the best place for performing arts
At Bodens we run many classes throughout the week. Students can work on one area of performance or a combination of them all, for recreational or examination purposes. We offer a free trial in all the classes listed below, held seven days a week at our main Barnet premises. Some classes are split by age, others ability. Please contact a member of our team so we can find the best class for you.
All Our Class Prices Are Inclusive of VAT (VAT REGISTRATION NUMBER 923 2986 08)
Performing Arts Course
Many of our students aged seven years upwards attend our weekend performing arts courses offering them a weekly opportunity to participate in a variety of classes. For these three hours students are split into similar age groups to work on singing, acting, dancing, with a weekly guest tutor offering them a taster in another field of performing arts, from stage combat, make-up or television technique to American Street-Jazz, specific periods of drama, and specialist dances from around the world. Students regularly work towards film production and performances. Throughout the year our students gain in confidence and ability, improving both their social and performance skills.
The classes are geared towards an all round training and regular opportunities to perform a whole range of styles. From straight plays to musicals, from music videos to film production. The standard of these courses are so high and varied that many of our students remain right through until they leave for University.
Advanced Performing Arts Course
Students aged 16 - 19 years can attend our intense version of our weekend performing arts course on a Thursday evening from 6.30-8.30pm. Entry on to this course is by audition or invite only, and studnets from our weekend performing arts course have priority booking when they reach the age of 16.
The classes are geared towards an all round training, regular opportunities to perform, and an opportunity for group examinations.
STARter Performing Arts Course
Some terms end in a performance for family and friends, featuring projects specifically written for those current students, taking both their interests and capabilities into consideration. In addition to great games, catchy songs, funny poems and dances bursting with energy, our STARter students benefit from the use of theatre lighting, microphones, puppets, musical instruments, sound effects and a whole lot more.
All our STARter students have a five minute break halfway through the session, so it's a good idea to send them with a drink and a small snack. In addition to the several opportunities family and friends have to see students perform throughout the year, regular feedback is available on a termly basis. To aid younger students settling in to these classes, it is advised that parents don't accompany them in to the sessions as it only delays the inevitable moment of being left. However, at Bodens no regulation is set in stone when it comes to our main priority, the happiness of our students, however young.
ISTD / RAD Dance
Although our Baby Ballet students are not old enough to take examinations, we do offer termly opportunities for parents to watch the classes, and the students perform at presentations where they receive certificates for participating in the class. There is a Pre-Primary Class Award where the students can experience the examination process alongside their teacher and be awarded with a certificate and medal, preparing them for the exams to follow. For Primary grades upwards, when examinations are approaching, students usually require some extra coaching lessons. Following each set of examinations successful candidates are invited to perform at a presentation evening.
Street Dance
Street Dance is a group activity that encourages the students to work together. The songs used for the classes are geared towards the current charts and popular music that fits the hip-hop realm.
Following the warm up, these upbeat and dynamic classes offer the opportunity to learn some moves and style, practice and develop skills, and work on routines with plenty of opportunities to perform. Senior students will also find huge improvements in their choreography skills.
Acting Classes
There are three main strands to the effective use of drama.
1. A means to build children's confidence and develop their social skills.
2. A teaching approach for exploring cross-curricular subjects and issues.
3. An aid in developing children's performance and self preservation skills.
These three strands can often overlap or interweave, resulting in a learning experience which is productive on many levels simultaneously. Central to all drama work is the concept of shared experience' as children learn and work together, and implicit within many lessons is the element of continuous assessment, both of work the children observe and in which way they participate. Having the opportunity to learn through drama provides children with skills, knowledge and an understanding that cannot be achieved in the same way with any other subject and that feeds into all other areas of their school and personal lives.
Trinity Acting Examinations
The early grades are all designed to open up the subject and to stimulate enjoyment in speech and performance.The later grades are designed for more sustained study to develop knowledge and skills through a programme of English Literature from Shakespeare to modern works. Through practical work students learn technique, creativity and a knowledge of dramatic language, literature and expression. These skills are an asset to students English and Drama work in school.
Students are expected to study plays from all periods of theatre, then present monologues, mime and improvisational skills for examination. As with all our examination classes, the grades of the speech and drama syllabus are all now accredited to the National Qualification framework and have government recognition. Following each examination session, successful candidates will be invited to perform at a presentation night.
Singing Classes
The exams aim to encourage musical enjoyment through achievement and to foster and enhance the quality in music teaching and learning. They are committed to educational excellence, quality and innovation in the sphere of music education and to meet the needs of music educators and their students.
Private Singing
Trinity Musical Theatre Examinations
For Musical Theatre Examinations we follow the Trinity Syllabus. Students are taught in groups of eight benefiting from periods of individual attention throughout each term with a Director, Musical Director and choreographer, before they undertake examinations. This syllabus offers wide scope in choice of material and allows for the development of valuable interactive theatre skills. At all levels groups perform from memory and demonstrate ability in the skills of acting, singing and choreographed movement.
