Helloooo Future Badgers!
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be profiling some of the programmes that we offer here at Brock in hopes of giving you some insight towards what sorts of things you can expect out of each of them as you prepare to enter your University experience here at Brock!
Up first: Drama!
This past weekend was the first of three DART Invitationals (that’s the Brock form of your entry Audition) and Brock welcomed a record number of prospective incoming DARTies to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA, Brock’s new downtown arts campus) this Saturday. The invitational focuses on creative and ensemble-building activities and gives adjudicators an insight as to how students work and play within our field. More than anything, the DART Invitational is a great way for students to experience first-hand what to expect in their first year within the Dramatic Arts programme.
Your first year with Brock DART is full of new plays, acting technique, your (potentially) first experiences with behind-the-curtain work, and is a great way to see what working in the theatre/drama scene is really like on the outside, professional world. Each course in our programme is designed with spiralling in mind, so the further you go with a particular focus (Performance, Production, Drama in Education, Praxis) the more you’ll learn about specific disciplines.
The performance focus, for example, offers courses concerning everything from Shakespeare in Performance, to Voice-and-Speech, to Commedia dell’arte to Clown Doctoring. Similarly, production courses feature scenic painting, lighting design, stage management, directing and everything in between! The list goes on-and-on for each focus (or, “Concentration”) and each year, students will be exposed to new and exciting techniques, frameworks and practical studies to ensure a well-rounded ‘praxis’ experience.
DART faculty Dr. David Fancy says that he is looking forward to “1st-year students being ready for an immersive, demanding, playful, and rigorous experience over in first-year courses and extra-curricular activities in the Department of Dramatic Arts.” DART instructor Monica Dufault (Artistic Director, Essential Collective Theatre) adds that “prospective DART students [should] know that there are lots of opportunities to get involved in the local Niagara theatre & arts community, as volunteers and sometimes in paid positions.”
These experiences that Fancy and Dufault mention come from both within and outside of the programme: from the 1st-year 10K run, Gimme Two Festivals, and One Act Play Festival to opportunities with Brock University Students’ Union (BUSU) Clubs such as Brock Musical Theatre and All the King’s Men Theatre Co.
All-in-all, being a Brock DART student is a rewarding experience, which Fancy concludes: “…offer[s] the right kinds of teaching and creative opportunities for students to really test themselves, to expand their thinking and expression, and to begin developing themselves into the thinker-artist-citizens of tomorrow!”
That’s all for now, folks! Remember to keep on Brockin’ and if you’d like to see a particular programme profiled next, be sure to comment below!
