2 years ago, Polina Kravtsova was just 12 years old when she joined HCAC to cultivate and hone her talents in acting and performance. Polina has definitely grown before our eyes since then. Besides focusing on school, Polina has just started her career as an actor and model. She’s currently cast in 2 US film productions, a fantasy adventure and a horror/thriller!

This month, get to know more about Polina Kravtsova and how her HCAC experience has shaped her today.

Hi Polina! Introduce yourself. 

I am 14 years old and living in Singapore now for the 3rd year. Originally, I’m from Ukraine. I always loved acting, and I started with acting in the age of 8, where I had the luck to perform in a few theatre plays during primary school.  When I do not have work for school, I love to meet with my friends, go to the cinema or reading books and practicing my acting and singing skills.

What were the class or classes you took part in when you joined HCAC?

I started with the Incubator workshop for acting, writing and directing, and I have done a number of other workshops like Acting on Camera 101, Improvisation workshops, Physical Training for Actors. I really like the variety of expertise I gained from these classes and I can strongly recommend them also for other young actors!

I always look to improve my personal skills, and there are so many things I still need to improve. HCAC offers a wide range of individual classes, and I found that classes which focus on drama (Incubator) or Acting on Camera do perfectly fit to my personal career plan.

Polina modelling for L’zzie. (Source)

Tell us more about your experience and what you learnt during your workshop?

First of all, I like HCAC instructors and also the team participating in the workshops. It’s a great teamwork experience and I already miss our get-togethers. All the workshops provided a very useful and in particular broader view on acting. They brought out skills in me which I wasn’t even aware that I had. For example, in the Teen Incubator workshop, I figured out that I not only like acting but that writing or directing are highly interesting things I want to pursue further. Writing and directing will even make me better understand acting principles. A great learning point for me!

Learning at HCAC is not only applicable for the profession of being an actor, but in daily and real life situations as well: how you communicate with people, how you make sure you better understand people, and how you create an impression overall to other people. I think that’s very helpful in life overall.

Polina getting mic-ed for The Singapore Monologue Slam 2017.

I’ve changed a lot since joining HCAC, as I became more self confident, and also hungry to learn more and improve in new areas which I haven’t considered yet to be my personal areas of interest.

What is it like working with the people of HCAC?

My classmates have always been so supportive, and it was always a great teamwork experience. Helping each other is very usual, and also learning from each other, without any kind of competition or so. Same for the instructors: I have only met highly professional people and couldn’t say that there was even one thing which did not make sense to me. They have always been able to transport the information and the learning objectives in a way that they can easily be applied in any particular situation during acting.

What does HCAC give to you that you cant really find anywhere else?

I think it’s the special kind of setup: I got the feeling that it’s not a mass training event, rather than a very individual thing where I as an individual person are being taken care of completely with all my personal strengths and weaknesses. HCAC took care and made me better!

The team spirit, the way Kamil Haque handles each and every situation with biggest care and adapts the training methods down to the individual. I remember the great monologue trainings I had with him, where he really adjusted the content and stories to me personally so I was able to feel comfortable after a very short amount of time already. No stress, always easy going and a great support!

You can see more of Polina’s work at her website (www.polinakravtsova.com), and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.