<p>I’m a junior theater major at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, so I’m starting to look at schools more closely. I’m definitely interested in Shendandoah, but there are some things I was hoping I could get some answers/opinions on to help me understand more about the program!
I’ve heard a lot about the musical aspect of the Shenandoah MT program. My voice teacher commended it, and it seems like everybody else agrees that students get strong musical training - I’m wondering about the acting and dancing aspects. When I was looking at the general course requirements online, it looked like there was only one dance course to take per semester, and I wasn’t sure what to think of that. How much dance do MT majors do in, say, a week? Is it a disadvantage to take “Musical Theater Dance Styles,” rather than taking ballet, jazz, tap, etc. throughout all four years? As for acting, are there any primary techniques that are focused on (Stanislavski, Meisner, etc.)? I was also a little put off that there doesn’t seem to be a “musical theater ACTING” class until second semester of sophomore year. Maybe a current or former student or someone really familiar with the program could give me an idea of the kind of philosophy behind the acting classes, and how acting fits into the program in general - is it completely central, or does it sometimes fall second-fiddle to musicality (especially in the musical theater classes)?</p>
<p>I’d be really grateful if anyone could weigh in on any of these questions. :)</p>