The Show must go onLINE!

What an exciting few week this has been. Our online lessons have been running virtually flawlessly (see what I did there? 😉) and we are all getting into the rhythm of this new reality we are living. Our students have had an absolute ball doing online drama classes, those who were not able to join our live Zoom lessons have sent us videos of themselves following our online content posted on various platforms. It is quite amazing how good humans are at adapting to new circumstances!

And I have to say our students have been just amazing! They just took to this “new normal” like ducks to water. They are happy to go online to do their schoolwork, extra-mural activities and to see their friends. For the first time ever, they are not getting into trouble for the amount of “screen-time” they are having, and parents are encouraging them to go online! And surprisingly what I have witnessed at home and heard from friends is that children are choosing to spend time away from their screens playing outside, getting fresh air and exercise. Before this we couldn’t pry them away from their cell phones and iPads!

Of course, we can’t wait for children to go back to school and back to doing face to face Drama classes, but until then, we will harness the full power of the online world and enjoy every minute of it!

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times

The title of this weeks’ blog is a bit of a play on the opening line of Charles Dickens’ novel, Tale of Two Cities. I changed it around a bit as I think this is really a tough time for all of us, maybe even the worst we have ever lived through. There is a lot of fear and uncertainty about our way of life and when things will go back to “normal” (whatever that may turn out to be).But the strange thing is that in some respects it has also become the best of times!

The best time for creativity and innovation - thinking outside the box - to keep the wheels turning and to keep people connected, be it for work or to connect with friends and family. And it is no different for us at Helen O’Grady Drama Academy here in Pretoria and all over South Africa, and in fact all around the world. We are having online staff meetings, making videos, meeting our students in chat rooms and creating online content.

To be honest it has been a load of fun to figure out the best way to connect, making and sending silly videos out to our Helen O’Grady family to keep the spirits up, and how we can transform our live lessons into live streaming lessons. Drama is perfect to go on-screen – it’s dynamic and exciting and gets the creative juices flowing. It forces the kids off the couch, to move their bodies, jump, dance and laugh, whether they are watching pre-recorded content or during a live streaming lesson.

Not only can we do our conventional lessons in video format, but teaching our students on-camera performance techniques, how to film themselves using camera techniques like the best angles, lighting and camera shots, and how to use the latest technology to record and edit video clips are just an awesome by-products of our new line of attack. Even teaching them a universal skill like using online chat platforms like Zoom or Google Chat which they will be using in all walks of life in the future, from social interaction, to conference calling with colleagues and running online businesses.

It has also been really great for all the principals and teachers to discover new technology and forcing us to look at what we do in a new light and all the exciting possibilities that exist in the way we deliver and offer our Helen O’Grady lessons in the future. Online lessons could very well become part of the options we have available for students, especially students in areas where we do not currently have studios or opportunities for students from across the globe to connect with each other and collaborate in special projects.

Who knows?! …At the moment it feels like the possibilities are endless. And if this horrible, scary virus didn’t grip our planet in an icy grip of fear and uncertainty, we would never have explored these ideas and come up with all these awesome innovations to overcome an obstacle we never saw coming.  In closing we would like to give a shout out to everyone who follows our blog - during this time of lockdown and self–isolation….stay safe, stay healthy, stay focused and stay strong!