Drama & Dance

Whether you are born for the stage or are the shy, less confident type, our drama and dance classes will be committed to nurturing all children, regardless of talent, where equal attention will be given to all participants in the course. Its objective is to instill in students a love of the arts while enhancing positive self-image, self-esteem and self-expression. Confidence will be built in a non-competitive environment by learning invaluable social skills through drama games, dance and contemporary theatre.

Our Dance & Drama classes caters for Junior Infants up to young adults and is one of our most popular programmes.

Studying drama develops emotional maturity, and gives pupils a deep understanding of themselves. Because it involves using not only their voices and bodies, but also emotions and creativity, it is able to engender a deep sense of self-esteem. It is also a subject that requires a great deal of peer trust, and so it plays an important role in teaching communication, listening and empathy skills. Studying drama is demanding, and teaches pupils that success only comes from hard work. The skills that are learned by studying drama are invaluable in later life.

Studying dance develops a sense of self confidence through accomplishment. By learning skills such as balance, rhythm, poise, creativity, focus, and discipline, each student is able to see themselves as an achiever. With a skilled teacher who cares about each dancer and strives to maintain a nurturing environment, every student in WAMA can learn to dance to the best of their own ability. In an environment that features age appropriate music, costuming and choreography they will grow in confidence, grace and beauty.

For children age 5-6 years, classes last for an hour and a half (45 minutes of Drama, 45 minutes of Dance).

For children 8+ classes last for 2 hours (60 minutes of Drama, 60 minutes of Dance).

Students will work on many aspects of drama and dance throughout the year including Public Speaking, Script Work, Improvisation, Social Personal & Health Education, and Contemporary Jazz Dance. Students will perform in a play in January and in an end-of-year variety show in June in beautiful Theatre Royal.

Special events for this department take place throughout the year as well such as performance workshops, trips to the see professional productions, and performances in festivals such as Winterval.

Previous roles include:

Edward Lyons (Blood Brothers)

Mouthpiece and Diesel (West Side Story)

Sasha and Perchick (Fiddler on the Roof)

the Tenor (Singing In the Rain)

Bert Healy (Annie), Rusty Charlie (Guys and Dolls)

Isachar and the Baker (Joseph)

Lun Tha (The King and I)

Will Parker (Oklahoma)

Charlie Cameron (Brigadoon)

John the Baptist and Judas (Godspell)

Rapunzel's Prince (Into the Woods)

Emile de Becque (South Pacific)

Malcolm / Jeffery (Stepping Out)

Holding 11 All-Ireland titles in performance, his personal highlight of these is singing at The National Concert Hall. He has won 5 All-Ireland titles with the No Name Club (Dungarvan), 9 All-Irelands with Macra na Feirme (Kilmacow), and wrote mini-dramas for Slieverue Youth Club, winning in Ossary Youth for 11 consecutive years.

In addition to various end of year variety concerts, Pat has directed "Joseph", "Godspell" and Sam Cree's "Widows Paradise" for Eglise Players (Kilkenny). He has also choreographed "Anything Goes", "Annie", "Bye Bye Birdie", "Crazy For You", "Fiddler On The Roof", "Joseph", "Grease", "Guys & Dolls", "Godspell", "Oklahoma", and "West Side Story".

His training includes the Grant Power School of Performing Arts, the South Eastern Model Agency, Learn To Dance Ireland, Youth Work Training, Occupational First Aid and a Child Awareness Programme. Pat has also completed a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Social Studies in Social Care.

Robyn Walsh is a dancer and teacher from Waterford and has been an instructor/choreographer teaching musical theatre, Jazz and Tap at TheatreBox Stage School since 2014. As well, she teaches contemporary and Jazz at WAMA (Waterford Academy Of Music & Arts). In 2017, Robyn thought dance at The ‘Dublin Stage School’. She then was accepted into the College of Dance in Dublin in 2017. Robyn has a lot of experience in the theatre industry and has been performing since the age of 4. Beginning her love of dance as an Irish Dancer, Robyn went on to dance at stage school level before securing a position as a tutor in later years. Robyn's theatre credits include numerous Richie Hayes stage school performances (where she received the best dancer award in 2014), as well as musical performances such as Grease, West Side Story , 6 Waterford Pantomimes , Cats, Grease, High School Musical (Choreography), Aladdin (Choreography), Spotlight on Broadway (Choreography), A Chorus Line (Choreography ), Broadway Comes to Town (Choreography), All Ireland dance experiment (The helix, College of dance).