The School of the Arts · visual, musical & performing arts
Theatre & Dance
The performing body at work: acting with intention, moving with control, and getting a show up.
Objective, action, and listening: the actor's fundamentals worked in real scenes.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~24 hours
Unit I — Action and Objective
What the character wants · Playing actions, not emotions · Given circumstances
Unit II — The Actor's Instrument
Breath and voice · Body: neutral first, then specific · Listening as the core skill
Unit III — Scene Work
Beats and units · Rehearsal etiquette and process · A two-person scene, performed
Unit IV — The Audition
Choosing a monologue · Cold reading · Preparation over hope: working with nerves
Sets, lights, sound, and the stage manager's book — the crafts that get a show up safely.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~26 hours
Unit I — The Stage Itself
Stage geography and sightlines · Reading a ground plan · Who does what: production roles
Unit II — Scenery and Props
Flats, platforms, and safe construction · Paint treatments · Props: sourcing, building, tracking
Unit III — Light and Sound
Instruments and what they throw · A simple light plot · Sound effects and levels, cue by cue
Unit IV — Running the Show
The stage manager's book · Cueing: standby and go · Strike and the ethics of the shared shop
From reading the play to running the room: staging, collaboration, and a short piece directed.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~30 hours
Unit I — The Director's Reading
Finding the event of the play · Concept without gimmick · Casting: what to look and listen for
Unit II — Staging
Composition and focus on stage · Blocking that tells the story · Working the scene: side coaching
Unit III — Collaboration
Talking with designers · The rehearsal calendar · Notes: honest, brief, actionable
Unit IV — The Ten-Minute Play
Casting and rehearsing a short piece · Technical and dress rehearsals · Performance and the postmortem
Barre to center: alignment, vocabulary, and musicality in a rigorous, patient first year.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~32 hours
Unit I — At the Barre
Posture, turnout, and alignment · Plié, tendu, dégagé · Port de bras
Unit II — Center Work
Balance and adagio basics · Pirouette preparation · Small jumps: sauté, changement
Unit III — Moving Through Space
Traveling steps: chassé, glissade · Simple allegro combinations · Musicality: counts and phrasing
Unit IV — The Dancer's Care
Anatomy for turnout, honestly · Stretching and strengthening · Class etiquette and steady progress
Motif, structure, and editing: composing movement and setting it on other bodies.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~24 hours
Unit I — Movement Vocabulary
Improvisation with constraints · Gesture into phrase · Levels, dynamics, and stillness
Unit II — Structure
Motif and development · Unison, canon, counterpoint · Space: pathways and formations
Unit III — Making a Work
Choosing and using music, or silence · Setting phrases on other dancers · Editing: cut what you love
Unit IV — Showing
Rehearsal direction · Staging for a real room · Program notes and a showing, discussed