junior Programs
Bully Prevention: Through tableaux, movement and role-play students will explore the roles of the bully, the target and the bystander. Why do young people play one role rather than another? What is the impact of bullying? How can one person make a difference? Students will work with Hooway for Wodney Wat and Lil’ Bill to explore their opinions and experiences with bullying and to grapple with the serious consequences of their actions. This workshop will leave students with an understanding of the power dynamics of bullying, recognition that everyone plays a role and strategies to contend with situations as they arise.
“Erin was interactive with students, provided prompts to assist students with needs, connected with each student with enthusiasm to boost confidence and provided many opportunities for students to share their ideas.”
- Ms. Vanderbent – Grade 4 Teacher
Character Development: In this project, students will be divided into four separate communities: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Using tableaux, role-play, coral soundscape and movement, students will develop a vocabulary for their own communities. They will then observe and interact with students from other elemental communities, as though meeting someone from another culture for the first time. Initial responses to “the other” will be the springboard for an exploration of the merits and challenges of empathy, respect, co-operation, kindness and caring. At the end of this workshop, students will have an understanding of key character attributes and elements of dance and drama.
The Making of Myths: Students will engage with myths from around the world using tableaux, role-play, character mirror and movement. This investigation will examine the impulse to create myth and story “then” and “now”, teach students to apply dance and drama vocabulary and foster a unique relationship to myths and storytelling. In a long-format workshop, students will use the form and content of those stories as a springboard to devise their own myths to explain and interpret the world around them.
The Moving Painting: In this project, students will examine and respond to great works of visual art including Renoir and the Impressionists, Munch and the Expressionists and Picasso and the Cubists. Through tableaux, role-play, coral soundscape and movement, students will mirror the creation process of the artists when engaging with their work. By interacting with visual art in a visceral and kinaesthetic way, students will develop a unique relationship to the painting and build a framework with which to respond to visual art in the future.
Integrated Arts: For this workshop, teachers select an area of the curriculum they would like to explore through drama (ie. science, language, math). A workshop will be tailor-made to teach indicated curriculum objectives through drama. By the end of this workshop students will have solid understanding of targeted concepts. Teachers will understand how to use drama as a tool to teach other subjects and have a lesson plan to repeat the workshop in the future.