Foundations of Acting I by Pat Chan is a university elective I completed during my enrolment in Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite course in order to take Foundations of Acting II. This post highlights my completion of the prerequisite course.
My first formal training in the arts
As a Fall Semester elective, we had 14 weeks to learn the foundations. One of the things we learnt was the Live Statue exercise, where we did our first public performance holding poses around campus. That and amongst many other fundamental acting exercises, Pat Chan laid the foundations of acting for her students. It was a great first “formal training” in to the performing arts. I thought it was so good, I decided to go for the successor course, Foundations of Acting II.
After completing all the exercises, one critical contribution was necessary to pass the class: performing as a group. Our theme of the performance was “Colour of our skin”. We had to perform as a group following the theme and presenting it to Pat Chan was the final exam.
Competition to conclude Foundations of Acting I by Pat Chan
In order to graduate Foundations of Acting I by Pat Chan, students have to undergo a group final exam and public performance. The cherry on top? The public performance is in the form of a competition, where audience members can vote for their best group performance.
Of course, passing the group final exam and doing the public performance was all that was needed to pass the elective. Winning the ‘Audience Choice Award’ is a separate, additional certificate, like the one below;
Thanks to my teammates, our group performance stole the hearts of the audience and we won the Audience Choice Award. Unlike Ms. Pat’s evaluations which are qualified, I wonder what it was that made audiences vote for our performance. A wonder that will remain.
Upon completing the course, I asked some of my classmates if they were going to continue to Foundations of Acting II. One of them said they weren’t, and that prompted me to ask “Don’t you want to be an actor?”. Then they replied with “Aren’t we already acting? Where ever we go, we act differently with different people. With family, friends, teachers, we don’t act the same in front of them.” That, for me, stuck with me as a philosophical question regarding acting.
Enjoyed reading what I learned? You can find more performing arts related learnt content on my blog here, do check it out and learn what I’ve learned too!