As any successful performing arts teacher or administrator would tell you, any good music, drama or dance program should not be about churning out little show ponies and pint-sized divas. Performing arts is a profound and important part of any child’s education, and the skills learned and experience gained in taking drama classes, having singing lessons and/or joining a dance school or glee club will affect and improve many of your child’s abilities in many areas of their life.
Benefits of Performing Arts Schools
Kids who attend performing arts schools or have access to performing art classes in their regular school curriculum are:
- Developing creativity. Imaginative play stimulates and challenges the brain, and allows kids to be innovative and broad-minded
- Developing confidence. Strategies to help you get up in front of an audience and present an idea are extraordinarily valuable and very little appreciated in many areas of adult life, personally and professionally. Learning how as a child is a wonderful asset to have.
- Promoting self-discipline and self-motivation. Because all performing arts are physical and individual like doing sports or athletics, achievements are also gained from including practice at home and scheduling personal training,
- Exposed to art and culture. The impact of a sophisticated cultural and artistic education is life-long, and adds enjoyment, depth and meaning to both personal lives and professional work as adults. Not everyone is lucky enough to have the opportunity.
- Overcoming anxieties. The triumph of going out of stage, performing a rehearsed piece successfully, and receiving feedback afterwards is one of the profound and tangible reassurances of worth and achievement you will ever get. It gives kids a sense of control and power equivalent to winning scholastic prizes or sports championships, and will encourage aiming higher, overcoming more obstacles and achieving greater goals in future endeavours.
- Learning memorizing skills. Working on your ability to absorb and retain information is something many successful entrepreneurs recommend for the success of professional adults, and is important and fun to develop through performing arts.
- Improving language and musical skills. Like an exposure to culture and art, developing language and musical skills offer a significant advantage for any student, and make for a richer, more liberal-minded adulthood.
- Problem-solving. Dealing with unexpected situations and working through to viable solutions is a wonderful and perhaps surprising skill gained from performing arts classes, where creative challenges are set, self-generated work is encouraged, or problems encountered on stage are overcome if things go wrong or are forgotten.
- Social interaction and cooperation. Performing arts classes promote working as a team while also encouraging and developing individual talent: the best possible combination.
As with any extra-curricular activities or high-performance education route for kids, there are of course also possible pitfalls for students and parents, and choosing the right performing arts school for your child is an also important factor.
However, if your child is clearly excited and energized about pursuing performing arts or even considering it as a career, your support and encouragement will help foster all the wonderful benefits that they achieve in singing, dancing and acting at their chosen performing arts classes. There simply isn’t a more fun way to gain important life skills and develop and grow as an artist!
Kim Edwards - Dr. Kim Edwards holds a PhD in literature, and when not teaching English, drama, cabaret or writing, she is a freelance writer, scholar, ...
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