Perform Drama, Dance & Singing Classes

Perform runs a weekly drama, dance and singing class for 7 to 12-year-olds on Thursday evenings at St John's Church Hall in Brockley. The current summer term — themed around The Dream, a retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream — runs from 16th April to 16th July, and the class is taught by Clodagh with Gemma as area partner.

Each hour-long session (5:05pm to 6:05pm) is split into three parts: drama and improvisation, covering character work, focus exercises and confidence-building games; dance and movement, with choreographed group routines designed to develop coordination; and speech and singing, including vocal exercises, basic musical reading, and work on projection and articulation. The curriculum frames everything around what Perform calls the four Cs: Confidence, Concentration, Communication and Coordination. Teachers are working actors, DBS-checked, and assessed through termly evaluations and refresher training.

The class suits children who want to explore performing arts across more than one discipline. Drama, movement and voice sit within the same session, so the natural overlap between them comes through in practice rather than in isolation. At the end of each term Perform holds a Presentation — a short show featuring the dancing, acting and singing children have been working on. Perform also stages a summer West End show called Mermaids & Pirates. Half-termly Open Workshops give parents a chance to watch a session in progress without waiting for the end-of-term Presentation.

After each week's class, Perform sends parents a summary email covering what the session focused on. Personalised Feedback Forms — each signed by Principal Lucy Quick — are issued every term. Classes are booked in blocks of 10 or 20 sessions, and a Perform T-shirt must be purchased before the first session and worn to every class. New children can attend one free trial session; your child is eligible if they are between six years and ten months and twelve years old and have not previously taken a free trial with Perform.