Big School Project end

This is it! I have finished the project last week. I managed to put on, a one hour production with 100 kids. I am really proud. It was hard and stressful but it was worth it. Most of the kids were quite sad that it was all over.

Since my last post I have been working on setting more and more of the choreographies. As the weeks passed the show was taking form. The media department was able to show me what they had done which allowed me to adapt the choreography.
In the after school sessions I worked with the time travellers. I came up with a script and we worked on it together. The three students would suggest changes so that they could say and learn their lines better. We worked on basic acting skills such as projection, articulation and timing.

Three days before the show we put everything together for the first time, the time travellers' scenes between each dances and the projections. I made a couple of adjustments with the time travellers. I had warned them to be ready for small changes at the last minute. It was very good that everything was ready at least a week before the show because when we got on stage to rehearse, the students could concentrate on all the new information they were getting. They didn't have to think about the choreography as they new it very well. They could work on their focus, their spacing and their entrances and exits.
These little details make a very big difference in the quality of a production.

The day before the show we did a dress run which went very well. It was a long day for the students. Technical rehearsals and dress runs can be hard for young ones as there is always a lot of waiting. The kids get easily bored so you have to make sure you have a good amount of staff to look after them and keep them busy.

On the day of the show we managed to do a rough run through, but not on stage. It allowed the students to have the choreography fresh is their heads.
The show went very well. The time travellers were brilliant and all the choreographies were beautifully danced. The projections were amazing and everything came nicely together. The audience (parents and school staff) loved it. It was rewarding for everyone. The hard work paid off.

One of the feedbacks I received was the fact that you could really see the kids' input. This is something that is very important to me and I am glad that people were able to see it. I questioned myself a lot on that matter. I could feel that some people along the process thought I should be teaching the students more moves. That is not what I wanted to do and I am glad I didn't. The choreography was made by the students and I. I came up with many ideas and moves but so did they. It was a collaboration.

The point of this adventure was to develop the students' creativity and it did. I had the last word on everything and I directed the whole thing but I got helped by the people dancing in it.

It might have been easier and less stressful to just come to each sessions and teach them every single move of the choreography but I strongly believe that it wouldn't have looked as good.

I am glad I kept going that way and didn't give in because the result was stunning.

Big School Project (2)

The project is going very well. I've started devising and setting with the students and I am very happy with everything they've come up with.

I had a session with them yesterday and was very worried that they wouldn't remember anything from the previous week, but they all did! Some of them struggled a bit but they all got there in the end. Remembering a choreography is difficult but, like anything else, it's a matter of practice. When done on a regular basis it seems really easy but most of these kids have never done it before.

Yesterday a friend of mine came to see how much work I had done and how the project was going and she was very positive and supportive. She thought the students looked good. We tried ideas together to set a theme for each group and a general idea for the show. It was so useful to have someone there watching and saying "yes you're going in the right direction, so keep going" because even though things seemed to be going well it is nice to be reassured.

I have now written down a "script" for the show so that everyone involved in the making can work together (media, dance, English department). I have four choreographies, one for each group. I have made up a story about 3 kids who are time travellers and each stop in time is represented by a choreography. The time travellers will come on stage in between each choreography. I have been given extra time after school to work with the time travellers.

Now that I have a theme for each group and that I've started making the choreography, the main job will be to make sure we manage to put together the dance and the media. It is probably going to be the hardest part of the project, but I won't have to worry about that until nearer the performance day.

Big school project

I have just started a new project with a technology college. It's a big challenge. I have four groups of about 25 kids aged between 9 and 15. Most of them with no dance experience. I see them once a week every week and after four months we need to have a show ready. It is very exciting and challenging. I have taught many workshops to similar kids but I never had to take on such a big project.

The show has to be about the history of the college as we will be celebrating its 140th anniversary. There is a media artist working with me. He is going to work with the kids as well. We also have the English Department involved. They will provide us with material such as poems, texts, etc. The show will be performed in the college so not on a proper stage but in a hall.

We're only just starting. I have seen the pupils three times so far. My aim is to get as much choreographic material from them as possible. It would be too easy to come and teach them every move. I want them to be creative and involved. It's not easy though. One of the groups in particular really needs to be spoon fed. So, for my next session I have decided to teach them a little choreography that they will have to transform. Other groups have been extremely creative with very little input so I think it will be easy to get something out of them.

The main reason why it is such a challenge isn't because they don't have much dancing experience. It is, I believe, because they are doing it as part of a school subject. They didn't really choose to be involved. The other thing making it a challenge is that each of the sessions are 50 minutes long. It is a very short time within which I have to warm them up and then create and rehearse a choreography. I have been talking with the teachers to maybe have some longer sessions.Creating with kids takes time.

The first three sessions went very well. I had them improvise, learn a choreography and make up their own. So from the next session on, we need to start devising choreography. The making of the show begins!