Performing Arts Courses and Lessons

A library of online performing arts courses covering the introduction to performing arts, musical arts, dramatic art, and the history of performing arts, is available for instructors and students.

These courses will help learners engage and strengthen their understanding of the performing arts with engaging and fun lessons, activities, and quizzes. Lesson plans to help teachers provide supplementary material for their classrooms are also available.

Explore our full library of performing arts courses:
Create an account to begin studying Performing Arts
Used by over 30 million students worldwide

What are the Performing Arts?

Performing arts can be defined as a form of creative art that is performed in front of an audience. There are three main types of performing arts. These are:

  • music
  • dance
  • theater

Music is probably the most universal type of performing art since it can be found in every society and is commonly added to other performing art forms like dance and theater. Singing and playing musical instruments are included in music performing arts.

Dance is usually used by artists to express an idea, emotions, or themselves through body movements that are mostly done to the speed and rhythm of the music. The sequences of movement in dance can be either improvised or purposefully selected.

Theater mainly includes acting; however, it also combines other forms of art like speech, song, music, and dance. This is a sub-specialty of performing that mainly refers to the study of drama and uses live performers to present a real or imagined event. Actors and actresses are the main careers of those in theater arts, but choreography, directing, stagecraft, and other specialties are also part of this career field.

The many types of performing arts provide an audience with pure enjoyment; however, performing arts also function to relieve stress for both performers and viewers. The performer receives self-discovery and the ability to express their ideas and emotions. The different types of performing arts are also vitally important to education and culture. They can function to express societal problems through the reflection of culture, politics, and religion and thus educate the audience.