Place des Arts offers engaging classes in
music, dance and art for wee ones. Countless studies, including
this one recently reported in the Washington Post, have shown the extraordinary
benefits children derive from studying the arts. The arts boost literacy,
advance math achievement and motivate students to learn; they equip young
people to be creative, develop problem solving ability, build collaboration
skills and increase capacity for leadership; they strengthen perseverance, help
with anxiety management and emotional control, and they facilitate
cross-cultural understanding and foster a creative community. Phew, that’s a lot of positives!
Many believe the sooner kids start exploring their
creativity and developing their artistic skills, the better. Place des Arts, an established arts
centre and music school in Coquitlam, thinks so too, and offers a variety of
classes and lessons in the visual and performing arts for all ages, including,
babes, tots and preschoolers.
Read on for more info or drop by Place
des Arts’ annual all-ages Open House on Saturday, September 12 from 2-4pm. It’s
an informative, entertaining way to find out about all the classes and programs
available for the season, meet some teachers, get info from programmers, participate
in fun activities and win valuable PdA gift certificates. Admission is free;
please register at brownpapertickets.com.
Babies can’t be expected to draw a portrait or recite lines
in a play, but they can shake a music
maker or learn sign language! For babies from 1 to 23 months and their parents,
Place des Arts’ Baby Signing and Song class teaches sign language through music
and movement. Teacher
Nicole Walker says, “Signing stimulates intellectual development, provides
a strong foundation for early literacy and boosts spoken vocabulary. Babies use
signs months before they speak (for example, waving bye-bye) and signing
enables them to communicate more effectively from a younger age.”
For tots, teacher Birgit
Giesser offers a fun, parent-participation class, The Musical Rainbow: Musical Tots
for 15 to 24 month-olds. Birgit encourages creativity, exploration, language,
physical and social development through a variety of movement and musical
activities.
From the Musical Tots class, children can advance to The
Musical Rainbow, a program for ages 3 to 9 developed and taught by
popular children’s teacher and entertainer Mr.
I. The Musical Rainbow teaches kids the principles of music through singing
songs, chanting rhymes, playing music games, using xylophones, recorders and
other instruments. This program may inspire children to take private
instrument or voice lessons at an older age.
For parents interested in giving their young children a
strong musical foundation in preparation for piano or other instrument study, Music
for Young Children® (MYC) is a parent-participation program for ages 3
½ to 9 years. Place des Arts’ MYC teacher
Cindy Sletmoen provides instruction in keyboard skills, singing, ear
training, theory, rhythm, sight reading and composing through dynamic hands-on
teaching techniques. MYC runs September – June, and a keyboard or piano must be
present at home for practice.
For tots who love to move and groove, Bouncing Ballerinas (ages
3 to 4) and Ballet: Tiny Tutus (ages 4 to 5) are fun classes in which
children learn the basic elements of movement, coordination, musicality and
group interaction skills along with basic ballet terminology and technique. From
here, children can accelerate on up through several levels of ballet study with
respected, experienced teacher Miss
Lucienne Anczykowski, or take a Place des Arts class in a different dance style
such as Jazz, Hip-Hop, Tap and others.
Children as young as 3 years old can learn to think like an
artist and unleash their imaginations in Place des Arts’ Imagine That! for 3 to 4
year olds. Each week children explore new media and techniques, including
mixing colours with marbles, collaging, building paper sculptures, printmaking
with modeling clay and more. Teacher
Joy Kirkwood will help them explore the creative processes and focus on
developing strong foundational skills.
If
drawing and painting skills are what you’re after, Place des Arts offers Drawing
& Painting: Preschool for 3 to 5 year olds in the fall, winter and
spring sessions. Teacher Olga Pirogova will have children exploring
their creativity through mixed-media techniques and drawing and painting
in a variety of media, including oil and soft pastels, watercolours, tempera,
ink, pencils and crayons.
Place
des Arts’ friendly environment is fertile soil for learning and creative
growth. Its highly skilled teachers provide strong foundational skills in fun and
rewarding classes, helping to prepare kids for success in life! Because of the
popularity of many classes, prospective students are encouraged to register
early to avoid disappointment.
For
more information and to view all the 2015/16 class listings, visit www.placedesart.ca.
No comments:
Post a Comment