Term Two = Parent Day!

We love the second term!

As the leaves turn orange, brown and crunchy our students become more accustomed to the Helen O’ Grady methods and activities and classmates are more comfortable working together. And mostly, second term means PARENT DAY!

Parent Day is a highlight on the drama class calendar as our students get to invite their parents for a presentation and a mini-showcase of their skills. The Parent Day is a great opportunity for parents, friends and family to be part of a drama class. 

They get to see and be part of the action, a behind the scenes look into the magic that takes place every time they drop off their children at a drama class.

Teacher, Inandi Vosloo and her charges at the Paarl Studio start their preparation...

We hope all of our students will have someone in the audience to smile at from the stage when they present what they’ve already started preparing for this term’s Parent Days.

Hope to see you there!

New Year New Drama

Every new year brings new challenges and each new challenge brings new opportunities. We are so excited to get the new school year started, to welcome familiar and new faces into our school and studio classes and start the journey of drama that 2017 holds in store. 

The action commences on Monday the 16^th of January. 

Please see below for the start dates for a school or studio near you:

Monday, 16^th

^{Bellville Christian Academy}

^Bellville

^Stellenbosch

Tuesday, 17^th

^Kenridge

^Paarl

Wednesday, 18^th

^Durbanville

Thursday, 19^th

^{Hebron Christian Academy}

^{Kuils River}

Friday, 20^th

^{De Tyger Primary}

^{Rainbow Montesorri} 

If you haven’t enrolled yet, no fear, we have some spaces left in some of our classes. All you have to do is send a quick e-mail to mari@helenogrady.co.za

HURRY. 2017 is going to be the best year yet!

RING RING!!!

A great addition to our curriculum this term is our telephone snippets.

These short activities focus on students’ vocal delivery. As the short play is performed as if conducting a telephone conversation it is crucial for students to put to practice all the elements taught during speech. Without being able to rely on facial expressions and gestures the voice is tested to new extents.

With a range of fun and interesting scenarios students get to play around with improv and ad-lib as this remains a key element in all our activities. The snippets deal with simple, everyday situations and give students some skills in dealing with these real-life scenarios.

 

De Tyger UP students dialing in on the action

They also practising opening, building and closing a narrative.

What a fun way to bring the lesson to a close.

Switch Drama On!

In this world taken over by technology and gadgets one might wonder why we bother with developing the creativity, confidence and communication skills of our children.

Some may even say face to face interaction is “dying out” and think a worse fate awaits theater.

At Helen O’ Grady we do our best to stay relevant, “with it” and connected to the times. That said, we believe our principles and core values are timeless.

Connection, stories, expression are things people long for. A wise man said, “No man is an island”. We may be able to survive on our own but boy what a boring time that’ll be.

Imagination and dreams are what drives us. Having something to strive for and reach for helps us get through our every day.

Reflections shape us and teach us.

Without these things, where would we be? Who would we be?

Well, all of these things are brought to you by DRAMA. Drama gives students the space to play, explore, discover, reflect and express. Drama is a gift and a safe place to go to grow.

Drama: the best invention yet ;)

If you are in the Durbanville area...

Our Durbanville classes rock!
Well, all of our classes do but today we celebrate Durbanville.

Our teacher, Lize, is inspired and inspiring and the ever-growing class is testament to that.



Classes take place at the All Saints Church (across Durbanville Primary School) every Wednesday:

15:00 - 16:00  Lower Primary
16:00 - 17:00  Upper Primary
17:00 - 18:00  Youth Theatre

Make a Dramatic Difference at School

Helen O’ Grady offers drama classes at a number of studios across the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town as well as the Winelands areas.

We also offer drama as an after school programme at a number of schools.
While some may question the merits of a drama programme at a school with an already full extra-curricular programme, we offer these answers:

Drama at school stimulates CREATIVITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING
Drama activities can CHALLENGE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS about their world and about themselves.
Dramatic exploration as seen in our lessons can provide students with an outlet for EMOTIONS, THOUGHTS and DREAMS, that they might not otherwise have a platform to EXPRESS.
With our improvisations students can BECOME ANOTHER, explore a new role, try out and experiment with various personal choices and solutions to very real problems- or problems faced by characters in literature or historical figures.

De Tyger's Primary Group doing an Improv

Of course, at the core of Helen O’ Grady is COMMUNICATION, CONFIDENCE and CREATIVITY.

In this way drama REINFORCES the rest of the school curriculum giving students the all-round development they need. 

It's Great To Be Back!

We got off to an immense start this week with new classes, regular classes, familiar faces and new smiles.

We're Back!

This week we shook off our holiday dust and got right down to business. 

Kindy classes started a new theme which teaches us about our bodies and how to use them at school, at home and on stage.

The Lower Primary group got to put together an improv using some holiday inspiration while the Upper Primary got stuck into new speech techniques. In movement both groups got to explore rhythm patterns proving to be loads of fun all-round! And don’t forget the Youth Theatre groups. These students upped their cool factors and started learning about building character collages.

So far it’s been a fun, learning, inspiring, dramatic week. A great start to the term and the new year.

If you missed out, don’t worry, there’s still time to get to a studio near you and enrol.

