Community Arts Blog

Today I was given feedback on how I've been working during the time of this project and I was told that I am currently working on a distinction level.
However, there's always room for improvement. The things I need to improve on is the energy that I give when delivering a workshop to the children, for example, especially during the beginning of workshops, I need to be confident and sure of what I'm doing, therefore this should make the children want to partake even more, and also copy what we're doing. Another piece of advice given was when one of us are giving instructions, it is important to be part of the group, meaning not standing at the front with my partner giving instructions. Hearing this is great and made me think about how much more effective that'd be for the group, because we'd be with them listening to the instructor which would also connote where the focus of attention should be at. I also think that this would make the children feel more comfortable, and make it more engaging for them, because if it were me I would find it quite repetitive if both of the leaders were just standing at the front, also it could seem a bit more boring for them as it might come across as a lecture or class lesson. In addition, it was advised that we should break down our exercises into more depth, rather than just moving onto the next one, once it's complete. This way we would have more choice and variety in things to do, and we most likely wouldn't have lots of spare time with nothing to do. Lastly, another piece of advice that I was given was to always show examples of what exercise we will be doing, because sometimes for the group that we are working with, verbally communicating instructions isn't always ideal. Also, from previous workshops, working alongside one child and focusing your attention on them to help them complete an exercise is I believe much more helpful for them.

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Workshop Plan

First Half:
Ellesse Vocal Warm up:  (Not everyone will want to) 
Scales- (Explain why) This will help everyone to just warm up their voices, it is important to do this so we don't strain or injure our throat.
Low to High then High to Low
Break down -
Make it fun. See how long we can hold a note for. (All together)
Split class into half, one side Low to High - Other Low to High.
Make it fun again. See which side can hold it for longest.
(5 minutes)

Articulation- (Explain why) This is another technique of warming up the vocal chords. It also helps you to focus on your breathing technique. (Bearing in mind not everyone will)
'Brr' 'Vvvv' 'Tttt' 'Sss' 'Mmm'
Break down - 
In a circle everyone can choose a consonant and we go round in order.
THEN
Do this in different pitches.  
(5 minutes)

Explain Theme of workshop-
We're staying on the theme of 'Culture'...
We've focused on a few games that have some relation to cultures...
MAYBE
Ask class what they remember about different cultures, make reference to last workshop.
What country/continent did we look at?
What games did we do?
(preferably Shay who can tell us this)
If they don't remember: 
We did game of Sherades which focused on one culture.
Freeze images.
Sound scopes.
Musical drums etc.
Role Play
(5 minutes)

Memory Ball/Item Game- (Teachers may need to take part to help)
(Examples & Explain the game, take questions) (3 minutes)
Each child is given a name of a country. Someone is going to be in the middle of the circle and they say a name of the country and whoever has the name of the country goes to catch/pass/take the ball from the person in the middle then they go into the middle of the circle and say the name of a country. It's also a memory game so we all have to remember the names of the countries each of us have been given in order for everyone to get a chance to be in the middle.
BEFORE GAME STARTS!!
Break down- 
Everyone in group will memorize the country each student was given. We can go through this in a circle.
To break it down even more, see if someone can do it all by themselves.
Try and see if someone can memorize it at random, if we select a random person each time, OR, let someone else select at random.
(15 minutes)

Marion
Country Sherrades
(Example & Explain the game, make reference to last workshop) (3 minutes)
Marion gives information out about different countries (flags, information, statistics, pictures) to each pair. Then the pair/group have to be able to communicate that country they've been given to the rest of the class.
Break down-
(At the end of the game, ask class if they learnt anything in particular about different cultures/countries.)
(10+ minutes)

Second Half:
Marion
Physical Warm-up: (Not everyone can)
Move head side to side
Massage face
Make face as large and as small as possible
Chewing gum warm-up
(5 minutes)

Explain to class, cause we're back from a break we might need to find a point of relaxation to be able to focus...therefore we will be doing an imagination exercise.
(1 minute)
Imagination Exercise
Explain to class
I want you guys to imagine any country they want/ is it a real country or is it a made up country?
What is the setting like...
What sounds are there...
Is it empty, are there lots of people?
Break down- 
Share back with class if they want, what they saw...
(10 minutes)

Contra Dance
Find a song related to a specific culture, and we can make up a dance to it. Present the dance at the end if we want.
(25 minutes)
If spare time, to calm everyone down, listen to a song to relax or and recap over workshop.
(5 minutes)

Community Arts Blog

I think that the previous workshop that me and Marion did with our group went quite well because, they almost at all times took part in the activities we had planned for them which made it much more easier to work with. From my own self observation I think that I wasn't as confident during the beginning because I felt that the warm-ups and stretches would've probably been a bit repetitive for the students. However, I didn't carry this with me through the rest of the workshop, and I delivered the rest of the content with confidence.
What I noticed during this workshop is that one of the members of our group were helping us a lot in terms of responding and helping out, therefore we decided that for our next workshop, he might be able to at one point lead the workshop alongside us. This will change things up and make things a lot more different and interesting for everyone.

