The Department of Education Services held workshops on traditional dance, speech and drama for teachers as part of its Professional Development Day activities on 7 Dec.
The exercise was also part of the preparations for the 2020/2021 staging of the National Children’s Festival of the Arts.
“At the close of the 2019/2020 staging of the NCFA, traditional dance, speech and drama were identified as areas for development,” explained the department’s Acting Customer Service Manager Gloria Bell. “Professional Development Day offered the opportunity for us to host the workshops and provide our teachers with a chance to learn and, in turn, share our culture with our students.”
A total of 28 teachers from government-operated and private schools across Cayman attended the workshops, which were held at Prospect Primary School.
Norma Ferryman of the Special Support Services Unit and Brian Watler of the Cayman Islands National Museum led the dance sessions, where attendees were taught techniques relating to traditional Caymanian dances such as quadrille and maypole.
The poetry workshop was led by Lesley-Ann Bernard, head of drama at John Gray High School, who taught attendees how to interpret poetry for performance and direct a poetry performance.
East End Primary School educator Troy Rodgers described the workshops as informative.
“I was excited to have been exposed to that style of quadrille and to have experienced that aspect of the Caymanian culture,” Rodgers said. “It was great to have gotten the ‘judges’ perspective, along with the practical elements of directing a poetry performance. I look forward to the next season of the NCFA.”
The 2020/2021 season of the National Children’s Festival of the Arts commences on 29 Jan. 2021 per the below schedule:
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The festival was established in 1982 and is aimed at showcasing the skills and talents of students in the performing arts. For more news and updates, contact Nicki Samuels at 945-1199 or by email at [email protected], or Gloria Bell by telephone at 926-9727/945-1199 or by email at [email protected].
Related Videos
