Students showcase skills in Ballyearl

Pupils from the Class Act Drama Academy put their vocal and acting skills into practice at the recent presentation day at Ballyearl Arts Centre.
Pupils from the Class Act Drama Academy. INNT 52-825CONPupils from the Class Act Drama Academy. INNT 52-825CON
Pupils from the Class Act Drama Academy. INNT 52-825CON

Students aged from four to 18-years-old impressed the audience with scripted plays, improvised plays, music and movement pieces.

The pupils from the academy’s lower primary classes took to the stage first.

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From the start they demonstrated to their parents how the aims of the academy to develop confidence, self-esteem and communication skills had certainly worked this term.

This was followed by a demonstration of the speech training which emphasised that this vital element of the curriculum can be enjoyable, whilst still teaching some very relevant and beneficial communication skills.

The movement skills portion of their presentation showed the students’ development in a number of areas including balance, coordination, spatial awareness and rhythm.

The end of the presentation, and the highlight of their performance, was the specially devised improvised play in which they had been encouraged to develop their own lines through improvisation and a creative plot.

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Following this, the students from the upper primary class displayed their more advanced skills. The show-piece of the day, after demonstrating how vocal training developed their clear articulate speech, was their improvised play. Creative performance skills were evident as the children demonstrated strong, relevant ad-libbing skills and clear characterisation.

Lisa Semple, Principal of Class Act Drama Academy, presented certificates, medals and trophies to the students. She congratulated the pupils on a very successful term.

“This studio is a great tribute to the academy and it is wonderful to see our unique self-development programme achieving such creative results in this area. It has been fantastic to see the development of the Newtownabbey children over the course of the term and the support of the parents and schools in the local community has been fantastic. We are very much looking forward to even more creative development next term,” she said.

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