Passion & the Performing Arts

Story by Megan Tilley Photos by Dylan Hamm The performing arts preparation program at Sheridan College, provides students with the opportunity to learn about the acting industry, while tailoring their skill-sets. By encouraging participation, students are able to experience a world of possibilities in a short amount of time.

B

reak a leg. They are three small words with one big meaning. Used in an industry that sucks in thousands looking to make it big in the entertainment business, and spitting out just as many along the way.

It’s what the students of Sheridan College’s one year Performing Arts – Preparation (prep) program are working towards hearing.

“The Performing Arts Preparation program is an overview of how the industry works,” says Mark Melymick, the program co-ordinator who has been here since it began in 2003. “We cover a whole gambit [of subjects], so students can then choose which area they would like to pursue. Some go into musical theatre, drama, comedy, and writing, the technical aspect of theatre, or film and television. We just want to show them how it really works. We see a lot of shows and we bring in a lot of guest speakers so they hear what the industry is like, the business side of things as well as just preparing to be better performers.”

Seventy-six students, with a variety of topics to learn, must come together by the end of the year to apply what they have learned in class, and put on their own productions.

“This year there are six theatre projects

and one film project,” says Melymick. “It’s really time consuming [for the students] because they have to prepare not only for the show, but all the elements of putting on a show. They have to research and find out how much it would cost to rent a theatre and how much it would be to get the rights to different shows. The students audition, and we as a faculty help divide them into the groups. And then they work to put on the show.”

From a shortened version of the established musical You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, to an adaptation stage performance of Across the Universe, the students have prepared dynamically different shows that hope to leave their crowds wowed.

“One of the best advantages of this program is that we’ve got a great faculty, who really work well [with the students] and have a personal interest in their lives,” says Melymick. “This way, students get to see how things really are. I wanted there to be a realistic and genuine [atmosphere] and teach them the realities of the industry. We encourage life-long learning. We set them up to know that you never want to stop improving and learning, and that you really should continue your education past a one-year program if you’re really serious about this.”

An integral part of the prep program focuses on dance; a skill that not all students have when entering the program.

“All of the faculty in the program are professional dancers, so they bring to the table experience and techniques,” says Melymick. “A lot of what we do is focused [on showing them] how to behave and how to be apart of the professional industry.”

In dance first semester, students learn ballet and movement; in addition to ballet, they also learn stage combat.

“We bring in some experts on stage combat [to show them] hand-to-hand and sword movements,” says Melymick.

Second semester is divided into two ar-

You are learning a craft, and you’re learning a skill, but it’s with your whole being.

SarahJane Burton

eas, jazz and tap where they learn a variety of techniques.

“The important thing for auditions is keeping good face,” Melymick explains, “So they aren’t staring at their feet looking clumsy and awkward but to just look like they’re on stage and belong there.”

SarahJane Burton, the head of the dance division of musical theatre at Sheridan, understands what the performing arts world has to offer.

“I have been teaching dance for well over three decades,” says Burton, “maybe 30-35 years.”

And In that time, Burton has had her fair share of performing in revivals such as Oklahoma, Come Summer, and South Pacific.

“I have a lot of experience,” says Burton, “I was a principal (anyone who has a lead part) dancer-actor on Broadway before [teaching]. I was also a member of two ballet companies, The Chicago Opera Ballet Company, where we travelled around the United States and performed in all the operas, and The International Ballet Company.”

Burton’s involvement, and personal knowledge of how the theatre industry works, has helped tailor the dance aspect of the performing arts program.

“There are several [focuses] for this program,” says Burton. “One is for the students, many of whom have never taken dance, to experience a dance class in a professional setting and to understand the incredible discipline that’s demanded in a dance class. It is highly unusual, but when

you have 25 to 30 people, all of who are moving at the same time, they need to learn to be responsible for their own initiative and to learn to receive constructive comments gracefully.”

Learning how to behave in a professional discipline is a unique situation for the students, since their dance sessions are condensed into two classes a week, when most (professional) dancers get six.

“Then, they are learning the actual disciplines in ballet, jazz and tap,” says Burton.

Along with these practices, students are also learning dance terminology, how to pick-up movements and what it actually feels like to “put it in their body,” Burton explains.

“The more you do that the quicker you get,” she says. “This is a really good skill to have for when the students go into an audition or a professional studio, they have a grounding in the basic technique that applies confidence.”

Students will also be able to understand the shorthand terminology involved in dancing.

“So when someone says degagé pas de bourrée, they know the terms well enough to know how to [execute] them,” says Burton.

