Diversity Makes us Smarter

Classes at the Acting and Communication Academy are offered to individuals, duos and in ensembles. Our ensembles are usually comprised of individual of mixed ages, often genders and participants of varying levels of experience. Ensemble is the area of focus for this article.
While private tuition has it’s obvious merits and is right for some students for a time, the benefits of group work are far reaching and even more so when those groups are filled with diverse individuals. At least some group work is a must for all students of acting and communication for students to get the full benefit from learning in the discipline. For some obvious reasons like team work and collaboration but there are others!
Academic research shows that ideas generated by diverse groups are generally of a higher quality.[1] Diversity in ideas stems from different cultural backgrounds, experiences, learning styles and perspectives on life. Drama is about life, so groups which are diverse in age, gender, cultural background and perspective provide a more colourful and at times challenging environment for learning. This is particularly beneficial in drama and communication. Through drama students have experiences and learn by doing. The wider the experience the greater the learning. Differentiation extends learning for students of all ages. Participants in diverse groups widen their viewpoint on the world as they encompass the ideas of the group and find solutions together and thereby increase their problem solving skills. In drama and communication, through games and exercises students exploration of ideas is enhanced by diversity and the experience is enriched and innovative increased. Simply put diversity makes us smarter.[2]
Our ensemble classes are deliberately designed to be diverse groups – varying in age and experience, often gender and usually comprised of individuals from a variety of cultural backgrounds. This provides significant learning and extension opportunities promoting inclusion, understanding and communication.
Contact us for more information about our ensemble classes.
[1] McLeod, Lobel and Cox, 1996.
[2] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/