Performing Arts Courses & Classes in London and Online
City Lit offers performing arts courses in the heart of Covent Garden in Central London during the evening, daytime and at weekends. Explore our range of subjects including acting, (including accredited acting courses), dance, radio and screen, and voice, speech and communication as well as a full range of music courses, such as piano, singing, strings and wind instruments to jazz and pop, music technology, music theory and history
Our courses are labelled clearly for beginners or those with previous experience and you can speak to a specialist advisor to help you choose the right level. If you would you like some help or advice:
For music courses email music@citylit.ac.uk. You can also view our music auditions and advice page.
For drama, dance and speech courses email drama@citylit.ac.uk
- Viola workshopCourse start date: Sun 6 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Robert PuzeyFocus on technique and musicianship especially for viola: on playing on the C string, reading alto clef fluently, left-hand work and more. For viola players, and violin players who wish to add an extra string to their bow!Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £69.00 - Drumming: advancedCourse start date: Sun 27 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark HuggettOur advanced class is a great chance to practise all the essential popular grooves. Enhance and maintain your technique, reading and stamina. Sessions will be delivered online so you will use your own kit, acoustic or electronic.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £249.00 - Acting: improversCourse start date: Thu 1 May 2025 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lawrence LambertContinue your development as you explore a range of exercises and acting techniques that will illuminate and enliven a variety of scripts and scenes. Consolidate techniques and deepen your understanding in a safe and supportive atmosphere.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £279.00 Concession £195.00 - Contemporary dance: improversCourse start date: Sun 4 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Francis AngolThe course aims to give you a further embodied understanding of Contemporary dance that is underpinned by Somatics practice, and other contemporary dance techniques, to bring greater flow and dynamics to your expression as you allow yourself to move from your inner space and to negotiate the flow of weight, rhythm, breath, space and time.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £69.00 - Core energeticsCourse start date: Sun 11 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kate MontagueCore Energetics is a body-mind practice designed to enhance your self-awareness, aliveness, creativity and focus, and a means to opening up physically, helping you to become aware of your energy flow.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £48.00 - Storytelling: tell your personal storyCourse start date: Sun 11 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John EastmanTell your own personal story to others, and in so doing gain some perspective on how past events have shaped your life and how they will affect your future, while at the same time inspiring and informing others about life choices. The course will take place in a safe environment in the college.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £229.00 Concession £160.00 - Shakespeare and the bodyCourse start date: Sun 11 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sean CroftUnlock Shakespeares hidden physical language through the work of Lecoq, Meisner, Michel Chekhov and Grotowski as we discover a deeper, more physically rooted and emotionally driven connection with Shakespeares work. No experience is needed for this short intensive course however an openness to explore and to develop text and physical performance simultaneously is necessary.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £69.00 - Acting for radio and podcast dramas: advanced workshopCourse start date: Sun 11 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David GoodersonFine-tune your audio skills by performing in a BBC radio drama on this weekend workshop in the media studio. For those with lots of previous experience, either through courses or industry. - Mask technique and the physical body (level 1)Course start date: Sun 1 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sean CroftThis playful and creative mask course, suitable for students at any level, introduces you to the mask. You will be carefully guided to explore the principals and techniques required to bring a character to life, to create speech with the body and without the voice. Masks will be provided but why not bring along some different style outfits and a variety of hats with you, then you’ll have more to play with on the day.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £48.00 - Acting Shakespeare (intensive)Course start date: Sun 29 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Laura BaggaleyA one-day workshop exploring scenes from two Shakespeare comedies, Twelfth Night and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Broaden and develop your acting skills in an intensive encounter with Shakespeare!Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £62.00 - Directing theatre (intensive)Course start date: Sun 6 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Laura BaggaleyWorking with an experienced theatre director, explore the multiple aspects of directing theatre productions, including rehearsal preparation, text analysis and research, collaborating with the design team, and techniques for getting the best performances from actors. - Combining voice and PilatesCourse start date: Sat 12 Jul 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kate MontagueThis innovative and one-off workshop shows you how to integrate modified Pilates movements with voice training as a holistic approach to voice, starting at breath release and progressing into phonation and resonance. Through this combination you may begin to find a link between body and voice through the core muscles of support. A fun but intensive Saturday workshop in the college.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £55.00 - Mime: workshopCourse start date: Sun 27 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sean CroftThere’s so much more to Mime than the striped jumper, beret and box!
The course will cover basic techniques in Mime towards developing and creating worlds alongside opening your body up to expressionistic styles. Through technique and improvisational based classes we will play and explore some of the most renowned exercises in Mime and build on them. Engaging your imagination and developing your awareness of your body as a tool for theatre craft.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £48.00 - World music: rhythm driven tunes from Brazil, Cuba, Ghana and SenegalCourse start date: Sun 5 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarha MooreCome to play tunes from several traditions and two continents, working with complex rhythms in related and contrasting ways. There is a musical narrative that begins in Africa, travels to the Caribbean and South America, then back to Africa, carrying musical styles and rhythmic patterns. We will explore samples of this rhythmic timeline.
Piano places are limited to two so please check with the department prior to enrolling if you want to play piano on this course.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £104.00 - Transcribe jazz solosCourse start date: Sun 12 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tim RichardsA study and sharing group for experienced jazz players with a good working knowledge of harmony and experience of improvising. We will focus on in-depth listening and transcription of recorded examples by jazz musicians. Sessions will include demonstration and performance opportunities. The class meets at college once a month. Course dates: 12 October, 9 November, 7 December, 18 January, 15 February, 15 March.Full fee £269.00 Senior fee £269.00 Concession £188.00
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