There’s a lot for these Wintec theatre students to smile about, they have just returned from an action-packed week of masterclasses in acting, theatre and dance in Australia L-R: Marangai Wainohu-Savage, Zac Clarke, Felix Rowe, Ella Veitch (front), Hannah-Rose Cook, Rachael Bloemendal.
Six theatre students studying towards a Wintec Bachelor of Music and Performing Arts degree spent part of their semester break abroad at Australia’s JMC Academy’s Melbourne campus. The group travelled with tutors Kyle Chuen, Julia Booth and Nick Braae to spend a week with the Musical Theatre and Acting cohort at the tertiary institute.
Wintec theatre tutor Kyle Chuen has known Ben Samuel, head of Acting and Musical Theatre at JMC Academy, for decades and while at a show in Melbourne last year, they got talking. An exchange was suggested, and following months of planning, a week-long schedule of specialised classes and workshops run by both the Wintec and JMC tutors was pitched to students.
Students participated in acting technique classes, screen acting, commercial, jazz, and ballet classes, ensemble voice classes and acting through song masterclasses. Highlights included the “intense dance classes— including a 1 hour of strength and conditioning at the start of each class,” Wintec theatre student Ella Veitch said.
Veitch said it was interesting to learn from different tutors and refreshing to see they were being taught similar foundations and theory of craft at Wintec to the JMC students.
“It was a chance to learn technique, craft and professional practice from Australian industry professionals, expand our tool kit, and navigate one of the biggest theatre industries in the world,” Veitch enthused.
For Chuen, it was rewarding to see Wintec ākonga thrive in a different environment.
“Knowing they had the capability and craft to hold their own in a bigger institute, in a bigger city, in a bigger country, is confidence building at its best.” he said.
Chuen said it was satisfying to see the results the Wintec tutors were getting from the Australian students from the masterclasses they facilitated.
“These professional development experiences helped solidify to us as tutors that we are on a good path with what and how we are teaching”.
With the exchange being so successful, another trip is planned for next year to continue to foster the trans-Tasman connections, build on educator capabilities and open up more learning opportunities for students.
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