Stagecoach... Does it build confidence?

[Homely1]

Do you feel that stagecoach is good? Has it helped build confidence? Thank you.

[Biscuitsneeded]

For my DS, yes, absolutely.

[Homely1]

Thank you!

[PurpleTango]

No. Stagecoach is extremely over priced and did nothing to promote my children's confidence. Both of my budding young singer, dancer, actors now attend a local drama group. It costs £3 a week and their confidence has come on leaps and bounds. The biggest obstacle we found with Stagecoach is that there were lots of children in their class that were being taught the 3 disciplines privately and so every time there was a show coming up those kids were selected. Those children without private tutors were slung on the "You are welcome to be in the show but you will not be seen" heap!

[ReallyTired]

I have never used stage coach, but small independent companies offer everything stage coach claims to for a lot less. I think that children who have individual dance, singing or acting lessons will always have an advantage. The competition to have a star role in a show will always be intense. However private tutition will not make up for a total lack of talent.

[dodobookends]

A lot of Stagecoach (and other similar theatre school) students don't have private tuition on top. It's the other way round.

They have numerous classes at their regular dance school and/or singing lessons, and that is where they have their main training. The theatre school is on top. That's why they have an advantage over people who only do the theatre school classes.

[BuggertheTabloids]

Yes yes yes! It is fantastic. My DS was frankly in a bit of a mess, no confidence, terrible behaviour as a consequence. Stagecoach has been fantastic for him. He's never going to be the star of the show, but he has gained in confidence hugely, has improved his social skills etc.
Yes it's expensive but for us it is worth it. And you can pay with childcare vouchers so that saves a bit.

[Umbreallboats]

No absolutely not. It was sold to us by an enthusiastic manager and we stuck it out for two years. there are way too many children in one class and my dc didn't learn a thing or improve her confidence. I thought the selling 'confidence' as a commodity was cringeworthy from the beginning. I mean who can resist 'buying' their dc a good dose of confidence? Waste of money and time for us.

[EvilTwins]

All performance based hobbies build confidence if they're run well. I would avoid Stagecoach/PQA type places though and seek out smaller, local groups. I live in Gloucestershire and we have a fantastic youth theatre with a number of groups for different ages and in different locations. My DTDs (aged 10) go, as do several DC of friends and a number of kids I teach. Every performance I have seen has been great and it only costs £45 per school term for up to 11 year olds (they split by school year, so £45 is up to the end of primary) and £60 per term for the groups that go up to 18.