Benefits of a ‘Show Term’ at Jigsaw Hendon.

Once a year at Jigsaw Performing Arts Hendon, all of our students (aged 3 -18) take part in Show Term where they work towards putting on their very own (all singing, dance and drama) show in front of an audience. It is a chance for our students to show off all the skills they have learnt in their singing, dance and drama classes, get excited and do it all in costume. The full works! So, what are the benefits of our students putting on a show? Jigsaw Hendon are here to tell you…

Confidence building:

As well as a chance for our students to demonstrate their skills that they have been learning in class, a show is a fabulous way to build confidence! It gives our students the opportunity to perform in front of an audience from a young age, enabling them to put all they have learnt into action. It also helps them to find methods and coping mechanisms to deal with nerves (which is a feeling that is completely normal and expected when performing in front of an audience.) In fact, feeling nervous is often something we all can relate to at some point in our lives, and performing in shows at Jigsaw can help children learn ways in which they can control their nerves, which can benefit them in all walks of life. A fun fact that we like to share with our students at Jigsaw Hendon is that nerves and excitement have many similarities and if we were to view them as being on the same spectrum, it can help us change our nerves into feeling super excited. Ways in which we can do this are taking deep breaths in and out and saying some positive affirmations aloud. The more our students are exposed to performing in front of an audience, the more confident they grow.

Improves concentration and memory:

Whilst taking part in a show process, our students at Jigsaw Hendon learn many key skills including concentration, focus, memorising and multitasking. Musical Theatre combines singing, dance and drama altogether and therefore our students learn to multitask, being able to tell a story through their singing or dancing, conveying emotion and feelings through facial expressions and tone of voice. Naturally this also helps to improve their concentration as this means they are having to really focus to remember to do all these things at once. Practice makes perfect!

Our students also improve on their memory skills as they have to learn their drama lines, song’s lyrics and dances off by heart. This is great mental exercise for their developing brains, helping to expand their life skills further.

FUN:

Last, but not least, a huge benefit of a show term at Jigsaw Hendon is that they are so much fun! Getting our students to perform in shows, enables them to enjoy so many different aspects to performing such as:

• Costume: Getting dressed up and really being able to become a new character.
• Lights: Getting to perform under colourful and vibrant stage lights.
• Props: Getting to use lots of different exciting props. Our 7-18’s show this year uses a smoke machine!
• Backdrops: Getting to perform in front of fabulous backdrops that help to take our students and audience on an adventure to a new destination.
• Stage: Our students aged 7-18 get to perform their show on a big stage and practise using backstage areas during a performance.

Our students at Jigsaw Hendon always look forward to Show Term and so far this term our 3-4s have already performed their Teddy Bear’s Picnic show! They were AMAZING! Well done 3-4s.  

Next, we have our 5-6s circus show and our 7-18s with ‘Back In Time.’

The team at Jigsaw Hendon are so proud of you all.