Monday:

Bellville                               Collective Arts Theatre                  CP 3:30-4:30 and YT 4:30-5:30

Stellenbosch                      Christchurch                                       CP 4-5 and YT 5-6

Tuesday:

Kenridge                              Kenridge Scouts Hall                       K 2-3, LP 3-4, UP 4-5

Paarl                                      Old Mill Theatre                               LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

Wednesday:

Durbanville                         All Saints Church                               LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

Somerset West                   HH Dutch Reformed Church        CP 3:30-4:30, YT 4:30-5:30

Thursday:

Kuils River                           Van Riebeeck Hall                            LP 3-4, UP 4-5, YT 5-6

2016 Here we come!

There’s so much excitement during Term 4.

Yes, there are our Year end Productions happening at the end of November, but there’s more.

Term 4 is your chance to get ahead and sign up for another great year of drama. During Term 4 our students have the opportunity to re-enrol for Helen O’ Grady 2016. How exciting!!

This means current students have a chance to secure a place in one of our classes next year. And the sooner you sign up, the better your chances of getting your hands on a cool prize or treat.

Ask your teacher at class this week or contact the office on 021 913 3635 today!

Brand new season for Kindy

The heat is on in the Cape and it’s making its way to our classes and studios.

But that won’t stop the students from putting their best faces and voices forward as we prepare for our production. Productions are little over a month away and the excitement and nerves are building. From aboard a Pirate Ship to the mishaps of a Circus Troupe to the tragedies of Shakespearean yesteryear.

Our Kindy classes may not be preparing for full production like our older classes but they have been enjoying inspired classes. Themes this term will see them travel through the jungle and learn all about the seasons and weather in the most dramatic way.

But while that’s what we’re looking forward to, let’s first look back. Let’s just take a minute to admire the princesses and super heroes of our Kenridge Kindy class.

We love it when a plan comes together

Term four has got of to a rocking start with students filing in to class ready for action.

This term is extra special as we gear up for our year-end productions. It’s great to see that students spent time during the holidays learning their lines, familiarising themselves with their scripts and getting ideas for costumes and characterisation.

Productions are a highlight of the Helen O’ Grady calendar. It’s a great time to bring together all the principles we’ve taught our students throughout the year.

Students will get to show what they’ve learnt in the speech component of the curriculum as they deliver their lines in crisp, bold voices.

We will see their movement skills as they assume the levels, special awareness and planes of different roles.

Ad libbing, which is an important skill taught, practised and emphasised throughout the year will be on show throughout the plays throughout the age groups.

Parents, friends, family and teachers can look forward to a display of skill wrapped up in clever stories in a showcase of colour and fun.

Dreams begin at Kindy class

Helen O' Grady and their teachers strive to inspire students to dream. And dreaming is not age restricted. Dreaming starts right now!


Last week the Kenridge Kindy princesses ended off the second theme for this term: Night and Day. They got to do this with sleepover themed lesson. Not that any sleeping happened!

The girls practiced their speech, did their movement exercises and discussed what they'd learnt thus far during the Night and Day theme. They then ended off the lesson with The Pillow Fight improv.

The Kindy class is a great platform for young students to learn the basics of speech and drama in a high energy, interactive and informal way. They are also exposed to other students and learn to listen not only to instructions but the stories of their classmates.

Call the office or visit our website to find out more about the Kindy class.
We're waiting to meet you and your little one.

Build - an- Improv

Every term brings something new for our students to learn and enjoy.

This term the Upper Primary group have started doing Structured Improvs. During these scenes the students build the Improv as led by their own ad-libbing. Not only will this improve our creative thinking but also encourage strong ad-libbing skills.

So far, the students have enjoyed the new activity as it allows them to add key-lines and show that they do not only possess the skill to present their characters, they can direct and create as well.

The way the improvs have been structured for this group this term allow the students to be part of the development of the plot structure. The curriculum and the teacher set the outline and progression while students fill in the rest.

This exercise is especially valuable as many of these students are being prepared to progress to the Youth Theatre group.

TO DO OR NOT TO DO

Last week our Youth Theatre groups got to tackle their first monologues of the term. It was great! The script was fun and relatable and the students could give their individual twists while learning about characterization and owning the stage while you’re up there alone.
Experience with monologues are especially important as students will often be asked to perform on their own for auditions.
Here are some tips on what to DO and NOT TO DO when choosing a monologue:

DO:

-          Have options. Prepare two monologues and make sure they are very different. When there’s a large turnout at the audition performers are called back for a second round. Showing range of performance qualities will put you ahead of the rest.

-          LOVE the piece of work. If the student loves performing it, the audience or judges or casting directors will love watching it.

-          Extract a monologue from a play. There are books available with monologues pre-written for this purpose but choosing something that has context will allow the student the depth of the character, other characters and the plot to feed into their performance.

-          Look for an age-appropriate piece that the student can relate to. Let who you are help you in selecting who you’d like to play.

-          Look for something where the character is doing something – ACTion, ACTing, ACTive.

-          Keep it short. Your first 30 seconds are most important, everything else is just bonus.

DON’T:

-                   -     Choose a monologue that’s been overdone…Out damn spot…

-                   -     Choose monologues with content that will make the audience uncomfortable.

-                   -     Not read the rest of the play. Know the context of the scene you are showing and       show and understanding and appreciation for the entire play you are performing from. 

For more, join a Youth Theatre group near you and get in on the ACTion.

 

Somerset West Youth Students rehearsing their monologues to perform for the class