About Us

About us...

Company is a free-of-charge after-school program that started out as a fine arts group primarily merging dance and song. In 2012, about one hundred 3rd-5th graders auditioned and thirty six were accepted. These boys and girls have energy, enthusiasm, creativity, passion, and drive. None of them have previous experience doing anything like this before; Guilford Elementary School is a title one school nestled in a transient Greensboro neighborhood, many of the students don't have the means or opportunity to experience classes like this elsewhere. They practice 2-3 times a week.

When I started this group my desire was simple: I wanted to create a safe haven for my students to feel the freedom to express themselves, build an artistic community, and pass on my knowledge and skills to the next generation. Music, dance, and theater for me is an emotional and personal expression that fills my life with joy and light- that's what I want for my kids.

In June the students put on their first full musical, The Wizard of Oz. They were so excited to wear their costumes, in front of their fully painted set, holding their hand crafted props. This was an exhilarating experience for all of us. They started out as a dance troupe, which then morphed into a “show choir” of sorts, and finished out the year as a theater children’s company. This was my ultimate goal, and it was a huge success.

My Philosophy for a Children’s [theatre] Company:

Start children dancing. Teach them how to dance and how to use the stage, work together, to understand their space, respect their fellow performers, and to overcome a sometimes paralyzing fear of performing in a much less intimidating group environment. Step two, teach them to sing in unison well. If the students can sing and dance with accuracy and precision, the harmonies soon will follow. Step three, introduce speech. This is after several performances of virtually no scripted memorization. See, memorizing through song is much easier than through script. The concept of memorization is far less daunting if the students learn first through song. Step four, projection. Absolutely NO microphones, they need to learn to project while maintaining character. We want this era’s Ethel Merman, putting no limits on expression or excessive volume, projection is key. The ultimate goal is to have a working company that is excellent in music, dance, and words, and every single student feels strong in all three. They play all the parts, move all the sets, play both cast and crew for every show. That is called ownership. Once the students OWN their show- mission accomplished. This, I feel, is best pursued through a full year together. By the end of the year, they work like a family, a community of artists who are all moving toward a common goal: an excellent performance.

The Impact

Putting on a musical teaches so much to my students:

1. Responsibility- coming to rehearsals, memorizing lines, being quiet and still during practices
2. Courage- going out on a stage and acting, dancing, singing that takes guts!
3. Public speaking- builds self esteem and articulation
4. Teamwork- have to work together to get the project rolling.
5. Encouragement- students are constantly patting each other on the back and acknowledging their "job well done" and praising successes
6. Sense of Pride and accomplishment and they have finished. 
7. MOST importantly, it builds community. The group has become like a family, the school cheers for them when they make 'guest appearances" at assemblies- like they were the school football team or something! And parents/adults in the community have been coming to support not only their kids, but all the kids.

   
   

   Check out our website http://abigailvanpatter.wix.com/thecompany