EXAMS.
Yep, that joyful part of education in which you are asked to display the knowledge that you have so far gained in your studies!
Now usually this would be a boring, but necessary, activity in which the student sits and writes for multiple hours. But because of the fact that I am now studying at a tertiary performing arts school, my exams were not boring in the slightest!
Each of our exams were purely performance based. My exam schedule looked like this:
Friday, on-camera acting
Monday, hip hop dance
Wednesday, physical theatre
Thursday, contemporary dance
Friday, acting performance and technique
Then add in rehearsals in all the in-between spaces!
Although I just said it wasn't boring, in fact it was a lot of fun and very enjoyable most of the time, it was still a lot of hard work! Hours and hours of devising, rehearsing, researching, practising, fine-tuning, and more rehearsing went into the preparation for these exams. I think it was worth it in the end though. I was stretched and challenged a lot in the process. At times I was truly struggling... but the support I had from family and friends was great and the firm foundation I have in God kept me motivated to do my best.
This whole week was really cool. Despite my own stress and busyness, it was so nice getting to watch my friends have all their performances and getting to see how each of us has developed our talents over the past few months of being at Excel. Everyone is so very good at what they do and getting to showcase what we've learnt and the gifts we have was superb!
I'm glad exams are over now... But it does leave me with the realization that I am now half way through my time at Excel. This year is going so quickly. I pray that I will remember to treasure every moment of the privileged place I am at in life right now!
I'm going to leave you with one final thought for this post... At the end of the vocal major's exam (which was amazing, daaaang can that lot sing or what!?), a guest examiner stood up and talked a little. Something she said really stuck out to me. It was something like this: Performing for an audience, having time up on a stage, is a true privilege. With privilege, comes responsibility, and with responsibility must come hard work!
