A Glimpse of the Sparkle Prime Workshop

I've had my bout with acting back when I was a kid. During those years, my workshops were done privately and the system was pretty much unscientific, it was mostly putting ourselves in scenes. You could say it was something I'd do on occasion... and since I wasn't doing roles anymore I was so excited I'd get to experience the "Sparkle Acting and Empowerment Workshop" through the partnership of Philippine Entertainment Bloggers Association (PEBA) and Sparkle GMA Artist Center which happened a few days ago.

This was going to be conducted by THE Ana Feleo (Certified on Eric Morris System) whom I've had the opportunity to interview in the past (especially during the pandemic). This was also the first time I'm meeting her (in a physical sense), so I was quite excited about that when we arrived at the rehearsal studios. To tell you honestly, I've been overthinking a lot about this event and what I think I'd be learning from the workshop. Participants in our group were from different blogs and social channels. With Sparkle they had artists Jennifer Maravilla, Mitzi Josh, Zonia Mejia, Lauren King, Aidan Veneracion and Bruce Roeland whom all had previous experience of doing workshops under Ms. Ana Feleo.

After pleasantries, Ms. Ana took us to a plethora of exercises that would help us be more open about ourselves, our emotions, and feel what's possible. Ours was like a teaser of what she's been doing for 3-day workshops, so we get a gist of what artists usually do. This I'd say made me feel like I'd be more susceptible of absorbing what she taught on the red mat. Mind you, tons of Sparkle and GMA actors have gone through a lot in the same place, and if the mat could talk it'll probably tell a lot about their life, their pain and agony as it's been primarily used for motivation on scenes. They'd learn how to control how much of it will be used when they need to on projects, which makes sense with the nature of their work.

Knowing how huge of a roadmap this is for people undergoing the same training made me realize how it could impact their skills, especially for new actors. Since this was also an empowerment process, we learned how to communicate, express ourselves with no inhibitions, which would help us navigate the things we plan to do with our organization. It's not only leadership, but how we would be able to put our points across when we meet people. It's a skill we all have to work on and it was so nice we get to touch on that. There were a lot of things that we got to experience during the short time we spent that afternoon, and we even got to know each other even more. It was different than just looking at our blogs, our different backgrounds, because we saw how we learned as people. I bet that will be beneficial for a lot of individuals, and I'm so glad they're taking these workshops all over the country. 

Here's how you can enroll in the Sparkle Prime Workshop:

I'd like to take this bit to thank the men and women of Sparkle Artist Center, Ms. Jenny Donato the Sparkle AVP for Talent Recruitment and Development (who was quite fun to talk to on the sidelines!), Ms. Rochelle Tuazon-Chavez the Sparkle Senior Manager for PR, Events and Digital , and good guy Mr. Chester Singian (who I think is also going to be an artist soon!). Also, to the Sparkle artists Jennifer Maravilla, Mitzi Josh, Zonia Mejia, Lauren King, Aidan Veneracion and Bruce Roeland who were all so kind and game during the session. We also got to know you a little bit during the exercises that Ms. Ana executed that afternoon.

I'd also like to personally thank Ms. Ana Feleo who braved through her migraine just to make sure we had an unforgettable experience during the workshop, I really learned a lot in such a short time. I get it why the artists you previously worked with talk so highly of you. Thank you for being there to help us all throughout the workshop!

If you wish to join, just get in touch with them via the art card we added above. It'll change the way you think about actors, and you'll learn a lot about the craft.