Green Oasis School - Shenzhen

Performing Arts!!!!!!

"The future of our nation depends on our ability to create-and to be creative. During the coming decades our most important national resources will be human resources. If our nation is to continue to meet the challenges of the future, today's schools need to develop creative leaders."

From Performing together: The Arts and Education, jointly published by The American Association of School Administrators, The Alliance for Education and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1985.

"Tell me and I will forget.

Show me and I will remember.

Involve me and I will understand."

Chinese Proverb

Performing Arts education is an important means of stimulating CREATIVITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING. It CHALLENGES STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS about their world and about themselves. Dramatic exploration provides students with an outlet for emotions, thoughts, and dreams that they might not otherwise have means to express. A student can, if only for a few moments, BECOME ANOTHER, explore a new role, try out and experiment with various personal choices and solutions to very real problems-problems from their own life, or problems faced by characters in literature or historical figures. This can happen in a SAFE ATMOSPHERE, where actions and consequences can be examined, discussed, and in a very real sense EXPERIENCED without the dangers and pitfalls that such experimentation would obviously lead to in the "real" world

Still, there is far more that PA can do. At the center of all PA is COMMUNICATION. Performing Arts allows students to communicate with and understand others in new ways. Performing Arts also provides training in the very PRACTICAL aspects of communication so necessary in today's increasingly information-centered world. Students who have participated in PA activities are less likely to have difficulty SPEAKING IN PUBLIC, will be more PERSUASIVE in their communications, both written and oral, will be better able to put themselves into others' shoes and relate to them, and will have a more POSITIVE, CONFIDENT SELF IMAGE. Participation in PA activities requires SELF CONTROL and DISCIPLINE that will serve the student well in all aspects of life. Students will learn to WORK TOGETHER, to cooperate, to find the best way for each member of a group to contribute, and to listen to and accept the viewpoints and contributions of others. PA is an important tool for preparing students to live and work in a world that is increasingly TEAM-ORIENTED rather than hierarchical.

PA also helps students develop TOLERANCE and EMPATHY. In order to play a role competently, an actor must be able to fully inhabit another's soul. An actor must be able to really understand how the world looks through another person's eyes. This does not mean he must agree with every character. An actor can play someone without becoming them. But he cannot play someone without understanding their point of view, without empathy. In today's increasingly polarized and intolerant culture, the ability to understand others' motives and choices is critical. PA can help build responsible global citizens.