Learning games

She is now an associate professor at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, and runs her own acting workshop, which aims to cultivate new generations of actors and actresses.

The workshop hosted its annual open day in September, with talks and training sessions highlighting the Flying Seeds project that provides acting courses for children.

The project features courses on the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar, through which children are guided by teachers to participate in acting exercises and perform creatively based on their everyday observations.

To make learning fun, the teachers strike hand drums and the children are asked to run around, freeze, curl themselves up or jump while shouting loudly.

In one exercise at the recent open day, a dozen children were asked by a teacher to envision themselves as leaves. They assumed postures and had their own interpretations, each different from others.

"My classes mainly comprise three parts-games that help them loosen up and liberate their true nature, dances in which children learn and create with their bodies and minds, and a short stage performance that allows them to express themselves and gain self-confidence," says Er Gu, an instructor at the workshop.

An actor and teacher, he has specialized in theater education for children and joined Liu's workshop "because of their similar educational concepts".

He says: "We have observed that many children and even us, professional theater actors, are so accustomed to verbal communication that we forget our bodily expression, which is the simplest way of expressing ourselves.

"Children's natural ability of bodily expression tends to fade away as a result of limitations set by their surrounding environment and society. We hope that children can rediscover this ability. They can open up, let go and free themselves, and blend in with others in new ways."