Are acting classes for kids just about… acting?
In acting classes (for adults and children), you will learn acting techniques and methods to help you get into character and play the given circumstances. However, that’s not all. There are other transferable skills that your child will acquire too.
Acting classes for kids are an educational time and place for them. They learn to be brave, to express their emotions healthily and to show empathy. It’s a safe space for them to get silly, explore their plethora of emotions and be in someone’s life for a short period of time.
We at KrisP. Production highly encourage everyone - adults and child actors - to make bold choices. To make choices you’re not afraid of even if someone is laughing with you. To dig deep into your imagination and find truthful moments for the characters. To have fun being yourself.
During these acting classes, your child will learn to express themselves best physically, emotionally and creatively. In a safe and exploratory learning environment, not only do they get to stretch and expand their imagination through drama, but they also get to hone social skills that help build their character and confidence.
Here are 3 top skills your child can benefit from taking acting classes.
1. Acting teaches empathy
When your child plays a character, they step into someone else’s shoes. They learn to see what another person sees. They shift their lens and look at the world from another perspective. This gives them insight to what someone else is going through.
It’s fun to play a character from a drama but it’s better to do it through authentic choices. As Sanford Meisner famously said, “Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” In other words, to make your acting believable, you need to respond empathetically - to the situation and to the person under those circumstances.
In the process of getting into the drama character, your child learns how to empathise with another person (albeit imaginary). Constant training of this process hones their ability to be more understanding of someone else other than themselves.
2. Acting promotes creative thinking
There are a million ways to say a line. Some are evidently better than others but it doesn’t mean they’re all wrong. It just means you have learnt a lot of ways to deliver a line.
As adults we tend to be hard on ourselves when we make mistakes. Children, on the other hand, love to play and discover. In doing so, they teach themselves many different ways to learn and be creative with their solutions.
Acting classes are a space for them to venture and explore different problem-solving skills. They get to experiment different ways to help their character overcome their challenges within the structure of the play. And they’re encouraged to try wholeheartedly. As Philip Hernandez wrote in Backstage,
“Creativity for actors is the ability to let your heart, mind, and intuition guide you as your body and voice bring words to life.”
3. Acting develops public speaking skills
The skills and methods that go into performing can be applied to public speaking because they’re similar in many ways. For both, the speaker needs to be heard and understood. They need to have proper posture when communicating on stage (or screen) and they have to be comfortable in front of an audience while delivering their speech.
Acting classes provide a safe space for speakers to build confidence, practise their speech and rehearse their skills. Your child will have opportunities to address and present to their classmates, and be given feedback and tips on how they can improve their speech. They also get to learn from each other, to take away good points and to work on other areas.
Your child will learn safe vocal production and effective presentation stance that will boost their confidence whenever they have to present - either in class or later on in the workforce. Once these skills are learnt, they will always be remembered.
Voila!
These are a few of the many benefits your child can profit from when they take acting classes. Krisp Production and our sister company Bold Moment Theatre and Actor Training are dedicated to help you - and your child - connect with your creative self through our training programs. If you wish to sign your child up for offline acting classes with us, check out our workshops for Acting For Kids (8-12 years old) and Acting For Teens (12-16 years old) that are happening in Singapore or if you wish to sign up to our online classes, drop us an email at info@krispproduction.com
About Bold Moment
With over 10 years of individual professional practice and collaboration between co-artistic directors, Kristina Pakhomova and Khairul Kamsani, Bold Moment is the trajectory where their courage, skills, resilience, and experience move towards the horizons of acting and performance. With the strong belief that everyone is born to be creative, Bold Moment aims to bring out the creative potential in people through quality workshops and help them express themselves freely via acting, directing, writing, devising and more. Founded by versatile multi-disciplinary practitioners, Bold Moment provides a myriad of workshops suitable for anyone who wants to rediscover themselves. It is also the first theatre company in Singapore that incorporates Virtual Reality in actor training workshops.