Course objective:
Students attending this experiential course are invited through their active involvement in experiential activities to:
• bring out their potential and creativity (both individually and in groups),
• develop through body, expression, action, and speech their abilities of imagination, communication, problem solving, social awareness, risk-taking, business skills,
• familiarise themselves with techniques which will help children discover their creative abilities, express themselves freely in many ways, comprehend other people’s emotions, process the implications of an action and communicate more effectively.
Course content:
• Fostering of group dynamics
• Cognition, awareness, and perception of body and space, orientation, levels, axes, directions, time, speed, rhythms, dynamics, style
• Development of technical and expressive elements in human body movement
• Physical exercises (techniques of relaxation, breathing, body posture and body alignment, Alexander, Feldenkrais, Chladek, Pilates, elocution)
• Aesthetic experience, education, and social awareness
• Forms of dramatic art in kindergarten (expressive movement, dance, movement theatre, mimics/pantomime, tableau vivant, forum theatre, etc.)
• Dramatisation process
• Script writing, stage direction, stage design
• The educator as an animator
• Production, viewing, and critical evaluation of performances
• Development of collaborations between scientific, educational, and cultural institutions
Teaching method:
This is an experiential course, taught in the day care center of the University (music and movement room). It is based on embodied learning and aims to develop team spirit, promote active participation, foster interaction, and establish a safe environment so that students’ physical and theatrical expression will be activated. Therefore, regular attendance is deemed necessary.
• Workshop exercises (group)
• Assignment writing (individually, in groups)
• Artistic creations (individually, in groups)
• Lectures
• Use of educational and audiovisual materials
• Video presentations
• Study of bibliography, webography
• Presentation of performances
• Attending events/ performances
• Analysis, discussion
Prerequisites:
• You are advised to have previously attended the following courses: “Theatrical pedagogical practices in education”, “Movement play and physical literacy”. “Psychomotor and physical education in early years”.
• There is an attendance limit.
Evaluation:
• Short individual or/and group assignments (40% of the final grade).
• At the end of the semester, students are invited to write an original theatrical piece for preschool children, to support it theoretically, based on current literature review, to perform it and present it to an audience (60% of the final grade ).