How is movement used in musical theatre to tell the story and engage audiences?
In this workshop, students will explore how movement can deepen the storytelling in the art form of musical theatre, both in dance and as characters in story. They will learn some basic popular dance steps from a couple of different styles, develop simple music for a song, and create some of their own movement vocabulary too!
No experience needed! Beginners welcome!
Lead Teaching Artist: Katherine Lacaze
______________________________
FAQs
What is musical theatre?
In musical theatre, the spoken text (the “dialogue”) is interspersed with music, song, dance and other movement. It is a form of theatre that has its own language of heightened expression, and theatrical terms.
What is movement in musical theatre?
Movement in musical theatre can be in the form of dance, and also in specific types of movement choices that help to locate the story in a particular time and place.
In addition, individual characters may also have their own movement vocabulary that helps to underscore or highlight their emotions in a dynamic way that is easily “read” by the audience.
Um… anxiety when my kid thinks about movement/dance, help?
We highly suggest jumping in as the best way to work on letting go of anxiety over movement and dancing! There are many ways movement happens in musical theatre, including characters that intentionally don’t do things like everyone else.
Also, this is not a performative workshop. We won’t be sharing at the end, and the only people in the room will be students learning and their teachers.
What about those big dance and singing numbers** in musicals?
The chorus numbers that people often think of when imagining musical theatre, are created by actor/dancer/singers who are pros with many years of training and experience.
Fun fact: Theatre professionals who can do all three - act/dance/sing - are called “triple threat” performers. We aren’t working on being triple threats in this workshop :).
** a “number” in theatre is a musical song, dance and/or instrumental piece that is a part of the larger musical.
Participants must currently be 7 years to 12 years old.
Registration starts on 11/08/2023 and ends on 01/20/2024.
Please contact Kids Make Theatre if you have any questions.