Youth Arts

The Oval House’s youth arts programme aims to provide young people in south London the chance to explore their creativity and develop skills in dance and drama through a series of after school workshops.

Working with professional artists, we give the young people an opportunity to express themselves in performance using their own ideas and emotions. It’s all about what they bring with them and how they want to show it.

How does it work?

We run 2 hour afternoon workshops in dance and drama from Monday to Saturday during the Autumn and Spring school terms. Each workshop costs £2 and operates on a first-come, first-served basis. These are tutored by professional actors, directors and choreographers, and culminate in a presentation of the young people’s progress through a small performance at the end of each term, which is shared with their family and friends.

In addition to these drop-in classes, we have an established Oval House Youth Theatre Company and Oval House Street Dance Company, which comprise of the most dedicated and mature members of the classes. The Companies provide a platform for young people to make the transition from students to professional performers.

The Oval House Youth Theatre Company has produced one large-scale production a year since it began in 2004, as well as taking part in several other smaller projects. A team of Youth Arts Assistants has also developed out of Company members, who aid in the day to day running of the Oval House Youth Arts department, performing administrative and production roles in addition to pursuing their careers in theatre.

The Dance Company works with several choreographers to create a repertoire of dance pieces that they perform at showcases and festivals all around London. Most recently, the Company performed at Sadler’s Wells as part of the National Youth Dance Festival.