I introduce and connect my students to experiences that can, at times, feel mystical. For example, how does one give students who hope to be the next big theatre star or pop music sensation training methods in stardom and star-like qualities? I use my own performance practice as a laboratory space to experiment with methods that students can understand and replicate in their own practice. I think about the best routines and rituals that can make their communication and storytelling ensorcell an audience.

I lean into teaching approaches that give them physical and tangible results. These methods give students something they can develop and repeat; it feels real, useful, and illuminating to them. The somatic approach empowers the students with outcomes that are consistent and allows them to see how to achieve their performance goals. I encourage these students to lean into being curious with child-like wonderment”. I ask them to embrace what it means to be playful and what it means to “not know”. We investigate our work through the pleasure of play.

For example, at the beginning of each semester on the first day of class I bring 3 pieces of candy in for all the students to enjoy. They are guided through an experiment of curiosity and awareness. They are directed to enjoy the first piece of candy, an experience with which they are familiar. With the second piece, I ask them to enjoy the candy through a heightened awareness of one of their senses (taste, touch, smell, etc). Some of the guided questions I pose, “What do you notice, any new things to be aware of in this second piece?”.

In the 3rd round, I say “what if you didn’t know anything about this object, what if you have never experienced this before, what would it be to not know?” The students then begin to investigate the candy through a new awareness. They enjoy the playfulness that comes up in the investigation.

After this exercise they are asked to reflect on the activity. Without fail, the class reports “questioning, slowing down, being aware of new sensations within themselves and new info about the candy”. I ask them to lean into that type of questioning and awareness throughout the semester. I want the students to be inspired by what they already know and how they can access creativity and audience engagement through sensorial awareness and interplay.

In my voice and speech classes we learn about the way breath and body can help them find a free and natural voice for communication. After talking about the science of the voice and the steps of how the voice works, I bring in a parachute for the students. Diaphragmatic breathing is a hard concept but necessary in free and connected communication. We all stand in a circle and synchronize our rhythm of breath to the flow of the parachute; this is the way each of our diaphragms move. Playing with the parachute allows them to visualize the movement of the diaphragm in their own bodies, and allows them an access point to start physically feeling howthat movement impacts their breath.

Students are often excited, playful, at ease, and demonstrate more flow in their breath and voice after playing with the parachute and synthesizing those movements with their breath and bodies. From that space we speak a line of text or prompt. Students in this class often state that this parachute activity “unlocked a new way of breathing”, they can replicate this physical ease and synthesize those sensations with their thoughts and feelings as they communicate.

“I want the students to find joy in being more aware through connection, and communication.”