Hey Ya'll

BAPA BLOG is BACK!!! After a short hiatus due to illness and a couple of extremely busy weeks at BAPA, I'm back with a long over due update of all things class related :) Where to begin?!!!

Halloween:

Firstly a huge well done to all our students in 8-11's groups from Leixlip and Maynooth Tuesday who took part in the Halloween Trail event at Leixlip Castle over the bank holiday weekend. It was a great morning and everyone got into the spooky spirit of things :) Everyone made a huge effort to looked fantastic with their costumes and face paint! You were all fabulous and braved the elements to put on a superb show for the public. Unfortunately, the weather took such a turn for the worse that our afternoon performance had to be cancelled.  We were all very disappointed as our senior students had worked very hard on their songs and costumes. Noella and myself were also dressed, rehearsed and ready to throwing ourselves into the routines with the students :(  We had to call it off after our PA system got wet, the ground was like a swamp and we heard that the downpour would last all day. Next Halloween we will be indoors so we can safely say there will be no weather related issues next year!

As we are approaching Term 2, we will have letters going out which will include some info on our planned "fly on the wall classes". Very much like the concept behind BAPA BLOG, this will give all our parents an opportunity to come along and sit in on classes for a day to see what happens from the time you drop your child off to the time you collect them. Last year the feedback was great as it is such a nice way for you to see students in their class environment and witness how the classes are run. Here is a little snippet of material students were working on in classes over the last couple of weeks in the run up to the Halloween break............ NOELLA and RONNIE (drama and singing) "WAHAHHAH!!!!! BOO!! GHOSTBUSTERS! TRICK R TREAT!!.........................

Yes the season of Halloween is upon us! Being a BIG scaredy cat myself I’m not usually the biggest fan of creepy things............but honestly I don’t think I have laughed as much in a long time! 

In drama class, our students put together Halloween adverts in small groups. They were gory, dramatic, funny and incredibly original. There was everything from hair removal cream for werewolves to haunted houses to let! The groups worked so well together being attentive, imaginative, enthusiastic and entertaining with witty, brave, off the cuff performances! Again just to reiterate, improvisation is such a difficult art form to master, no script, no pre ideas, just small groups put together and given a few minutes to come up with a concept that they must then act out. Students - well done all round!!!! You were all Spooktacular....... a word coined by one group of our 5-7year olds in Leixlip! Super work! 

Some groups finished working on little pieces of script, while others were sent away with short pieces to learn so that we can record on camera in the coming weeks to further highlight some of the many differences between acting on stage and on camera. In the drama only class time was spent watching the previous week's work back - a very very beneficial exercise. We also did a great short dialogue piece to camera and once again the boys were sent away with scripts to work on. Noella (singing teacher) "Singing was for me a revelation this week and truly goes to show how much kids can learn in a ridiculously short space of time when they need to!"

We accepted an invitation to take part in the Halloween spooky day out in and around Leixlip Castle! With only two classes left to put together a suitably Halloweeny song and movement piece, I could not believe how quickly the 8-11’s and senior kids got on with this. They learnt an entire routine in the space of approx 30mins......staggering but true!!! I had thought that we would have just about enough time to teach them the song so that we could stand and perform it. Never did I believe we would have the time to move the whole number.....yet I’m so thrilled now that I just went for it with them and they went for it with me! That level of commitment left me a little speechless! Not to mention the fun we all had in putting it together! Thanks to all for a great week's work.

Katie (singing) "Youngest groups started on their Halloween song 'Ghostbusters' for fun! We are also working on 'When I See An Elephant Fly' from Dumbo and 'Little People' from Les Mis. My oldest tots are continuing with their 'We Rock' from Camp Rock. My three older classes are doing 'Brand New You' from the musical 13, with everyone singing a solo and trying some beat boxing. 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely' from My Fair Lady was started this week with one of my classes and finished within the half hour along with movement. 'Thriller' was our fun song this week with everyone doing their best Michael Jackson impressions! Big improvements in all classes singing, so confidence is growing and vocals are getting stronger every week!"

Our next blog will include a few words from dance classes and Fiona.

Laura xxx

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