Public Speaking: Embodied Communication

This five-week, in-person summer course is open to pre-college students attending the commuting or residential High School Summer Scholars Program.

The ability to speak well and to communicate effectively in the public forum is an essential skill for all students. This course aims to offer a comprehensive and wide ranging approach to developing the skills of the contemporary speaker. While acknowledging and utilizing traditional approaches to public speaking, this course will expand its reach to include applicable techniques from the world of the Performing Arts -- especially theatre and dance. The course does not intend to train the student as a dancer or actor, but it maintains that the successful speaker would do well to harness some of the transferable skill sets from these disciplines. The speaker, like the performer, must stand before an audience with an objective to communicate something well. Both should be dedicated advocates for the message. They share the common ground of requiring a strong voice for a sure delivery of the material, and an expressive physicality willing to fully embody and serve the message.

Prerequisites: none