Free your Wild

 I recently saw a post on Facebook that resonated so much with me I had to share it and kept it bookmarked in my mind for inspiration for this blog post.

"When we free our wild, that frees other people to free themselves too." - Glennon Doyle

This just connected with my psyche. Wow, I thought, how lucky am I that I get to do this each and every day through our wonderful drama developmental programme!! 

As a Drama teacher we are used to seeing the children play and create and imagine but our classes do so much more than just this. We get to see our students bloom and blossom in this safe and nurturing environment where they can be wild and free to 'just be me'. There are no judgements here, no right or wrong answers, just fun, expressive and creative space where individuality is encouraged.

My best moments are seeing their faces light up when they arrive for drama time or when they explain (in detail) how they chose and created their costume for that theme, or especially when I'm there in the thick of it, imagining and creating with them. Building up their wonderful imaginations and always being amazed at their adaptability and natural tendency to be positive. 😊   

Performers will know that feeling you get when you connect as a group on the stage, butterflies in your tummy and the realisation that you are creating something magical at that moment! Well, that is what it feels like to teach the HOG programme. It is remarkably broad and allows for the students to have the freedom of expression at every point in the lesson while building meaning relationships with peers. This is so important as part of cognitive youth development in terms of having a sense of belonging!

Over the last decade I have watched students walked into our classes shy, introverted children and grow into these amazing, confident young minds ready to conquer anything life throws at them, and I am always so proud to know that in some way the HOG family stamp is there-  we helped to mold and nurture their young minds, allowed them that space to 'find themselves' and there really is something so special about that.

And that is why our programme is not just about teaching drama, but teaching life! In this ever increasingly small and connected world so many of us feel the polar opposite- disconnected, self conscious and inadequate. We eed to show the youth that this is not reality - Let them be wild, let them be free, let them imagine and create and explore so they can be part of the change in the generations to come that value individuality in all its majestic shades, social connection, respect, empathy and inclusivity.

That's what we model. That's what we teach. Building the next generation one drama class at a time. 

Nastassja 

x

Temporary Solutions, Permanent Benefits

What a year it has been. From devastating bush fires in Australia, Prince Harry leaving the Royal Family; to the panic of containing the Corona virus which has affected so many of us. Indeed, things have changed very quickly. It is during these uncertain times we have found ourselves in the position where we need to balance our desire for social cohesion with the safety of the vulnerable in our society. As the months have dragged into the second half of the year we have further come to the realisation that our future is unpredictable and now more then ever we need to work together to ensure we leave a sustainable planet for our children.

At Helen O’ Grady we have based the onus of our program on the development of confidence and speech through the dramatic arts. The award-winning, international methodology and techniques have given those that are extroverted the tools to express themselves in a confident and articulate manner and those that are introverted a sense of belonging and a safe space to develop their communication skills. These learnt skills our students will carry into their daily lives long after they have left the academy. The importance of effective face to face communication has long been understood to be the cornerstone of successful interviews, business practice and networking. But times are changing, and this year will be remembered for a complete overhaul in everything we viewed as normal and of course ZOOM.

By quickly identifying the need for an online course, the Helen O’ Grady Drama Academy drew from the expertise of our principals across borders to take our entire course online and later to give live lessons to our loyal students through Zoom.  We cannot wait to reconnect with our students in-class, but as we slowly and carefully reopen studios during this unprecedented time we have come to the realisation that this is the beginning of a “new normal”. A certainty of what the future will hold in a myriad of speculation will be the importance of online communication skills.

We have seen the memes and understand that too many in person meetings and interviews are often time consuming and could have been done online. That along with an ever-increasing movement towards globalisation is why working remotely will provide a broader web of skills for employers and be kinder to the environment. We are moving into a time where you can apply for a job in your hometown or anywhere else in the world your imagination and qualification can take you. Most importantly it is now more than ever that being able to conduct yourself in a confident and articulate manner online is an undeniable advantage for the future job market.

Although not ideal as we prefer a hands-on approach, the current circumstances have presented us with an opportunity to broaden our student skill set. Through Zoom lessons we are arming our students with the tools to express themselves in an online group environment and too have the confidence to ace that important interview! We believe all our students have the potential to make an impact anywhere in the world and as always, we are excited to help them get there.

Yours Sincerely,

Nastassja Potgieter

Developmental Drama and Social Abilities

Why is drama so important? Among the many reasons is the link it has to social development and social abilities in youngsters. 
As parents, we all want our children to be liked, to be social, to be kind to others and have friends whom they can share the memorable moments of life with. When drama is used in a developmental process we find all sorts of positive outcomes with social development being high up on that list. 

As Joyce Wilkinson, a speech and drama teacher in the education faculty at Brandon University states;

"The ability to share, to think of others, to respect other peoples rights is not inborn in any child. It is learned through example, through guidance and by interaction with other people."

Therefore through drama practices children are exposed and guided through social constructs preparing them for the real life experiences they will go through at some point in their lives. This 'practice run' is so important in helping them develop the social skills needed to appropriately and adequately respond to situations and people. Not only are they learning how to respond but through this process they are also exercising their communication skills both verbally and non verbally and by sharing experiences with others this then leads to them understanding how others' feel and learning how to share their feelings and experiences with others, helping them become empathetic individuals. 

Throughout the Helen O'Grady developmental drama system we not only encourage the students to work with and communicate with others but insist on this aspect and with the guidance from the teachers through this process learners are exposed to socialising with whole group improvisations, dialogue and script development as well as partnerwork through our movement segment.  

