfortunately didn't quite make it.

Chiara

for the role of Mermaid

Nathan and Antonis

for the role of Vern

Matthew for the role of Gecko

Well done to you all! The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy programme has certainly helped to train our students well. In the last two years since we have started our own casting agency : Take Ten Casting, over 300 of the students attending the Johannesburg East branch have featured in TV ads, Billboards , Tv Series and international films.

Watch out for Tshepo taking over the role of Vusi in your local soapi Muhvango due to air later this year.

Giant spiders scare away Explorers!

Students in our Sandton class (5-8yrs) getting into character where half the class were dressed as explorers and the other half giant spiders for this weeks improvisation "Spider Island ".This part of the lesson teaches the children about basic performance skills and helps to improve their self confidence and encourages social interaction. And of course they are having fun in the process!

Sunninghill Lower Primary go prehistoric!

Our lower primary class(5-8yr olds) in Sunninghill having great fun performing a mime to music called "No Meat". The children were putting together the movement skills they aquired in the previous two weeks where they learnt about space awareness, levels and direction. They dressed up as cavemen and moving in time to music acted out the story of hunters searching for food ,culminating with a huge feast enjoyed by the whole village.

More photos from our productions

Productions - November 2009

Well done to all our classes for their outstanding productions from our 4 year olds at Kidz Academy performing Paradesia to our talented Youth theatre classes who put on the mesmorizing version of Macbeth in Masks.We had between 300 -400 people attending each of the six shows at Moderfontein town hall.