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The Belvoir Players have a Unique Theatre Academy for children aged 5-18. This academy offers some of the best training in Ulster for young aspiring actors and also encourages our youth members to be active members of the community and offers a safe environment for the children to develop as people as well as actors. Many of Belvoirs Youth Graduates go on to achieve a career in a related field and many also grow into members of Belvoir’s Senior Ranks.

Every June, the Academy puts on a Summer show to showcase the talents learnt that year and every year, the Academy outshines its’ previous production, true evidence of the success of the development process that the Players offer every single member. The youth members can also participate in a Summer Scheme in July and August. This scheme is specifically aimed on developing the members understanding and technical mentality towards theatre.

The Academy members join with the adult members of the Belvoir Players to take part in the annual pantomime where they are invaluable members of the company whether as members of the chorus or in principal roles.

The academy offers a course which is taught in an informal and relaxed manner. Every member is able to develop their skill and the improvement with the shows thus far has showed that as everyone develops, new members are coming in and picking up where everyone is developing due to the relaxed approach. this means that every year is an improvement and nobody has to begin the development and no-one is left behind. Members of the Academy will learn to develop their communication and performance skills in a variety of ways during their course of development:

• Performances – performance experience is vital to let the member express their achievements in front of an audience of friends, family members, public audience and professionals.
• Dance Classes – these are held through the medium of rehearsal for shows by our talented Choreographers. These are informal but to a very high quality. They are taken to a pace that every member can withstand and yet pushes them to make sure that everyone is moving forward.
• Singing Classes – these are again held through the medium of rehearsal. Our highly rated Musical Directors work with soloists and chorus singer in developing their performance to a song to ensure that they enhance their note quality and lyrical precision to get the best out of each song.
• Teamwork – our members are never above making friends and the leaders ensure a friendly atmosphere and allow time for everyone to get to know each other as teamwork is a vital part of the members development as an actor as well as a member of our community.
• Performance techniques – Our highly talented Directors lead the members through a number of workshops to develop their complete understanding of all aspects of theatre. Members gain experience of characterisation, stagecraft, expression, emotion, improvisation, devising, physical presence and voicework.

All of these elements combined have cemented our Academy’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading development experiences for young people.

Dean Johnson (16)
Belvoir Academy Member 2008