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School of Performing Arts

School of Performing Arts

 

The School of Performing Arts is based in the Performance Hub, which boasts exceptional teaching and learning facilities for music, dance, drama and musical theatre all under one roof, to support student learning at the highest level.

Available courses:

We are able to offer a range of outreach activities for your students. Please see below for an indication of the type of workshops we can offer:-

Acting and Drama

An introduction to studying Drama/Acting at university

This session gives pupils the opportunity to experience what it is like to be a drama/ acting student at university. They will be given a guided tour of the facilities, take part in a practical workshop focused on improvisation and devising and have the opportunity to take part in a Q/A with current students on the course.

Studying text: form and context

This lecture workshop session is designed to allow pupils to explore the relationship between theatrical form and social, political and historical context – it focuses specifically on Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine but other texts can be considered on request.

Practitioners' perspectives

This lecture workshop is designed to introduce pupils to a key practitioner / company. The first part of the session will provide information and theoretical analysis of the practitioner / company whilst the second half of the session will allow pupils to explore specific working methods practically through a range of bespoke activities and exercises. Practitioners / Companies available:

  • Steven Berkoff
  • Alecky Blythe
  • Augusto Boal
  • Bertolt Brecht
  • Complicite
  • DV8
  • Frantic Assembly
  • Jerzy Grotowski
  • Akram Khan
  • Kneehigh Theatre
  • Joan Littlewood
  • Vsevolod Meyerhold
  • Katie Mitchell
  • Punchdrunk
  • Konstantin Stanislavski
  • Jasmin Vardimon

Physical theatre workshop

This workshop will feature a range of embodied approaches to devising movement that are based on the work of companies such as Jasmin Vardimon and Frantic Assembly. You will learn physical skills including safe lifting techniques and simple effective approaches to choreography for both dancers and non-dancers. You will learn how to work as part of an ensemble and devise your own group piece of physical theatre.

Verbatim theatre practices: an introduction

In this workshop you will consider alternative ways of approaching characterisation, experimenting with reality and truth as opposed to more traditional constructions of character. You will learn techniques of exact replication; recording and reproducing vocal utterance through the use of earphones. You will use these techniques to adopt and stage textual material in an environment/dramatic situation.  

Archetypes

A workshop exploring characters and narratives using a system of physical characteristics developed from archetypes found in traditional stories from Europe , Arrica and Asia:
The Hero, The Victim, The Devil, The Virgin
The Trickster, The Hunter, The Fool.
Techniques include: The influence of breath and breathing on physicality, the signifying gesture and gestural language, the body as mask, the internal mantra, Non verbal communication of character action and narratives, Focus, space and spatial relationships. The techniques can be applied to the development and communnication of character in physical theatre, non verbal comedy and street performance.The techniques can also be used in conjuntion with other, Stanislavski based techniques to aid clarity of physicality in text based theatre.

Stage Fencing

An introduction to the use of swords on stage. Students will learn the principles, explore a number of cuts and parries and learn the choreography for a short fight.

Simulated unarmed combat  

An introduction to simulated unarmed combat.
Students will learn principles, learn techniques for a range of punches, kicks and throws and perform a short fight.

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Dance

Developing creativity in choreography

In this practical session, improvisational tasks an contact improvisation technique will be explored to help participants generate creative dance material. This session can be designed to specific school/college requests/ levels (including exam work). Please note, this session can be delivered on or off campus.

Body conditioning: turnout and/or balance

This research-informed practical session will give participants the experience of conditioning techniques in either turnout and/or balance (your choice). The exercises included can help dancers maximise their artistic and physical potential. In the Turnout session you can learn different ways to bring awareness to leg turnout muscles using floor exercises and rotator disks. In the Balance session you can learn how to use trampolines, balance boards and other specialist conditioning equipment to develop your awareness of balance strategies.

