Instead of perfecting pirouettes and practicing advanced dance routines, a group of County kids have been learning the art of theatre at Haliburton’s Skyline Dance Studio in recent weeks.
Skyline has partnered with local performing troupe Ctrl-ART-Del to offer guided instruction to seven youth, teaching basic stage skills every Saturday morning since Feb. 7. The 90-minute sessions, led by Ctrl-ART-Del volunteers, were made possible thanks to a $6,135 donation from the Arts Council Haliburton Highlands and the Kennisis Lake Cottage Owners Association.
“This is a three-part connection, where Skyline offers the space, Ctrl-ART-Del leads programming and the Arts Council funds it,” said Ella Leis, stage and production manager with Ctrl-ART-Del. She said the initiative got underway after a chat with Skyline’s executive director, Amanda Conn, last fall.
“They have a musical theatre program they run as a dance class and get so many kids coming out for it, who absolutely love it and wanted an opportunity to learn more,” Leis said. “There aren’t too many theatre opportunities or classes for young children in Haliburton County. We normally work with teens but have wanted to branch out to younger demographics for years.”
Hannah Klose, the troupe’s assistant director and fellow founding member, said she was one of the first instructors to volunteer. Over the past few weeks, she, Leis and other Ctrl-ART-Del members have worked on performing building blocks, including movement and voice work.
The key, she said, is teaching youth to find comfort within their body so that when they do take to the stage, they can keep a handle on their nerves. They started with fun games before advancing into practicing monologues and performing scene studies.
In week three, the students performed a piece from The Wizard of Oz. On March 14, at their final gathering, they took turns delivering individual segments from favourites such as Oliver Twist and The Little Mermaid.
Thirteen-year-old Joshua Morgan said this was his first exposure to any kind of in-person acting class, noting he was grateful for the opportunity to learn from experienced performers.
“Acting is one of my passions. I really like to make people laugh,” Morgan said. “The biggest thing I learned was that punctuation means pause.
“On a scale of one to 10, I’d have to say this was an 11,” he added, saying he’d like to take what he’s learned to the stage some day through Ctrl-ART-Del.
Leis and Klose say that’s the ultimate goal – sparking enough interest to create the theatre group’s next generation of performers.
“We try to instill the important foundations of theatre so that when these kids start to mature, they already have an understanding of how to stand on stage, how to be still, how to breath and speak loudly,” Klose said. “It’s all about making them feel comfortable in a theatre setting.”
With the theatre-based program proving popular, Leis said they’re hoping to run another next year. There are two further sessions coming up before that, also funded by the Arts Council. One is more musically focused, working on songwriting, and the other on pottery.
“The music one is going to be more teen focused, with the pottery for younger kids in that seven to 12 range. They’ll be running throughout spring and into summer,” Leis said, noting they’re free to participants thanks to the Arts Council money.
Register at Leis at info@ctrlartdel.ca.
