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Social skills through the performing arts provides children and facilitators a wide open spectrum of creative avenues to implement an age appropriate, challenging, open ended curricula in a safe nurturing environment where children can experience using verbal, visual and performing arts as a vehicle for appropriate social interactions.
Why is
a Performing Arts Class beneficial for my
child?
The
performing arts are an active way for your
child to express himself while encouraging
the development of both social and academic
skills.
The arts teach students how to interpret
different forms of communication. It teaches
them to understand figurative things like
symbolism, metaphors, and social ques. When
your child gets up in front of an audience
to sing a song, recite a poem or perform a
play, she/he is learning how to speak in
front of a group as well as learning how
people interact with each other. She/He is
also developing memorization and language
skills that can be applied across academic
subjects. Dance, theater, music, dramatic
reading, and puppetry are all forms the
performing arts. Many children already
engage in these activities during every day
play. Does your child ever dance through the
house? Does he/she enjoy when the reader
gives each character a voice when reading a
story aloud? Does he/she play dress up with
your clothes? All of these activities are
developing performing art skills.
“The arts
are one of the main ways that humans define
who they are. They often express a sense of
community and ethnicity. Because the arts
convey the spirit of the people who created
them, they can help young people to acquire
inter- and intra- cultural understanding.
The arts are not just multi-cultural, they
are transcultural; they invite
cross-cultural communication. They teach
openness towards those who are different
from us. By putting us in touch with our own
and other people's feelings, the arts teach
one of the great civilizing capacities – how
to be empathetic. To the extent that the
arts teach empathy, they develop our
capacity for compassion and humaneness”.
(excerpt taken from: Developing
children's full potential: Why the arts are
important Dr Neryl Jeanneret
Faculty of Education University of
Newcastle)
PERFORMING
ARTS PROMOTE
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Development
of the full variety of human intelligence
Development
of aesthetic awareness and perception
Development
of the ability for creative thought and
action
Development
of an understanding of cultural change and
differences
Development
of feelings and sensibility
Development
of physical and perceptual skills,
Exploration
of values, and achievement of positive
self-esteem
(Commonwealth of Australia, 1995)
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