Conditioning for cardiovascular fitness

This research-informed session gives participants the opportunity to find out more about effective warm up and cool down for dance, and practical strategies for improving cardiovascular fitness. This includes creative elements and group work and an introduction to measuring heart rate and safe practice. Alternative workshops on safe alignment for dancers and muscular imbalances can be arranged for yrs10-13.

Capturing the stylistic qualities of dance repertoire in performance

This practical session explores the importance of detailed analysis and contextual understanding of a piece combined with excellent rehearsal techniques and direction to be able to perform a repertoire piece. Our expert staff can lead in the workshop in a genre of your choice (contemporary, ballet, jazz or musical theatre). We recommend some pre-workshop preparation for more advanced groups/yrs. 12-13, in consultation with our staff.

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Musical Theatre

Ensemble vocal workshop

Learn to sing in two, three or four part harmony. Perform a show tune and become a choir in under an hour!

Song and dance workshop

Sing, dance and perform a musical theatre song. Focusing on singing style, technique and musical theatre jazz dance.

A journey into the woods

Explore Sondheim's popular musical Into the Woods. Using song, dance and exercises, explore some of the main themes of well loved fairy tales.

Dance for Musical Theatre 1

Learn and perform a dance piece based in the style of Jerome Robbins. The piece will focus on the conflict between the Jets and Sharks. The workshops will be based in a Jazz dance style.

Dance for Musical Theatre 2

Learn and perform a dance piece from the popular West End and Broadway show.

Acting the song

Explore techniques that will enable you to approach the performance of a song through text. Our acting tutors will teach you top tips on how to make lyrics work alongside music and character.

The improvised musical

Devise a musical from scratch! Working with an experienced musical director, you will use your singing and acting skills to develop a musical on the spot.

Preparing for auditions

This hour long talk lets you know the secrets of a successful audition, providing helpful and handy tips to prepare you for Musical Theatre auditions.

University and your career

Learn more about the single and joint honours Musical Theatre courses at the University of Wolverhampton and these can lead to the career of your choice.

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Music and Popular Music

Insight into becoming a music teacher/music therapist

Q&A session for would-be Music Teachers seeking more advice about teaching as a career.

Introduction to world music

Participate in a practical workshop playing instruments in our resident Javanese Gamelan orchestra.

Develop your musicianship in preparation for music in higher education

Practical activities for musicians planning on studying Music in Higher Education.

Creative repetition

Session involving listening, discussion and workshop on how repetition can be used creatively.

Creating a soundscape

Creative workshop of a sound/cityscape, using voices/instruments/objects (can include non-musicians).

Popular Music and Technology: Arranging and mixing, the art of crafting a pop song

We will take a practical look at how a pop song is structured both within the arrangement of parts as well as the mixing processes commonly used within a digital audio workstation (DAW).

Popular Music: The Brammy goes to...

A fun and educational look at fake Grammy and Brit Awards categories. Forget about 'best international artist', what about 'best chord progression' 'best throwback' and the 'most cliched' awards? The aim of the session is to consider popular songwriting techniques as weel as creating new song ideas.

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Music Technology

Music computing - Building a software synthesiser for beginners

We will use a visual computer language called Pure Data (Pd) to construct a simple working software synthesiser. The aim is to discover how combining basic oscillators can produce exciting and interesting sounds! Please bring a pair of headphones or earbuds for this session. As Pd is a piece of free, open-source software, you will be able to take your creation away with you and expand its capabilities on your own computer.

An introduction to video game sound

This session introduces video game sound and considers the ways in which it differs from related areas such as music, film, an broadcast audio. It provides a hands-on overview if the ways in which game soun designed and controlled; you'll use industry-standard software in the development of a simple software tool.  Please bring a pair of headphones to the session.

How sound works

How does the ear work? How do we hear sound? What sounds can we hear, and what cant we hear? This fun and informative session  includes the controlled and safe playback of a range of sounds. Requires playback equipment (provided by the department).

Other sessions include:

  • Studying Music Technology at University
  • Production and mix breakdown
  • Arranging and mixing: The art of crafting a pop song