Conscious about confidence...

We say involvement in the arts increases confidence so often there’s a danger we take it for granted…but when you consciously witness it happening in front of your eyes it gives you sharp kick of a reminder.

This week I was the drama practitioner on a YTYT/WYTDC Summer School where we started off with 23 children between the ages of 4 – 13 years old, a scene structure and a CD of music and ended up with a performance of Sleeping Beauty where everyone had lines and almost everybody danced…

The process was not smooth – with that recipe it was never going to be but what I became aware of was just how quickly the children absorbed skills, learnt about expectations and grew into the roles they had been allocated.  I saw children who had never danced before start off by being floored by simple choreography but mastering it in a couple of days so instead of watching their feet in fear they just enjoyed the dance.  I saw a shy thoughtful child find the confidence to play the evil fairy with her chin in the air and her arms outstretched and I saw another child who’d never done drama help create the script for his scene and act it our like he’d been acting on stage all his life.  The process of making art creating confidence before our very eyes.  What’s more lots of those children who were dabbling their toe in the performing water for the first time have asked to start making it a part of their weekly lives.

The parents didn’t get to see that gradual development, that was just me and a band of brilliant dance teachers…part of me wishes they had seen the tentative become bold and the struggle become ease.  What they did get to share was the final performance.  It was wonderful to watch the children show their parents what they’d created and what they’d learnt.  Such a sense of pride and achievement and such a reflection of what was a lovely thing to be part of…