I was thinking about how I could condense my love for theatre and the arts down into one sentence, and even after thinking really hard, literally sending my mind back and forth trying to find a provocative and philosophical thing to say, all I could think was; ‘’I think my love for Drama just masks that I probably should be sectioned’’
We’re all a bit mad though, us Drama kids though ey? Just ask the head teacher when she walks into the Drama room in the middle of an Artaudian piece about the oppression of woman in a western society and we’re throwing paint all over the walls and reciting backwards pig latin. ‘’Very nice children, erm bit abstract though?’’ Right you are, Miss. Right you are. Of course, that is not the only reason as to why the arts appeals to me, it’s not just that it tames my hidden insanity – the arts has sort of made me, me.
Infact, I know it’s made me, me because throughout the whole of my high schooling life, the way I have connected and identified myself in the high school community is through the role of a ‘’drama kid’’. I love the breeds of Drama kids that walk the high school corridor, how big and brash we all are, and how jazzhands is like our secret communication, and bowler hats are a sign of our community to be worn with pride. It doesn’t matter what age we are, too or whether we are in class or not – we can just as easily be friends, so long as we are working together, in Drama-like-pride. That’s one of the best things about Drama for young people, I believe. The sense of community that transcends throughout the whole school, how we’re all in this together, not just for the sake of achieving high grades, but achieving new friends, and creating things we can all be proud of. By the time I had finished the course of GSCE Drama, I didn’t even care as to what my grade was – because at the end of the day it didn’t matter, what mattered was the vast amount of knowledge and creativity I had now learned and gained through the course, and that’s something that I never will not be proud of.
I can’t even begin to even describe the skillset I learnt in all the years I’ve done Drama, from BTEC Performing Arts, GSCE Drama, arts award, productions, my own Drama workshops - all provided me with a great sense of well being.
Art has conditioned my mind to see the smallest of futile life experiences into infinitely fascinating ones, it showed me how nostalgia and future, beauty and tragedy can intertwine at once, just through the forms of creations. And in those tiny insignificant moments, where I feel like an angsty teen riddled with sadness, Art is there to watch and touch and see and smell, all there for my solace, it exists for the benefit of me. Science and logic has never offered me this solace, evidence and the physicality of reality never interested me, only through the arts have I felt that learning could make me into a better person. Just the mere the existence of art has changed my perception forever.
So. if the Arts has the ability to effect perceptions, why is it not more encouraged by the national curriculum? Why don't more workplaces take a holistic approach in motivating their workers? Why isn't creativity encouraged as a coping mechanism?
We’re all a bit mad though, us Drama kids though ey? Just ask the head teacher when she walks into the Drama room in the middle of an Artaudian piece about the oppression of woman in a western society and we’re throwing paint all over the walls and reciting backwards pig latin. ‘’Very nice children, erm bit abstract though?’’ Right you are, Miss. Right you are. Of course, that is not the only reason as to why the arts appeals to me, it’s not just that it tames my hidden insanity – the arts has sort of made me, me.
Infact, I know it’s made me, me because throughout the whole of my high schooling life, the way I have connected and identified myself in the high school community is through the role of a ‘’drama kid’’. I love the breeds of Drama kids that walk the high school corridor, how big and brash we all are, and how jazzhands is like our secret communication, and bowler hats are a sign of our community to be worn with pride. It doesn’t matter what age we are, too or whether we are in class or not – we can just as easily be friends, so long as we are working together, in Drama-like-pride. That’s one of the best things about Drama for young people, I believe. The sense of community that transcends throughout the whole school, how we’re all in this together, not just for the sake of achieving high grades, but achieving new friends, and creating things we can all be proud of. By the time I had finished the course of GSCE Drama, I didn’t even care as to what my grade was – because at the end of the day it didn’t matter, what mattered was the vast amount of knowledge and creativity I had now learned and gained through the course, and that’s something that I never will not be proud of.
I can’t even begin to even describe the skillset I learnt in all the years I’ve done Drama, from BTEC Performing Arts, GSCE Drama, arts award, productions, my own Drama workshops - all provided me with a great sense of well being.
Art has conditioned my mind to see the smallest of futile life experiences into infinitely fascinating ones, it showed me how nostalgia and future, beauty and tragedy can intertwine at once, just through the forms of creations. And in those tiny insignificant moments, where I feel like an angsty teen riddled with sadness, Art is there to watch and touch and see and smell, all there for my solace, it exists for the benefit of me. Science and logic has never offered me this solace, evidence and the physicality of reality never interested me, only through the arts have I felt that learning could make me into a better person. Just the mere the existence of art has changed my perception forever.
So. if the Arts has the ability to effect perceptions, why is it not more encouraged by the national curriculum? Why don't more workplaces take a holistic approach in motivating their workers? Why isn't creativity encouraged as a coping mechanism?
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