One by one, young performers in the South Cariboo walked onstage at Martin Exeter hall and introduced either a song, a monologue or a piano piece and performed it. One by one each of the performers took a bow and sat back down. And, one by one, professional singer Tracy Fehr gave each of the performers tips on how to improve their presentation.
The performers were part of a performance workshop held Feb. 25 to learn stage deportment and etiquette skills while receiving tips from a professional performer.
The workshop was not formal — parts of it included a brainstorm session where the performers talked about the inspiration behind their performances, the whos, whys and how they perform.
"Art is a powerful medium to express something," Fehr told the workshoppers, while taking them through an exercise about their own motivation for performing.
After, each performer had a chance to step on stage and demonstrate their skills — followed by a critique from Fehr herself. Fehr didn't look at the performance like an adjudicator might, rather she gave tips on better stage presence.
"This was an attempt to school some of these people in how to handle themselves on stage, how to present, how to introduce a song, how to get offstage," says Lynda Lipsett, one of the organizers and a music teacher in 100 Mile House. "The real purpose was to just give people more of an experience about performing."
Fehr guided students through how to properly take a bow on stage, how to focus their gaze and ground themselves, as well as tips on how to improve their vocal quality. Fehr tailored her feedback to each individual performer, giving direction to help improve each individual performance.
The workshop was good practice for the upcoming 100 Mile Festival of the Arts where many of the young performers will perform the same pieces — musical or spoken — they have been working on for months, although now with additional advice from Fehr.
Lipsett says last year during the festival she noticed some of the performers had a "kind of awkwardness" on stage.
"This was to get young people back up on stage in a more comfortable way," she says.
For Courtney Cave, 16, who sang a piece by Mozart, the workshop helped her with her movement on stage.
"I learned how to better support my sound and how to make better sound," she says. "And to make better eye contact with the audience as I was singing."
Cave will perform in the Festival of the Arts in April.
"I move around a lot when I sing and I feel like I am trying not to move around as much so I can connect better with the audience," she says. "I am looking forward to performing and making the audience happy."