Effective Staging and Movement for Choirs
(Including a taste of performance sign language)
With Donna Rhodes & Louise Edwards
Saturday 28th June
2 - 4pm
The Core Theatre Studio
FREE!
Effective staging for choirs doesn’t have to be intimidating! Here are some key principles to make staging work smoothly and enhance your choir’s or individuals’ performance.
What to expect:
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Tips on how to engage with an audience both as individuals and collectively
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Expressive use of body language and small gestures
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How to keep choir movement less intimidating and inclusive, simple but powerful. Enhancing not distracting!
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Performance presentation – from entrance to exit
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Tips for facial expression in performance
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Feeling the music
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The use of performance signing
About Donna Rhodes
Donna has grown up on the stage! It started with dancing from the age of three.
She has gone on to teach Tap, Musical Theatre and Jazz to all ages and also choreographed many local theatre productions. Donna loves a challenge and likes to come out of her comfort zone, she was involved in a television series called “The Secret life of the Ballroom” where she had a week to learn dance before going off and competing around the country.
Dancing and singing are her passions, and she believes no matter what your ability if you love doing something, nothing should stop you. If singing releases endorphins that boost your mood and make you feel good about yourself, it should be accessible for all. Donna particularly enjoys working with children, developing their confidence and giving them the chance to shine. Donna has run a variety of workshops over the last few years combining her love of dance and singing into our ‘Get Your Groove On’ sessions lead a local Solihull Youth Choir primarily focused on confidence building. Donna is also the founder of Strictly Vintage dance classes.
Donna is one-third of a vocal harmony group Boogaloo Babes and performs gigs all year round. She uses her extensive performance experience to inspire others to ste into the spotlight.
About Louise Edwards
Lou grew up learning piano and eventually went off to do a teaching degree specialising in Music and Special Educational Needs where she studied piano, classical guitar and percussion.
In her first job, at a Steiner special school, she was lucky enough to study music therapy with Clive Robbins (from the Nordoff-Robbins organisation). At around this time, at age 22, she became profoundly deaf in one ear and started learning a little sign language as well as wearing a hearing aid.
Lou went on to become a mainstream school music coordinator and a SENCO before becoming a Head Teacher of 2 schools. Eventually, she became the director of an Education Action Zone and a CIC which supported children with barriers in life, in achieving their potential and accessing opportunities they would never otherwise have. One of her greatest joys was organising an annual Arts Fest where the children performed on all of the major theatre stages in Birmingham. She continues to volunteer as a trustee for a youth charity and also with a community film organisation.
In later life, Lou took up BSL again and continued studying and becoming further qualified. Lou remains active in the local deaf scene and in national signing groups.
Sign song, for Lou, combines her love of music and sign perfectly. Not only that, it enables her to communicate the meaning of a song with those who may be deaf or with those who have non-conventional means of communicating – there are so many people in life who use a form of sign language as their preferred language- it’s the UK’s 4th language! Being able to share the joy of music and making it accessible to everyone is a real privilege and music has given me so many great opportunities in life.
Lou has spent the last few years signing with choirs and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge with more choirs at the festival