Starting this week I am teaching a weekly musical theatre workshop to elementary and middle school aged children. This is nothing new to me, but every group of kids I’ve worked with has a different dynamic going on. Whatever the dynamic may be, it always takes some getting used to and a short period of adjustment for the first day or so until I can figure out who each kid is, what they want to learn, how they learn best, what this group’s quirks are, attention span, ratio of movement oriented games to quiet time, etc. Some classes are obedient learners and eager to please. Others are rambunctious and want desperately to be doing anything that allows them to roll one another in lengths of carpet then promptly unroll each other off the edge of the stage. This class is a little of both.
Since these kiddos were, apparently, informed at registration that this was a drama class (it’s a musical theatre class, by the way) I asked each student what they wanted to learn in our class over the next 12 weeks. I received a few heartfelt responses along the lines of wanting to learn how to not be scared onstage, or how to act without being goofy, or confidence in their abilities. However, I was simultaneously flattered and horrified that a majority of the class thinks that I am the ideal candidate to teach them stunts and romance.
Yeah.
Stunts and romance.
I, evidently, have my work cut out for me.
