Editorial

Our Job as Parents

As parents, our job is to meet our children's basic needs, so that one day they can do that for themselves — and for their children.

We need to keep our children safe and secure, and properly nourished — both physically and emotionally. And we need to make sure they acquire the skills they will need to survive and thrive in this increasingly complex world of ours. They need to be literate, numerate and, equally important, they need to feel free to imagine.

The need to imagine arises so early in life that I consider it a primal need. From a very early age, the baby uses the imagination as a coping mechanism. He solves the problem of being deprived of the mother by exercising his imagination. When the infant pretends that his teddy bear or blanket is his mother he is taking back control by using a "transitional object" that can serve as a substitute.

In our imagination we can be whomever we want to be, go wherever we want to go. We can have imaginary friends and we can have any powers we choose to have. The possibilities are without limits.

As parents we must create opportunities for our children to explore the world of their imagination. It's the place where they are free to make choices. And it's through the choices we make that we define who we really are.

Lola Rasminsky, Director

New Program

A class for parents and educators!

Why do children always leave their classes at the Avenue Road Arts School smiling and feeling proud? This fall, the school is offering a class called Introducing the Arts to Young Children that lets parents — and teachers — in on the secrets to the success of our Kinder Arts Programs.

Introducing the Arts to Young Children will be useful for anyone wanting to validate and enhance the imagination of the kids in their life. Guiding principles on how to offer them exciting artistic choices will be illustrated through practical hands-on lessons in art, drama and music. Participants will leave the course with a cornucopia of skills and ideas. The instructors include: Julie Frost, Preschool Coordinator; Liana Del Mastro Vicente, Associate Director; and Lola Rasminsky, Director and Founder.

Volunteer Opportunities

Interested in volunteering at the School or at Arts for Children of Toronto? Contact Lola Rasminsky by email at:
lola@avenueroadartsschool.com

Faculty Profile

The hardest-working
woman in show business

Is there anything Allison Beula doesn't do? She acts. She sings. She dances. She directs. She critiques films. And she is also a much loved drama teacher at the Avenue Road Arts School and with the Arts for Children Outreach Program. Allison miraculously finds time to teach at the Randolf Academy where she doubles as Director of Admissions. If that's not enough, she will soon be writing film reviews for the upcoming Vintage Film Festivals in Port Hope and Cobourg.

With a BFA in film and a diploma in Musical Theatre, Allison insists that "in the arts, you never stop learning, and a good teacher has to be a good student too." She also believes that studying drama and dance is not just for people who want to practice it professionally, but she says, "theatre can be for everyone as it gives so much to the student — confidence, sense of play, style and presence."

Allison is not only an actor — she is also an accomplished dancer. "Choreography and drama are my passions, I love fusing the two together whenever possible," she says. Allison runs her own jazz classes throughout the summer and participates in a six-member swing dance troupe. She recently finished directing and choreographing a production of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying for Scarborough Music Theatre.

With plans of continuing with her training, maintaining her dance and singing lessons, winning a Tony, starting a theatre company and writing a musical, it doesn't seem that the hectic lifestyle of this drama queen — inspired by the likes of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Susan Stroman and Mike Myers — is going to slow down any time soon!

So where does this whirling dervish get her energy? Allison is simply convinced that persistence and optimism are two qualities critically important to finding your place in theatre.