Contributed by Philip Anderson-Dyer:
The merits of drama, singing and dance for children are huge and in a long list. I first started working in this field roughly four years ago and have seen with my own eyes the dramatic and positive changes that occur after only a few weeks when children join our Saturday Theatre School in Ealing.
Drama is much much more than a tool to which children develop themselves for the stage and screen, it is a medium that gives children the key to creativity and confidence in every facet of their lives. Given a safe and encouraging environment every child has the ability to grow in confidence and through this they will also allow their creative side of their brain to develop. Almost every career out there will require people to have a basic level of confidence, whether it be selling, public speaking to name a couple. How else will children grow into confident adults ready to take on the challenges of the future without the confidence to stand up and be counted?
The myth that needs to be exploded is that the arts are a luxury to the world and peoples lives, in reality the arts provide us all an intrinsic link to each other, enable us to understand different cultures, religions, ethics, morals, past mistakes and also an added bonus is that it is entertaining, which lowers stress levels and takes people on journeys away from their own lives and lets them walk in someone else’s shoes. With the necessary budget cuts to the arts that are in place currently and the future planned ones, it is now even more important that children, where possible, attend a drama club of some sort. The government are serious about cutting drama from schools, which will leave children bereft of culture and is not helping with the fractious divide we are seeing grow in the country between the classes. The recent riots are testament to a disconnect community, imagine what the result of a total loss of culture in people’s lives would do…
Dance and Singing have obvious entertainment qualities to them, as they are fun to do. Dance especially has the added bonus of being good for you; you rarely see an out of shape dancer! With the world becoming faster paced and the demands and stresses on people growing year upon year, it will not be too long before the life expectancy of people in this country starts to lower. Studies show that people who engage in physical activities in their youth are far more likely to continue them in future years.
All in all I would hugely encourage any parents out there, who are not currently sending their children to classes of this nature, should see what is available around them. As confidence is a huge advantage to set your child up with.
Phillip Anderson-Dyer is the director of the Bunbanter Theatre School in Ealing. In addition to holding Saturday drama classes for children, the theatre company also produces audio drama pieces for the BBC. Saturday classes are 10-11:30am (4-7’s) and 10-1pm (8+).
