1st Workshop of Drama: Where should we start?

Thursday, January 28, 2016

 

Dramatic expressions represent real life. Child appropriates the world through arts. This behavior comes naturally in humans as a way to process information about reality.

Real world is deeply connected with the imaginary universe. When a child reproduces reality during the free-play is experiencing daily life.
When we go to a theatre we can also see our life being represented in the play. Drama talks about society, culture, religion and moral values that guide us in our relation with the others and with the world.
This workshop we were challenged.

During the first part of the workshop we discuss about how a drama session should be prepared.
When the educator intends to provide a moment to work with dramatic expressions needs to question its leadership along the process. It has to think about positives methods to help the group express their feelings and reveal the characters that lives inside them.
Before planning a drama’s session the educator has to think about its own role and attitude:

-Explain each exercise clearly;

-Be positive, show some confident and make it happen;

-Having sense of humor (it´s essential in life);

-Bring the nerves to a healthy place (being nervous is normal);

-Takes risks (being out of our comfort zone it is need to provide different experiences to the group);

-Work with small groups;

-Being involved in the process but not in the same way as the child. 

 But how does it start? What should we work?

A drama session has huge potential! It can be use to treat a lot of themes with the children. Each session should have well-defined lines and a clear work theme. Books are always an excellent source of inspiration. Books open doors to a world that is worth to be explored with the children. Children’s literature reveals an amount of questions that rests in human’s soul.A drama session also must respects different sorts of dynamics divided in distinguish moments: 

Session’s introduction;

Warming up the group;

Concentration;

Improvisation;

Reflection;

Relaxation.

Along the session the teacher exemplified some exercises with us. In holding hands we formed a large circle. Holding hands brings us a sense of union. When music started to play one of the members had to think about a movement for the others to repeat. Every one had the opportunity to make up a gesture and to see it achieved by the colleagues. We also experienced some games about trust and security. Those kinds of activities are essential to get the children comfortable during the session and starting to feel security among their partners and teachers.On the second part of the class we had to form work groups and to choose a children’s book to be analyzed. With that same story the group had to plan a drama session based on the book´s message. My work team and I choose “The frog and the stranger”. This book is about how judgmental can a we be and about giving chances to others despite all the differences between us. We are all different! This books looks at discrimination and exclusion in a very deep way. Children are often face with those kinds of situations. They need to learn how to confront those moments and to respect new styles of life.

All this work led me think. 

Through dramatic arts the educator can help children to expresses them selves in a more authentic way. Inside of the human being exists an amount of characters and states of minds that deserves to be explored. Dramatic expression allows the children to “undress” their own skin and transforms into something else. For accomplish it the educator must try to be capable to incarnate in another creature and to transport its self to distances scenarios. By doing that it will add more fantasy into the children’s experience.
The environment of the activity is essential. The harmony of the moment takes care of the thoughts. To create the ideal environment are four guiding principles: time, place, character and action.
The dram´s moment is made by all those elements.Involving the group is the most importance thing in any activity. They need to feel free to explore themselves. When a session is made of different rhythms enables the child to get into the process in a total way. We cannot forget that the human is compound by body, mind and spirit. Let´s not fall it apart!