The Great Theatre!

"Drama classes are a fantastic means of developing confidence, self-esteem,and essential communication skills"says Duncan Rice of The Helen O' Grady Drama Academy Franchise. He also stated these classes help release the child's creative and expressive potential, which is one of the keys to healthy educational development.

The benefits of drama classes simply can't be overemphasized, one of which is the chance to do stage plays and theatre.

 Out of all developmental activities children are encouraged to go through, stage plays/Theatre is the one activity with the longest shelf life. This means that what they learnt from it will positively impact on who they will grow up to be in terms of their character.
The point? Let your child do theatre!and the reasons are best summed up in the words of Cathlyn Melvin, who went for drama classes as a child,and then started her own children theatre company. These reasons are solely based on her personal experience;

They’ll walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.  They’ll walk ten.  They’ll walk a hundred.  When a child reads a character, they’re forced to think, why would he have made that choice?  What’s he trying to get from the person he’s talking to?  How could he have done it differently?  Empathy is one of the top personality skills (yes, skills) necessary for strong corporate leadership later on,In Lauren Gunderson’s Huffington Post blog, How Theatre for Young People Could Change the World, she says that “so much of the toxicity in this world comes from a collective draining of empathy. We don't understand each other, and we don't want to. But theater invites us -- no, forces us -- to empathize.”  This practice lays the foundation for strength and compassion.

Theatre doesn’t tell you what to feel.   Art is based on personal experience.  Playing a role, designing a set, seeing a production, I might not see the same images or feel the same impulses as you.  And that’s how it’s meant to work.  It opens up pathways for all participants to explore their own emotions and views.  Involving your kids in art makes them free to think, free to feel, and free to explore who they want to become.

Theatre is great exposure to literature and history.  When I was in first grade, my class took a trip to our community children’s theatre to see a production of Just So Stories.  At the time, I didn’t know who Rudyard Kipling was, but afterward, I asked my teacher to help me find the Just So Stories book in our library.  Reading the stories, I made connections between what was happening on the page, and what happened during the performance.  I learned that Rudyard Kipling was also responsible for one of my favorite Disney movies – that one with Bhageera, and Baloo, and Mowgli.

Theatre provides the freedom to not be perfect.  Be big, be loud, be silly! it’s not about sounding pretty. It’s about telling a story and having fun. So we encourage the kids to try things.  Let loose.  If it doesn’t work, that’s okay – now we know and we can try something new!

High Energy Drama

We all have them, or at least have heard of them… very expressive children popularly known as Drama Queens or Kings. These are children whose emotional reactions are disproportionate in intensity to the situation.

Now having a dramatic child is not so bad. They are usually really fun, quite likeable. They are so great when it comes to anything active in the classroom. They really go that extra mile because it’s something they get excited about. They want to interact. They are the memorable children. They respond to life’s every turn with drama, drama, drama. HOWEVER sometimes they can be overly dramatic, giving outbursts as well as high level energy at the odd time.

You love your child dearly of course but the drama is well, something else. What’s a creative, doting parent to do? Get that child into drama class of course!

At Helen O’ Grady Drama Academy, Lagos Islands, our work is to channel that energy and not squelch it.

It may be that your drama queen or king is destined to be a performer. By channeling this dramatic energy to the stage, your child will have a direction in which to channel his or her big emotions.

Drama exists in every part of our lives… some just express it more readily. If you have a dramatic child, help him or her channel those dramatic tendencies with the Helen O’ Grady approach to Drama. And then, perhaps make a room on your shelf for a world class movie award in the near future.

Drama Does This to You!

‘The world is a global village’…

We all can’t count how many times we have heard that phrase, but really, with the growing trends happening all around us, the world literally, has turned into a tiny global village where it takes just a nanosecond to talk to anyone ... anywhere. With this, the need to be able to communicate more articulately and with confidence cannot be wished away anymore and good oratory skills is one of the many benefits that learning drama gives to your child.

