PETALING JAYA, May 20 — The conveniences of virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet has provided educators with a space to continue lessons under the new normal following the Covid-19 outbreak.
But what happens to areas of study such as performing arts that traditionally take place in a physical classroom often involving interactive activities?
Can educators in dance, acting and music teach effectively in a virtual setting?
For theatre stalwart and The Actors Studio founder Joe Hasham, acting is a craft he found extremely difficult to teach online.
“My idea of it is, something I’ve been taught and been teaching, if you can’t smell it, you can’t taste it,” said Hasham, who is an adjunct professor at Taylor’s University.
Hasham, along with other prominent figures in the arts, was speaking at an online panel session yesterday titled ‘Arts Education: The Road Ahead Post Pandemic’ hosted by Taylor’s University’s School of Liberal Arts and Sciences to discuss the future of performing arts education in the wake of the pandemic.
“Because what is acting? Acting is reacting, if you cannot react, it’s very difficult.
“I could set work patterns for my students, research to do but when it comes to the action-reaction it is totally needed in terms of teaching acting, I would find that very difficult – it’s almost like a half-baked pavlova,” he said.
Hasham’s partner in crime Datuk Faridah Merican, began the year full of excitement following the launch of Malaysia’s first Conservatory Degree Programme in Performing Arts via a joint venture between Taylor’s University and The Actor’s Studio often abbreviated to Tutas.
But the pandemic struck while Faridah and her team at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre was gearing up for the upcoming Bollywood Dreams musical and everything changed.
“We told ourselves we can fight this and live with this.
“It was exciting although, in a sense, also frustrating,” she said of not being able to rehearse any choreography for the production.
‘I miss catching the magic moment in rehearsal’
Taylor’s University Bachelor of Performing Arts senior lecturer and KLPac resident director and writer Mark Beau de Silva said he felt lost at first when the movement control order was announced in March.
He had to think of ways to adapt a final practical assessment to an online one for his students as well as change up their regular class activities.
“In the past, I would get them to run around the classroom to grab an object that was made of wood.
“Now I say, ‘You have the whole house, run around to get it’,” de Silva added.
However, with the option for students to turn off their cameras on these virtual platforms, de Silva said there was no real way of telling if students are genuinely participating in the activities.
“I miss catching the magic moment in rehearsal, telling my students ‘That’s it, that’s the look I want’ or what the character needs and I miss the gentle tap on the shoulder, but what can we do?” he said.
Still trying to adjust to the online transition under the new normal for drama classes, de Silva, like many other educators, are faced with the challenge of creating engaging and unique content to make his online presence special.
“How do I deliver an experience which YouTube or Google cannot deliver?
“I’m trying my best to be as human as possible because we are faced with this very inhuman presence in front of us because with this barrier, we have to be even more human,” he said.
Pandemic-proof careers and the arts
The arts are always the first to suffer in difficult times despite playing an important role in capturing the human experience.
Combine this with economic uncertainty and the search for a pandemic-proof career, where do performing arts degrees stand?
The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts academic studies head and postgraduate programme leader for dance Professor Joseph Gonzales said that enrolment numbers at the academy have dropped drastically due to the pandemic and the protests which began last year.
Parents have also been hesitant to send their children to study at the academy.
“I’m sad to say but this is a reality – if the child gets good enough grades to go to Hong Kong University (HKU) to study medicine and they come to me for an audition, I’d tell them to go to HKU to study medicine,” the former National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage lecturer.
He would instead tell them to take advantage of the extracurricular programmes at institutions such as HKU which would allow them to enjoy dance classes.
“A lot of graduates coming out of university today are going to be unemployed and if I was a parent, I don’t want my child to be unemployed.
“Even in the best of times, art has always been suffering, we suffer to get audiences, we suffer to get funding, we’re suffering but we just love it,” the prominent Malaysian choreographer said.
Gonzales, who moved to Hong Kong in 2017, highlighted the grim reality of an arts career that provides little financial stability.
“I’m very fortunate because I have a stable income and I have a salary at the end of every month so my heart reaches out to those who are working independently and I think they must be placed at the forefront of our conversation – what are we doing for them,” he said.
