Mingyue Tao

My name is Ming, and I am a graduate student in the MA Drama Therapy program. My project involved bringing two drama therapy workshops to the Concordia community and a wider international one. The first workshop was in person at the Concordia Art Hive (SGW Campus). Through movement exploration, music, and game playing, participants were invited to make new connections with themselves and with others. They were able to step away from their busy schedules to explore their self-identities and release feelings of stress and anxiety. The second workshop was online and served a wider audience from countries all over the world, including Canada, China, and the United States. It promoted drama therapy’s therapeutic benefits and Concordia University’s Drama Therapy graduate program. Workshop attendees experienced various drama therapy techniques and explored several therapeutic core processes as a group. Additionally, current students presented a short introduction to the MA Drama Therapy graduate program, shared their experiences, and answered participants’ questions.

The most valuable thing I learned from this experience centres around how to use my facilitation skills adequately for community and ensemble learning. The project also helped me greatly enhance my adaptive group skills, time management, and cultural humility. This was my very first workshop-leading experience. As such, I had to overcome many difficulties. Admittedly, this helped me learn how to handle situations like unexpected participants dropping in, participants having very different energies, technological difficulties affecting the flow of the project, and promotion issues bringing an extra layer of complications. Likewise, with the guidance of my supervisor, I learned how better to deliver my ideas in an engaging and efficient way. 

My academic background inspired and prepared me for the project. Making a drama therapy workshop from scratch by myself was a chance to distill my grasp of class concepts. For example, in the workshops, I offered people the tools I learned from my counselling class for self-regulation and nervous system regulation. Also, I directly brought in a former class project and applied it in my second workshop, which helped me effectively showcase some concepts. Through the original drama therapy technique I designed, I understood how and why drama and theatre techniques work as therapy.

The project also helped me find out areas where I need to improve. It was a great learning opportunity, especially when my second workshop was academic in nature and had a lot of hiring potential for the department. After my workshops, I interviewed some of the participants, and they pointed out a few things I didn’t notice before. For example, they shared their hesitation and resistance when hearing me introduce some drama therapy techniques due to their not understanding the reasoning behind doing them. However, while doing the exercises, they realized how and why they worked. Based on this feedback, I learned about the importance of informing and explaining to participants the motive behind the exercises as a way to alleviate the hesitation. Likewise, I noticed a few places where, in the future, I can explain details about the exercises in a simpler or more efficient way. It is important to note that my supervisor helped me improve some of my skills by being a source of guidance and support throughout the project. For instance, they helped me write formally and academically when I was making posters and promoting the event.   

Overall, being part of this project helped my future career as a drama therapist and enhanced my group facilitation skills. I applied what I had been learning in the classroom on a real-life basis, which deepened my understanding of the subject. The results of the workshops prompted participants’ different communities, countries and cultural backgrounds to bond together. It also promoted drama therapy’s therapeutic value both inside the Concordia community and internationally.

This article was written by Mingyue Tao and edited by Juan Espana.