Performing Arts at the MUSE Global School

Have you ever heard your favorite band sing their hit songs live in concert? Watched graceful ballet dancers leap and twirl across a stage? Settled in to a cozy theater with a bucket of popcorn to see a movie on the big screen, or even just on a smaller one in your living room?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ve already got a great idea what the performing arts are. But, perhaps something you didn’t know is that as a participant in the MUSE Global School Performing Arts Program, your student will have the opportunity to engage in all aspects of theater and film — and trust us, there are many!

So, What Exactly Are The Performing Arts?

At the MUSE Global School, we fully recognize how broad the performing arts can be, and so our performing arts specialist program and elective courses truly run the gamut! Of course, there are the more well-recognized areas: acting, singing, and dancing; but we also cover a much more expansive range of topics, including writing, directing, stand-up comedy, design, and editing.

Benefits of a Performing Arts Education

 Here at MUSE Global, we know that exposure to and participation in the performing arts helps to enrich a student’s education from early childhood education (ECE) all the way through high school (and beyond!). Many researchers today link the study of performing arts as part of a student’s curriculum to stronger childhood development and higher overall academic accomplishment.

According to studies by the National Endowment for the Arts, children who sing, dance, act, and play are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance when compared with their non-performing friends. In fact, they tend to have enhanced cognitive, motor, and social development skills as well! In another study by the University of California, Irvine, brain researchers found that not only does a background in music improve reading and math skills, but it promotes creativity, social development, personality adjustment, and self-worth.

We can easily recognize many practical examples in our lives. Quick-thinking, improvisation, and resilience are learned in the instance of, say, an actor in a play forgetting their line but still carrying on with their performance. Self-confidence and the ability to easily shed anxiety are acquired when a dancer lands a perfect pirouette or a vocalist hits all of the high notes in front of an audience, and is met with acceptance, appreciation, and applause from their community — peers, educators, and families. Emotional intelligence is gained by having performance as an outlet for new and difficult emotions; in acting, a performer temporarily gets to become someone else, and the relief that can come with that may be immense for a shy student — and they may even use the opportunity to open up through that intermediary. In these and countless other ways, the performing arts are pivotal to a student’s growth: who they are and who they will become as they grow up.

Performing Arts at MUSE

One of our Five Pillars is passion-based learning: with each new group of students, we have the privilege of meeting and getting to know a new set of individuals with different interests. We let our students lead based on where their passions lie, and provide lots of support and options for growth and exploration over the course of the school year.

Each year, the MUSE School produces plays and musicals in which its performing arts students are encouraged to participate. Over the years, performances have included The Diary of Anne Frank, Into the Woods, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Over the course of their education, students in our program learn not only how to become skilled and enthusiastic performers and/or filmmakers, but are instilled with key values such as self-confidence, imagination, teamwork, empathy, concentration and communication. And, lest we forget — the performing arts provide a fun (and often much needed!) emotional outlet for students of all ages.

 MUSE Specialist Programs

 At the MUSE Global School, we firmly believe that although traditional academics — math, english, science, and history — are incredibly important, a student’s education isn’t just about the fundamentals. One major component that sets us apart from other Los Angeles-based private schools is the emphasis we put on our specialist programs and electives, and performing arts is just one of them! Click here if you’d like to learn more about some of the other specialist programs we offer.

And for students who just can’t get enough of the performing arts, we also offer after-school enrichment courses to further encourage their exploration! These courses are held daily from 3:00pm – 4:30pm PST.