About BAPA

The British Academy of Performing Arts (BAPA) is Malaysia’s first and only fully integrated performing arts academy. Launched in April 2017 in Sunway Nexis Mall, Kota Damansara, BAPA offers individual and group tuition in all 3 performing arts disciplines namely music, acting and dancing.

With a teaching faculty of nearly 30, all graduates of British or international conservatories, drama or dance schools, and highly proficient performers in their own right, BAPA brings a partnership approach to performing arts tuition based on developing a shared passion through a technical and emotional based exploration of music and the arts rather than the more traditional learning-by-rote, exam oriented, patriarchal approach more commonly practised in Asia.

All musical instrument and vocal studies are taught at BAPA as well as a comprehensive Musical Theatre course for junior and senior students which covers acting, dancing and singing as well as a programme for early years musical development. The curriculum is performance focused with exams offered as an option rather than a priority and fees are based on the experience and qualifications of the teacher, not the exam results of the student. This allows for a more holistic development of a student’s creative potential which has been proven to produce more well-rounded performers and students of a much higher calibre. Numerous ensembles and groups are available for students to participate in and regular internal and external performances and concerts are a unique feature of BAPA.

Early Years

It is never too early to introduce children to the joys of music. Indeed, in a recent study 94% of the world’s top engineers and mathematicians were found to have taken up music before the age of 7 compared to just 32% of the general population.

Our Early Years PRE-INTRUMENTAL programme uses the Musikgarten system from the USA which is backed by over 40 years of research and practice. It offers a comprehensive, sequential plan for the musical development of your child from birth to age 9. Each of our 4 courses stands on its own and fits the development and needs of the child. Class time is educational, fun and purposeful.

Our Early Years teachers are highly trained professionals with classroom and field experience in early childhood music education and child development.

Our courses are based on meeting the developmental needs of children as they grow. Favourite songs, stories and dances are revisited throughout, building on what each child has mastered and enjoyed thus making successful learning easier.

Our programme is also fundamental in nurturing brain, social, emotional and physical development as well as creative and builds a strong foundation for your child, preparing them for when they graduate to individual music lessons on piano, violin or any other musical instrument.

Musical Theatre Programme

Musical Theatre is the most complex and challenging of all the performing arts because it requires proficiency in not just one, but three distinct disciplines. Namely: Acting, Singing and Dancing; each of which requires a life time study for many. The BAPA Junior and Senior Musical Theatre Programme has been designed to bring the joy of performing arts to participants and designed to equip students with the necessary skills to enter the profession, successfully audition for drama school or continue to be a more productive amateur performer.

At the end of the programme, students should expect to have attained reasonable proficiency in all three Musical Theatre disciplines. Aside from acquiring a strong sense of personal discipline, our students will learn to work within deadlines & as part of a team. Like the society of which it is part, theatre is in a condition of diversity, development & change. Thus the course seeks to enable the development of a physically skilled, intellectually curious, inventive, confident and self-reliant individual.

The final performance will enable students to work alongside seasoned professionals thus expanding their network in the industry. The course will also bring discipline and improvement to their command of spoken English. Because performance is central to this programme, the course will revolve around end-of-term & end of course performance projects. Students will be exposed to performances ranging from a simple presentation in a classroom, to an audience of tutors and fellow students to public performances to family, friends and industry creatives. This will culminate in the final term with a fully resourced professional West End/Broadway style production which will be either an established or a new work.