Our classroom dynamic is one built on respect, kindness and positive reinforcement, where every single student is important to the learning process and every child a "A Star!"😄 This 'family environment' allows all students from various and broad backgrounds to integrate harmoniously: an extremely important skill in the 21st century where emotional intelligence is high on the list of success.

Set them up for Success!

Its that time of year again when we parents are running around getting this last minute supply and that school kit, signing that form and trying to juggle all the new changes with our work schedule and home life.

One thing you can be assured of is how much fun your child will be having at Drama! Not only is our developmental drama programme a multi-pronged life skill and an important one at that; teaching empathy, social cohesion, confidence, communication and personality to name a few, BUT our award winning curriculum and dynamic teaching methods make it highly entertaining for the students too 😀

All major trends point toward a holistic approach to education which includes the incorporation of increased creative expression and dramatic play and this is exactly what our programme harnesses.
By allowing our students the freedom of expression in a comfortable environment we are not only building their confidence and self-awareness but most importantly emotional IQ.

So give them the gift of expression and contact us today to find out how you can be involved in our incredible programme.

Email nastassja@hhelenogrady.co.za
Call 021 553 4458.
Website: www.dramaafrica.com

It's the Final Count down in Milnerton!

Students at our Milnerton Studio in our primary aged classes are getting ready for their presentation day coming up on the 3rd of June. Our Youth Theatre students will similarly be involved in their performance.

Half way through the year all family and friends are given the opportunity to come and see first hand what it is the children do in our classes. We present a cross section of work that the students have been involved in over the course of the first half of the year.

Our primary classes will present a range of work from speech work, improvisation, plays and mimes with the addition of scriptwork for our Upper Primary. Our Youth Theatre students present a themed, concise and workshopped piece which is quite a feat for the short space of time we give them.

This is an especially important venture for our first time students as not only does it enable them to perform in a positive and successful venture but allows them to experience playing in front of an audience before the theatre production at the end of the year. This is not to say that there is a diminished experience for our returning students but rather a learning and growing process as we see so much personal development in all of them over the course of a year.

Our classes are run weekly at the Milnerton Library hall on Monday afternoons;
3-4pm    GrR-3
4-5pm    Gr4-6
5-6pm    Gr7-12

Contact nastassja@helenogrady.co.za to find out how you  can become part of our awesome organisation and build skills for the future.

Creative Arts- the Important Emerging 21st Century Skill Set

An article read recently indicates that as we move toward a more technology driven future, the creative arts and communication skills are going to become far more important to humans, especially within the education sector. 

As Andreas Schleicher, a world leading education expert explains, 

"I would say, in the fourth industrial revolution, arts may become more important than maths. We talk about ‘soft skills’ often as social and emotional skills, and hard skills as about science and maths, but it might be the opposite,” he said, suggesting that science and maths may become ‘softer’ in future when the need for them decreases due to technology, and the ‘hard skills’ will be “your curiosity, your leadership, your persistence and your resilience”.

The skills Mr Schleicher is speaking of we develop on a daily basis at the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy as our primary aim is to increase confidence, communication and creativity skills for all our students. 

In today's highly competitive world it is imperative that students have the confidence and communication skills to allow for them to take what they want out of life. Not only this but as suggested in the article as technology decreases our need for the "hard skills" like math and science we will find that creativity and spontaneity will become more and more important as 21st century skills.

Through our multi-pronged approach to teaching we are not only allowing for creativity but encouraging it too in all spheres of the curriculum, along with the promotion of good communication and the art of being heard.

Below shows a video of students starting off drama with a warm up intro activity designed to get the students speaking and creating right from the start of the lesson and what fun they have too!😃

Other important life skills learnt that will greatly benefit individuals in their private as well as their public lives are collaboration, time management and critical thinking to name but a few!

Knowing just how much students benefit from the classes, we can definitely say that our international programme is the world leader in drama education and WILL set people up for LIFE!

Set Them Up for Life with our Established Drama Development Programme

Starting the year off at Drama Class is always our favourite time. We meet so many new faces through trial lessons and demonstrations at schools or bring-a-friend days and what resounds with us is the impact this time has on the students. They walk out of the class feeling energised, happy, excited and most importantly part of a "family".

This sense of belonging is so important to our young people, especially our senior and youth students who will at some point start their journey through puberty- the most dramatic change, both physically and emotionally, our youngsters will ever go through in their entire life. Now that is important! This sense of belonging and being a part of something not only helps them to become more confident and articulate as communicators but can often be the one place they can feel free of judgement and 'let loose'. At our academy we work through positive reinforcement and dynamic, practical performance allowing our students to enhance their creativity and performance skills whilst having fun.
And as research suggests learning through play and fun is far more effective than other forms of learning. 


All Helen O'Grady teachers receive specialist training in our teaching and methodologies to ensure that each and every student feels valued and important in our classes, and it shows in the feedback we receive from happy parents:

"Remi was on Cloud 9 and enjoyed it sooo much!! She will definitely be carrying on... "

"She absolutely loved it!!...she will definitely be there next week! Thanks so much!"

"Erin said she just looks forward to Wednesdays….its a joke in our house that Wednesdays are drama days and she’s not allowed to “drama”tise herself any other days, ha ha.

She told me she really likes Emma.  It’s so nice for us to have somewhere that she really enjoys.  I just wanted to say thank you."

We run our amazing classes weekly at various locations. Contact us today to join for a free trial lesson to set your children on the path of success!

Tel: 021 5534458

Email: nastassja@helenogrady.co.za

Website: www.helenogrady.co.za