Drama Teachers Wanted!
When I first started Perform, one of my friends told me that “staff would be my biggest problem”. She had her own business and said that finding the right people was her main challenge.
In many ways, she was right. It is continual challenge to keep recruiting brilliant people and over the years we have experimented with different ways of finding our teachers. Nevertheless, the one thing I am resolute about is to use working professional actor-singer-dancers as Perform Teachers. We’ve tried qualified school teachers, child psychologists and those with childcare qualifications but realised quite quickly that it is only actors who have trained in the performing arts and worked in “the business” who have the skills and energy to deliver Perform classes. Read more »
My child’s not a Perform-type child
Spot the Perform child
Two years ago, I offered my friend a free place at Perform for her son who had just turned 4 years old. She thanked me but declined saying “He’s not a performing sort of a boy but I’m sure his sister will enjoy it when she’s old enough, she’s really confident and we’d love to bring her”.
It was interesting because my friend obviously had the wrong idea about Perform. She thought that we were a stage school which usually have a huge number of girls compared to boys. They teach performing arts skills like dance step knowledge and singing ability. Who’s going to audition for Matilda? Who can do a triple time step? Who wants to appear in the next Milky Bar TV ad? Read more »
Holiday – what holiday?!
Mermaids & Pirates - we're putting the finishing touches to next terms' theme
It’s the Easter holidays and I’m often asked if this is a nice quiet time for me at Perform. Well, it’s definitely quiet in the sense that we only have our holiday workshops running and not our normal workshops, but actually the holidays are probably my busiest time of the year because this is the time when we get a chance to plan for the following term and make sure that everyone’s clued-up and ready to go.
I’ve always been determined to keep Perform centrally run and not to expand by franchising not least because I don’t want to spend my time selling the idea of an “easy flexible part-time income” to potential franchisees. I’d much rather spend it finding new ways to help shy children be more confident, boisterous children be more focused and get all children having fun and making friends. Read more »
Let’s develop the child as a whole
One question that my teachers and I are frequently asked by Perform parents is “Where should my child be at this stage”? And if I’m completely honest, as a mother myself, it’s a question that I find myself asking about my own children too.
I guess, as parents, that’s our job. We worry about our children’s well-being and happiness so it’s only natural to show our love and care by looking out for potential problems and “measuring” them against benchmarks.
Having said that, maybe we should relax a little? Read more »
Hello – helping children develop good communication skills
If you read my blogs regularly, you’ll know that I like to talk about communication skills and how important it is that we make children confident communicators from an early age.
As you might expect, this is something that we are passionate about at Perform. In fact, the central section of each workshop is called Listen, Speak & Sing and we focus entirely on helping children with their listening and speaking skills through fun exercises where they learn to project their voices, use eye contact when they speak and be confident when talking whether to one person or to an audience. I sincerely believe that if you teach a child skills such as how to project and talk in front of an audience at the age of 4, they will retain these for life – it is quite simply all about practice and repetition. Read more »
Happy St David’s day
When I was a child, my favourite days of the year, in order, were:
1) Christmas Day
2) My birthday
3) St David’s Day
The first two are obvious of course – they involve presents! But the third, St David’s day, might surprise you.
For those who don’t know, St David’s Day is is the feast day of the patron saint of Wales and every year on March 1st, we celebrate. I think one of the reasons the day even now gives me a shiver of pleasure is that, as a Welsh child, it was a half-day at school. The afternoon was spent visiting older relatives to show them what we looked like in our Welsh costume followed by singing a song for them. Read more »
Taking your children to the theatre – Lucy’s Top 10 Tips
We all know the magic of going to see a live performance. And I really believe (well I would, wouldn’t I?) that it’s really important to expose children to live theatre from as young as you can. And what better time to do this than in the panto season? The time of year when every town and sometimes even village has a pantomime for you to take your child to see.
The great thing about going to see a pantomime is that they are primarily designed for all the family so you don’t have to worry about children making noise, dropping sweet wrappers and getting up to go to the loo. However, I did think it might be useful to put together some top tips for taking children to the theatre generally. As part of my research, I asked our Regional Partner and veteran panto director, Simon Fielding, what his top tip for taking children to a pantomime was. His response: “Don’t be afraid of them making noise, pantomimes are meant to be crazy”.
Anyway, here they are: Read more »
The most wonderful time of the year
I have to admit that I’m a bit of a Christmas fan. And if I’m really honest, I start getting excited about Christmas around August! It's not so much that I put my decorations up in November, but I’m definitely with Andy Williams when he says that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”.
The run-up to Christmas is an extremely busy time for everyone so, having chatted to fellow mums, I thought I’d compile a list of the most Christmassy things to do with children if you live in the South-East. Some of the activities I’ve tested myself, some I have been recommended by other parents and am looking forward to trying.
Christmas in my family wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. But wrap up warm and be prepared to queue. It’s free to enter and open from 10am-10pm at night. However, allow plenty of time to buy your tokens for all the rides you want to go on.
I’m a big fan of London Zoo. It’s perfect for children in all seasons but there’s nothing more magical than meeting a herd of reindeer just before Christmas. This year, they have a small Christmas market there this year too. Read more »
Halloween Party fun and games
If you have a Halloween Party coming up then I’ve got some great interactive drama-based games for you to have fun with. Halloween has always been a highlight in my calendar and, at Perform, we are rushed off our feet in late October with our Magician’s Chamber drama, dance and singing party.
The Magician’s Chamber party features famous witch Lucia Magica training the children to become real witches and wizards by putting them through Wizard School. Their tasks include tongue-twisting spells, dancing The Broomstick Flick, flying off on a magical improvisation to save the world and lots more fun and lively games. Read more »
My Favourite Things for half-term fun
With half-term virtually upon us and a two and four year old to entertain, I’ve been finalising plans for next week and thought I’d share my recommended family days out. So, in the words of Maria Von Trapp (an icon when it comes to entertaining children) and, in no particular order, “these are a few of my favourite things”…
This is an all-time favourite and, although we live in London, the 45 minute journey to Beaconsfield is well worth the drive. Handily located just off the M40 or 25 minutes on the train from Marylebone (station is a 5 minute walk), this really is such a lovely place to visit. Read more »