As the students learn how to perform different movements with their bodies, they change, what Burton calls, their “neural synapsis.”

“They’re improving their co-ordination,” says Burton. “They’re sending new

messages back and forth in their bodies [when learning the movements]. On top of that, they become more flexible and build greater endurance; they are becoming more centered and grounded.”

It helps get rid of unwanted tension, which in turn improves students’ speaking voices and singing.

Burton’s goal as a dance instructor is to instill upon the students an understanding that as both a person and an artistW, you must always keep true to yourself.

“Try to ‘keep your channel open’ to your own calling,” she says as she quotes an excerpt from a letter that was written

by Martha Graham, an American modern dancer, to Agnes De Mille, an American choreographer. “You are always reaching and always learning more about yourself.

You’re learning a craft, you’re learning a skill, but it’s with your whole being.”

Scan the QR-Code to watch Mark Melymick’s talk at TedxOakville.

There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson...

Stories & Photos by Megan Tilley

Anthony Robbins’ words encompass the life of 20-year-old Dana Hinding, a performing arts (prep) student at Sheridan College.

Dancing since the age of four, Hinding, the Sault Ste. Marie native, did not come to Sheridan enrolled in the program she now progresses in.

“When I came to the Sheridan at the beginning of the year, I was originally enrolled in General Arts and Science because I thought I should be doing something academically focused and I was really nervous about joining prep,” says Hinding. “I didn’t think I could act or sing.

I kind of just freaked out about it, assuming I couldn’t do it. But when I got here, my roommate was in prep, and after hearing about her first week of classes, it sounded like so much fun. So [after considering it] I switched to prep, and I’m so happy I love it!”

Hinding, no stranger to the dancing realm, has dabbled in a number of different styles and forms the industry has to offer.

“When I started dancing, I started with ballet, then [ventured out] to take jazz and tap as I got older,” says Hinding.

“I did it recreationally until I was about 10, and then I joined a competitive team, so I’ve been doing a lot of dancing and competing up until last year.”

Hinding enrolled in Studio Dance Arts in 2003, where she and the team would travel and compete throughout the United States, performing in places such as Wisconsin, Chicago, Indiana, and Detroit.

All of which provided her with experience and preparation for what the performing arts program has to offer.

“The program is demanding,” says Hinding. “There are a lot of hours that you have to put into rehearsing, and working on group projects. But in this industry, you’re busy and I think this prepares us for that.”

Hinding’s interaction with her peers, in this kind of teaching environment, has only heightened her passion to do the same.

“It’s been really interesting because of the dance experience I’ve had outside of school,” says Hinding. “Prep is so mixed, there’s a lot of different [learning] levels; I’ve been dancing with people who are at an intermediate level and a beginners level,

so its interesting to see all these different stages in a class together.”

The learning atmosphere compliments Hinding’s desire to teach, but it comes with challenges.

“I think there are a lot of selfconfidence issues that I’ve had, even before coming here,” says Hinding. “I think prep has helped me with that so much; it is a really great place to build your confidence, to feel accepted, and to feel good about yourself. It’s tough with dance, because it’s something where people look at you all the time. People watch you in the dance studio, you have to look in the mirror at yourself all the time, and you have to think about how you look. It’s hard.”

Awareness of image sensitivity has helped Hinding break through her shell, and encouraged her to pursue her career with greater admiration and compassion for the industry.

“To see [people dance] in a learning environment, especially older people, is really nice because I get to see people [excel],” says Hinding.

The dancer has had a taste of the coaching atmosphere since she was 15, providing assistant teaching and substituting for instructors who were absent.

“I love to perform, but I think I like teaching because I really enjoy helping people grow,” says Hinding. “When I’m helping someone, and I see them making improvements, and how proud they are of themselves for that, I really love to see that.

I’ve taught younger people, I’ve taught older people; I like to teach pretty much anyone.”

Thanks to her dance teachers back home who’ve inspired Hinding to pursue a career in educating dancers, she has branched out in the program, finding a new opportunity to explore: choreographing.

“I’m finding that I really like choreography a lot,” says Hinding. “I haven’t done any, before now.”

Hinding has shared the role as choreographer in the prep students yearend stage rendition of Across the Universe.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to choreograph the show has peaked the

In the field of dance you really have to have a passion for it... It’s like anything really; you have to want to do it to be good at it.

Dana Hinding dancers interest in this kind of career.

It’s hard work, but Hinding’s desire pushes her to move forward.

