others. If we are aware of what messages our bodies are sending we can manipulate these messages. By performing such activities as mime, tableaux, and mirror imaging we can learn to restrain any unnecessary movement and to make the most minuscule action mean so much. Focus and concentration also plays a large part in drama. Each person involved in the group must not only focus on what he/she is doing but also on what the group as a whole is doing. It is only through focusing on the tack at hand that any dramatic activity may be completed. One must block out all outside stimuli and distraction and concentrate on what is required of them. The rhythmic skipping exercise required the class to skip in time to the music, to skip in time to each other and to follow the commands of the teacher at the same time. Personal feelings are not the only subject for drama. Drama can be used to introduce the student to a number of different topics, be it historical, political, scientific, or artistic. A variety of situations can be concocted, allowing the child to "explore his actual social relationships at the real level, and an unlimited number of hypothetical roles and attitudes at the symbolic level"(McGregor 24). By experimenting with various roles in society, the child becomes better prepared to face these challenges in the real world. As well, by allowing him/herself to experience things as a different personality and by letting the imagination grow free, the teacher is building up the child's confidence in him/herself and the validity of their own ideas and feelings. The child is now more perceptive to the needs and feelings of others, having portrayed many different types of people. This fits in nicely with Gavin Bolton's definition of dramatic action as "a tool for learning that rests in its capacity (1) to separate and objectify an event and (2) to break down established concepts and perceptions" (142). At the beginning of the course, we perf...