At the Helen O' Grady Drama Academy, Lagos Island, we teach your child to:

• Learn a wide range of appropriate ways of communicating. They learn to project their voice and to speak words clearly.
• Learn the importance of empathy, as it allows them to experience how someone else thinks and acts.
• Promote their imagination. Imagination gives life excitement. It keeps things interesting. Everyone needs imagination, even our top scientists!

Yes, learning drama will give these benefits to your child and the best part of it all is that it will stay with them long into adulthood.

DRAMA & YOUR KIDS by Tamo Iruene

Where else can you find chefs, nurses, police officers, office workers, super heroes, teachers, karate instructors, and bus drivers all happily working side-by-side?

The truth is, in the midst of creating a restaurant together, clomping around in grown-up shoes, or twirling around with friends in a fairytale land, children are learning to solve problems, coordinate, cooperate, and think flexibly.

Pretending is important in child development.

Through drama children get to learn about the world and ultimately, themselves. They experiment with role playing and work to make sense out of what they've observed. Just watch children playing with dolls to see examples of this. Dolls often become versions of the child herself and are a safe way for children to express new ideas and feelings.

Have you ever witnessed children pretending to visit the doctor? One child dutifully holds the mock stethoscope as the others line up for a check-up. More often than not someone gets ‘the dreaded injection’. This is a child’s way of exploring an experience that is common and sometimes confusing or scary.

This is where we come in, at Helen O'Grady, we have the ability to harness the inherent skills in your child and positively direct them to a healthy outlet for expression.

Children develop important complex social and higher order thinking skills when playing pretend.

Drama is much more than simple play activities; it requires advanced thinking strategies, communication, and social skills. Through Drama, children learn to do things like negotiate, consider others perspectives, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, delay gratification, balance their own ideas with others, develop a plan and act on it, explore symbolism, express and listen to thoughts and ideas, assign tasks and roles, and synthesize different information and ideas. In this creative play description, we could just as easily be describing the skills needed to successfully manage a work project for an adult.

If your children are not yet registered…well…what are you waiting for?

Contact a Helen O’Grady official today at the SPAN office, 13 Davis street, Marina, Lagos or call our numbers: 08091900700 or 08091900600 for more information

Someone will always be happy to attend to you.

I have a speech launching this week!

I have a speech!

Speech, First Lady, award, mentors, drama, Helen o Grady, lagos, nigeria

Launching this week at 1 Abuja street, SPAN and INK MARK unite with selected students in Lagos to present the first ever "I have a speech contest". CHILDREN will be taught proper diction and speech writing and will be mentored by the best speakers in the country. Their speeches will be printed and the selected finalists will be awarded a encounter with the First Lady of lagos State....keep tuning to SPAN...HELEN O GRADY CLASSES WILL BE GIVEN TO AWARDEES.

Taking The Academy Lagos Islands To A New Height.

                                     
 Dear  Principals, Bloggers, Parents and Superstars,

My dream upon arriving in Lagos in 2008 was to inspire, encourage and develop not only the performing arts, but to assist in the development of young people in terms of building their self confidence and self esteem.

I have been priviledged to be the principal of the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Lagos - Islands for 2 1/2 years, with our student base developing to almost 600 students attending classes every week!

However I have been aware of the need to reach more people, empower more skills development, and give back more to the community; a task which has needed more hands and talents to accomplish.

I am therefore thrilled to share with you an exciting new development for the Academy. The Society Of Performing Arts In Nigeria (SPAN) whose main purpose is the development and upliftment of the permforming arts in Nigeria will be taking the Academy under it's wings and with it's driving force behind it will assist the academy in reaching new heights.

How will this affect you, your school and classes?

Classes will continue as per normal, with regular teachers. SPAN will be offering additional classes, workshops, holiday programmes and productions to assist your child (and yourself) to develop even further and reach your full potential.

I will continue to teach, train teachers, direct and produce stage productions.

Please take note of the new email address and contact details for any further information:

 info@spanigeria.org , theacademy@gmail.com and www.spanigeria.org

08091900700, 08093561000 and 08093571000. 

Thank you for your incredible support - I look forward to you sharing in this new and exciting development with me!

Marianne Terblanche.