Drama!

Had a really successful day of teaching Drama. I must admit these students definitely surpassed my expectations, and I was tearing up during the final performances of the groups. It was really good; some I had to offer some feedback and have them do it again, but once I saw the drastic improvement it was just incredible! Started the morning with an American culture lecture, which then turned into Louis and I teaching them how to shuffle and dougie. We’ll be having a class party at the last day of class, so definitely looking forward to showing off more dance moves for the students. The first half of drama I explained to everyone what acting was, some of the benefits of learning drama, why I’m such a bad-ass actor, etc. Then we did some breathing exercises, vocal exercises, tongue twisters, practiced pronounciating our consanants, and finished the morning with freezetag, a type of improve game. Really interesting how many of the kids came up with relationship and love scenarios. The afternoon was a lot more emotional. I introduced everyone to Sonnet 90 by Shakespeare, which I worked on for a semester for Voice and Speech for the Actor at MIT. We went over the meaning behind this sonnet, and I was amazed that I still knew this by heart; I guess because I was able to relate to this at a personal level. I was really happy cause the students began to open up more about life, feelings, love, lost, etc. Some thing one would normally talk about with people you just met for two days. Glad I was able to create this open and safe environment for the students to express themselves. At the end of the afternoon I had to students split up into groups to practice their own interpretation of the sonnet, and perform it in front of the class. Some of the groups created this atmosphere that really touched my heart, and they really took this sonnet and ran with him. Same lines, same words, but their own emotions and stories brought to life. Acting…Love how it changes people and gives them this creativity that no other art can give. Ended the night with a showing of a good ole American classic, Casablanca. After the movie we had a great discussion on love, the possibility of loving two people at the same time, and so on. Wow, just realized today was a pretty emotional day, but a very healthy type of emotional day, which is always great for everyone. Thank you to those who have been following this blog, and pushing me to write more. I’ll try harder despite the crappy internet connection in China. Until next time, Aloha!