“In the field of dance, you really have to have passion for it,” she explains. “When I go to the ballet, I am just speechless because it is so beautiful to me. And I think that if you really want to succeed, then it has to be that beautiful to you. It’s like anything really; you have to want to do it, to be good at it.”

Perseverance, dedication and hard work are the name of the game, and to succeed is to having accomplished all three...

Twenty-year-old Roberto Sapienza is in the process of completing his year in the performing arts preparation program at Sheridan, but has already achieved more than he thought he ever would.

“When I came into this program, I had minimal to no dance experience,” says Sapienza. “I originally auditioned for musical theatre, and I didn’t get in because of that. The prep program was introduced to me by Greg Pearson, the head of the music theatre department, who said this was actually a great place for me, because I did sing and act, and that I could learn a lot from the program itself, so I applied, and got in.”

The Toronto-born drama enthusiast has been immersed in the realm of acting since he was little.

Aside from signing up for drama camps as a child, Sapienza followed his interest into the Grade 9 drama class at St Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School in Mississauga.

Finally, he furthered his education by joining the theatre program during his victory lap at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Oakville.

“When I first went to see The Phantom of the Opera, it was breathtaking,” says Sapienza. “The way I came out of that show, the feeling I had, this amazing feeling – I had forgotten about the real world, I forgot about what was going on. I was completely captured in the moment, and the performance, and I felt genuinely happy. The feeling I know the audience gives stage performers was what I wanted to give to people; help them get through another day. If I can

I had forgotten about the real world... I was completely captured in the moment... I felt genuinely happy.

Roberto Sapienza

inspire someone the way I was inspired, even one person, then my job is done.”

Dancing was not an easy feat for Sapienza, let alone walking.

In 1998, a young Sapienza, 6, suffered a severe spinal neck injury after an altercation had caused him to slip, and fall on a staircase.

A year later, it affected his physical development in the lower hip and tailbone area, which caused him to develop a limp in later years.

“I’ve been in and out of chiropractic’s and physiotherapy since I was sevenyears-old,” says Sapienza “When I told my chiropractor about getting into this program, he told me to be careful, not to do anything strenuous, and try and go into it slowly.”

Doctors had discovered that the high neck trauma Sapienza had experienced, led to a mild case of lowerback osteoarthritis.

According to Dr. Charles D. Ray in Osteoarthritis of the Spine, of the several varieties of arthritis, osteoarthritis is the most common, the most frequently disabling, and often most painful kind.

This makes dancing extremely hard for Sapienza.

“I got lucky because they discovered it early,” says Sapienza. “I went to the chiropractor and physiotherapist [to help with the pain]. Now, when I dance, I’m a little slower at getting to the physical peak to do certain moves because I’ve never broken out of my ‘stretching shell.’ I can’t stretch that far.”

Ray explains in his article that spinal arthritis is, “The mechanical breakdown of the cartilage between the aligning facet joints in the back portion of the spine, that quite often leads to mechanically induced pain.

The facet joints (also called vertebral joints) become inflamed and progressive joint degeneration creates more frictional pain.”

Due to this unforeseen pain build-up in his lower back, Sapienza’s education was interrupted in Grade 7.

“I had to be homeschooled for half of the year because my limp was so bad that I couldn’t make it to school; the pain was excruciating,” says Sapienza.

Back motion and flexibility are affected by the progression of back pain

Stick to it - if you aren’t going to do the work, it’s not going to be done for you.

Roberto Sapienza that can be caused while standing, sitting and even walking.

“Now, I’m still not as strong enough as I’d like to be, but, according to my chiropractor, this year’s hard work has actually built the muscle around the problem so that I am no longer leaning on my bone,” says Sapienza.

Purchasing an at-home workout video to start working on his leg strength, and mobility helped Sapienza increase his stretching, and prepare him for dance in the prep program.

“My mom persevered through everything, and she never gave up,” says Sapienza. “If you put in what my mom put into anything, you can actually do whatever you want. She’s helped me through everything. She is a huge part of who I am today and the perfect example of anything that’s good. She’s someone that I can always look up to, and I always will.”

Sapienza’s willpower to succeed has taken him further than he ever imagined, as he was recently accepted into the music theatre program at Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts.

Out of 4-500 applicants, only about 50-60 individuals are accepted.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned, [it’s] do not think for one moment, that you know everything,” says Sapienza. “I know too many people, including myself, who auditioned for this program, and thought they knew it all. Always want, and expect, anything.”

Preparing for his final show at Sheridan in Ad Astra, Sapienza is aware that perseverance is the key to success.

“Stick to it – if you aren’t going to do the work, it’s not going to be done for you.”