Acting for teens in Irpin
Ages 10–16
IDC theatre studio. Stage presence, voice, movement, expression.
Born on the stage, not on a price list
Last year we made our end-of-season concert a theatre-and-dance production, and it became clear: we do not run "extra acting classes", we have a full acting studio. We are now developing it as a discipline of its own — staging productions, preparing for theatre competitions and planning new shows every year.
Who it is for
For our dancers, acting is a mandatory part of all-round development: a competition routine is always a story, and a judge will only see that story if the child understands what they are dancing about and can live it. The studio is also open to children who do not dance at all: if your child is drawn to the stage, to words, to becoming someone else, this is their place, even with no experience.
What we teach
To understand what your routine or your role is about, and to live it rather than depict it. To express emotion through the body, the face and the voice — because all children are different: one feels deeply inside and none of it shows, another is the opposite. Working with the strength of an emotion is an art of its own, and it can be learnt. And, of course, the stage: from rehearsals to a full production in front of a large hall.
What it gives a child
Confidence — on stage, in class, among other people. The ability to speak and be heard. Memory, imagination, work in an ensemble. And for some, a future profession: acting, like dancing, is a trade that feeds you.
Emotion that is lived, not performed
The hardest task in a routine is not the trick and not the technique. Senior instructor Yuniia Furman recalls the acting teacher telling her that the hardest thing is not a rehearsed emotion — "here I have to smile" — but getting children to learn to feel for themselves.
The difference is easy to see at large competitions. "I have seen a great many technical children, but with put-on emotion, where a child simply knows: grimace here, smile there. And in our children I saw that they live it," the studio's founder says about the Dance World Cup in Dublin.
How this works in a competition routine
Every routine has a story, and that story is discussed with the acting teacher while the routine is still being staged. From there three people work in parallel: the choreographer on technique, the acrobatics coach on the trick element, the acting teacher on the emotional one. More on this in Not one teacher but a team: how IDC guides a child.
Read before you come
From viewer to director of your own life
What happens when a child stops mindlessly scrolling a feed and becomes the author of their own content — and their own life.
"You are not coaches. You are parents": advice from Liza's mother for those who are hesitating
The finale of our conversation with Anna, Liza Sahalai's mother: on trust that began with a refusal, on the question "is there any point without special ability", and on the most important advice for parents of children just starting out.
"If gold medals are your only goal, we're not going the same way": why IDC never puts results above the child
Winning can be a pleasant result of hard work, but it must not become its only meaning. Yuniia Furman on medals, support, and the line beyond which pressure begins.