Fundamentals of Acting and Live Theatre taught by Camille (WHO?) Armstrong as part of the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre Drama curriculum. Ages 10-18
"I believe that all children have endless potential and creativity that needs to be nurtured and pursued"
-CAMILLE WHO?
Dance/Creative Movement
Through dance, children develop a range of cognitive skills. They can convey their thoughts and feelings and learn how to use their body language for self-expression. By improvising movements, children also use their creativity and imagination. As well as being a mood enhancer, dance is also a terrific way for a child to improve their confidence and self-esteem. It promotes resilience through practice and can help to create a sense of accomplishment when a move is mastered or a new song is learned.
Drama
Dramatic play benefits are numerous. In addition to supporting creativity and self-expression, dramatic play can help children learn real life skills and social skills that can serve them throughout their lives, from engaging in dramatic play for toddlers, to playtime in their preschool classroom, and beyond. Drama can have a positive impact on a child's language and memory skills. Whether they're learning their line in a play or remembering where they need to stand on stage, both these skills are being used.
Rhythm
If a child learns to keep the beat, he or she then also develops the skill to be able to follow a rhythmic pattern. This follows quite naturally – you do not need to teach the rhythm, they can just do it. This helps them not only in sports, but also in following instructions, music, math, speech, reading and writing as they are all skills based in rhythm. In speech, rhythm helps us select and extrapolate phonemes, syllables, words, and phrases from an ongoing speech stream. Having good rhythmic skills, therefore, appears to be essential not only for music or dance but also for language and communication. Good self esteem, confidence, happiness in learning and life flows from this.
Music-Making
Music ignites all areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together. Exposing children to music during early development helps them learn the sounds and meanings of words. Music also increases toddler's sensory development, can improve literacy and numeracy, helps young children build coordination, and is a mood lifter.
Spoken Word
Spoken word poetry, or performance poetry, is an art form that transforms poetry readings into theatrical events. Much like live theatre, it has the sole purpose of being performed on a stage in front of an audience. While studying and writing any poetry helps students develop literacy skills, spoken word also helps students build social and emotional skill sets including self-awareness, communication and self-confidence.
CLASSES & EVENTS
Fundamentals of Acting and Live Theatre for young ones ages 5-7 as per the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre's Drama curriculum. Co-taught by Camille (WHO?) Armstrong and P.Y.T.'s Artistic Director Jill Dunn-Jones.
Taught by Camille (WHO?) Armstrong as per the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre Dance Division Curriculum
Taught by Camille (WHO?) Armstrong with an emphasis on choreography as part of the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre's Dance Division curriculum.