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15 March, 2019 Arts

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy comes to St Michael’s

Recently, we were privileged to have instructors from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) visit the School to host exclusive workshops and auditions for students in Years 10-12.

AMDA is a prestigious American Performing Arts college with two campuses in New York and Los Angeles.

The opportunity for AMDA to visit St Michael’s arose during the School’s Broadway’s Best Performing Arts tour last year, after a group of students participated in workshops at the AMDA New York campus.

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy comes to St Michael’s Workshop 1: Audition Techniques

St Michael’s Dance Coordinator, Miss Amelia Jones, facilitated the recent AMDA visit and said the workshops were a fantastic opportunity for students to learn audition techniques, discover more about the Performing Arts industry and have Q&A sessions with industry professionals.

“We were very lucky to have AMDA visit St Michael’s and provide workshops and auditions with some of their most respected alumni,” said Miss Jones.

“The knowledge, expertise and motivation the AMDA professionals provided our students, created a buzz amongst the Performing Arts students,” she said. “It was fantastic to see the students so inspired and passionate about their studies and future career paths.”

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy comes to St Michael’s Workshop 2: The Specific Actor

The workshops were hosted by professional Broadway actor and AMDA alumni, Sean Samuels, a New Yorker who has had a successful acting career, as well as being an accomplished musician and dancer.

Sean said he was very impressed by the talent of the St Michael’s students who participated in the workshops.

“You can tell the students are very eager to know what it’s like to work professionally in the Performing Arts industry,” said Sean. “They are keen to learn and participate, and are listening to my advice and feedback.”

Following the workshops, some students also auditioned to study at AMDA.

Year 12 student Ethan, auditioned for a place at AMDA and said the experience was incredibly valuable and has given him a greater understanding of the industry.

“I’ve definitely gained more confidence in my abilities as an actor and the instructor Sean gave great advice,” said Ethan. “Sean was really humble, and made it feel like we were all on the same level,” he said.

“The workshops also helped us to understand what it’s really like to work as an actor.”

I was commended on the incredible talent that we have here at St Michael’s.Miss Amelia Jones

One of the key pieces of advice Sean shared with the students was to have confidence in yourself and your abilities.

“We learnt that having confident energy can flow onto other people and as an actor that can really help you,” said Ethan.

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy comes to St Michael’s Workshop 3: Jazz Dance Theatre

Following the workshops last week, we have received the exciting news that AMDA will return to St Michael’s to run more workshops later this year.

We look forward to welcoming AMDA back to the School and providing more opportunities for our students to learn about careers in the Performing Arts industry.