• Ongoing Enrolment
• Expert Teachers
• All Ages, All Levels
Art, Education and Life
By Kyle Benberg / The Bulletin
School Teaches Children to Learn About Themselves
Parents of young kids are often fared with the grueling task of deciding which form of performing arts classes in which to enroll their children. With the large number of different dance studios, piano teachers, drama courses and choir groups available, choosing the right institution, and especially the right activity, is often a tough task.
Anita Perel-Panar can offer students insights into who they are. Anita-Panar made it her life's mission to make those decisions easier.
Whether it's in her performing and fine arts studio at Cambie and 41st Avenue in Vancouver, or in her home studio, she has something for everyone. She can offer a student of any age and any skill level the opportunity to participate in and learn different kinds of dance, piano and guitar, singing and drama.
"Being an educator and a mother, I am really able to understand the trials and tribulations parents [go through] to get our kids to do things that we believe in, that they might not want to do, like practice piano," she said. "I also know how kids learn and how what they learn can affect how well they do in school and life." Perel-Panar, who has been teaching for 30 years, said the education she provides her students is more about learning, growing and discovering themselves than it is about winning competitions.
"I'm open to change but my feeling is that often competition in music or competition in dance is really an unnatural thing because you're working for the mark or you're working for some external accolade," she said. "I want the kids to find gratification for themselves where they know how to work, they know how to apply themselves, they know how to grow from that and how to use this information in other areas
Perel-Paiiar, who used to teach classes at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, also views her classes as an opportunity for students to build their self-esteem and self-confidence. "If I can work with the parents and work with the kids and give them an insight into how they can move better or play better, that in itself will help their self-esteem or self-confidence," she explained. "And if they see improvement they can take that and apply it to other areas of their lives. It trains their brain." Born and raised in the Vancouver Jewish community, Perel-Panar has been giving piano lessons since she was studying for her English degree at the University of British Columbia in the early 1970s.
Shortly after, she returned to UBC to get her music degree for the sake of expanding her teaching abilities. In the mid-1980s, she started realizing that drama was a successful tool to get her students interested in the music they were playing. She went back to UBC, where she earned her master's degree in drama.
Five years ago, Perel-Panar decided to add a ballet instructor to her teaching staff, which now features 10 teachers, and added dancing as an option for her students. The mother of three children, aged 12, 16 and 21, Perel-Panar told the The Bulletin that, although people tend to start learning their chosen art form at a young age, 25 per cent other clientele are 18 to 60-year-olds who are either brushing up on skills they learned years ago or taking the opportunity to learn something for the first time.
She said that taking courses like her adult hip-hop dance class can help adults grow in literal ways too.
"One of the women said she went to the doctor after taking classes for a year, and she had [physically] grown because she was using the posture and the correct way of moving that she learned from the classes," she said.
Classes, which begin in the last week of September, generally cost between $200 and $225. For more information about Perel-Panal's Performing and Fine Arts Studio, call 266-3053.