dance & drama

Through PALS’ dance and drama program, each child becomes a versatile, multi-talented performing artist. Our teachers work together to cultivate ensemble skills including sensitivity, generosity, leadership, and precision; the PALS choristers develop a more advanced understanding of artistic unison, embodied listening, and physical awareness. As dancers and actors, they develop their dynamic range, stylistic expressiveness, and courage to improvise. PALS’ artistic staff believe in art as a form of communication which is at once generous, sensitive and brave.

In the Bernstein and Copland ensembles, choristers have one hour of dance and one hour of drama each week. The dance curriculum embraces modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, traditional African, and improvisational techniques, while the repertoire includes jazz, funk, popular, classical, and world music. Our dance teachers strive to translate music into a visual, physical form, in addition to telling a story.

In drama classes, PALS choristers participate in a series of creative dramatic exercises designed to develop the expressive use of their voices, bodies and imaginations. The choristers play games that teach them to use these expressive tools to tell a story. As actors, the PALS students learn how to have fun and engage in creative play,in the context of a professional rehearsal process.

Whether the PALS chorister is dancing, singing, or acting, the transformation into an integrated performing artist is apparent. PALS performances are powerfully compelling, because the performers are at once confident, vulnerable, and wholly engaged.

“I aspire for the shy to express, the over-exuberant to gain poise and discipline and every child to feel that what they have to offer is worthy of being seen and shared.”
—Tom Krusinski, PALS Dance Instructor