I swear I'm forever posting here
There are a few stage schools near me, and I was wondering what actually happens in them? I know you do singing, dancing and acting but what sort of singing, dancing and acting? Do you put on performances? Are they worth the money? The stageschool near me are Mark Jermin and Stagecoach
Thanks
Your feet will bleed before you can wear the golden slippers of applause ♥
Basically you attend for three hours per week. You will have a 1 hour acting/drama class, a 1 hour singing class and a 1 hour dance class. Depending on your age drama will cover improvisation, scriptwork, characterisation etc. Singing will be warm ups, breating and technical excercies followed by learning how varous repertoire mostly from musical theatre and popular music. Dance will be warm ups, cornerwork, steps and routines based on jazz/modern/street jazz styles.
All students take part in one presentation per year. It depends on the school when it is, usually summer or autumn term. Everything is prepared for in class. It may be a revue style presentation, lots of different items presented by each of the age groups or it may be a piece of musical theatre.
Usually they are not big, glitzy shows in theatres as these would entail lots of extra rehearsal, the emphasis at Stagecoach is the training in class, they are not an amateur youth theatre company, they are a school. I was in a youth theatre as a child and in the lead up to a show we were there every day and also tickets and costumes had to be paid for. The skills you will learn in class will stand you in good stead if you want to audition for a youth theatre however.
As well as the annual presentation parents are also invited in once a year to watch a demo. This will be where the teachers will lead you through a shortened version of a typical class so that parents can see what goes on. Some schools will enter you for musical theatre exams and in this case the presentation is held in front of an external examiner. Some schools will also offer individual tuiotion to prepare for speech and drama exams.
Tuition curretnly works out at about £8.75 per hour including tickets for the annual presentation and the majority of costume costs (you ,ay be asked to provde simple items from home. Other stage schools may be cheaper, others may be more expensive. You have to weigh up what you get at each one (class sizes, performance costs, any hidden extras)
As an example at my daughter's dance school the cost is £6 per 45 mins. They do a show every two years for which tickets cost £12 each and costumes range between £20-£40 per dance. The class my daughter is in only has around 6 children in it, but most classes have up to about 20 studetns in. Stagecoach has a maximum of 15 students per class. Another nearby stage school (run by the wife of a sort of local celebrity) has fees of £5 per hour but they take up to 30 children in a class.
I would advise you to visit a school and have a look around, ask any questions and get a feel for the place before deciding.
You could always ask to have a look round or arrange a visit during a typical day. I can only comment from the advice I received around Stagecoach which is have a look, visit, speak to other people who already go. Quality with anything can be variable so it's always worth checking things out first.