Community Arts Blog

Workshop Plan June 23rd 2014

Planning workshops is important because it helps us to prepare for the day. Doing this gives us an idea of the structure of the day, whether it plans out the exact way or not. To me, having a workshop plan is important because from previous experiences, it sort of boosts my confidence as I feel that I know what I'm doing or what's coming next, also I believe that it'd make the others taking part in the workshop feel like that they are doing is worth the while, especially because this way things can be explained in more depth.

First hour plan:

Theme: Different Cultures

Warm Up for 10 minutes: 

• Stretches (5 minutes)
• Face warm-ups (5 minutes)
• Vocal warm ups (chewing gum exercises) Ranges in voices, sound scape (let children choose scenario) (7 minutes) 
• Games
• Culture Game - Choose a character from a specific culture and something that represents that culture/person and be able to portray that culture (can be a guessing game) ( 10 minutes)

Exercises 2nd Half Plan

•  Introduce a song to them - African Culture. (4 minutes)
• Physical exercises- movement - Forming a picture/still image as a group that relates to different cultures (countries) (If children want to) (10 - 15 minutes)
• Make still images come to life - make a rhythm to the beat/song (those who are less able can use an instrument with help of others) (15 minutes)

Community Arts Blog

The workshop with the children went really well for me and Marion. Having a structured plan helped us get through everything that we needed to do.
This workshop showed me how the students respond to our given instructions, and because I am working with a group with a more sever case of PMLD (Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties), I discovered how I should next deliver content to the children for any future workshops with them. Furthermore, it also gave me an idea of what type of activities we should do in our own workshop, in order to allow every student to feel included (with the help of teachers) during the time of the workshop.
The group we've got is quite a difficult group to work with, and despite there only being 2 of us in the group to deliver the workshops, we work well as a team, especially with one of the students in our group, who is able to respond quickly. I  believe that I have the right sensitivity towards the children in order to make sure they do have a fun experience with us.

Community Arts Blog

The 'Polka Theater' is one on the few venues in the UK which dedicates their performances and shows for young audiences. They opened in 1979 and since then they've been creating exciting theatre that entertains children.
Over 90,000 children a year visit the Polka Theater, often for the first time ever. Their shows aim to spark the kids imagination whilst mostly entertaining at the same time.
Their venue has 2 theatre spaces, the main theatre, and the adventure theatre, which have been designed so that the children's first taste of theatre is welcoming and relevant.
The 'Polka Theater' has a range of children from the ages of 0 - 14 years. This theatre company aims to make theatre a natural part of the children's lives. Up to 800 children visit Polka every day and Polka introduces thousands of children from disadvantaged backgrounds to theatre for the first time every year.
Polka is a registered charity and according to the site, without subsidy and the generosity of their donors, their average ticket price would increase from £9 to £25!

Researching about other Theater's gives me a broader image of what it's like to work with different people, therefore I think that it allows me to develop myself when working with many people, and also gives me the chance to see how I'd have to present to different people when working with them.

Community Arts Blog

Meeting the children at 'St Giles' school was a great way for me to get to understand what kind of children I'd be working with during this project.
Getting a tour of the school allowed me to see the type of environment I'd be working in with the other children.
During the day we got the opportunity to meet some of the children during their break time. I found that there were several different personalities. In my opinion I found this really exciting because the children seemed so willing to speak to us and engage in conversation with us.
This bonding helped us get to know them much more, and each of the children's personalities, which was a great experience and was helpful for us all because we could each understand the children on a more personal level, which would help us a great amount for our future workshops with them.

Community Arts Blog

Augusto Boal was born on the 16th March 1931 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He was a Brazilian theater director, politician and writer.
In class we took part in exercises that were created by Boal, which allowed us to use our senses more rather than verbally or too physically. For example, we did an exercise where we got into different specific orders within the class, however we had to do this without verbally communicating to anyone. In my opinion, this was quite hard, however it forced us to use gestures in order to get our point across and to help others understand. This relates to our type of project because we are working with several people who have different abilities, some can't speak or move, therefore it is important that I learn from an early stage different ways to communicate to the people.
Additionally, we did an exercise called 'Colombian Hypnosis'. This is when somebody controlled their partners movements with a certain part of their body. At first when I tried this with our hands, I felt that there was a barrier between me and the partner because we couldn't connect as much. However, we then later did this same exercise with one person being sat stationary whilst leading their partner with only their eyes. During this I felt more of a connection, with my partner whilst following them. At times it was quite hard to understand where they wanted me to move or what to do, but as long as you kept with the flow, the exercise worked well to me, and allowed us to have a stronger connection.
Also, we did another Boal exercise called the 'Glass Cobra', this was when we had our eyes shut and got into a specific order, and then we had to feel textures in order to get back into the same order. Again, I feel that Boal's exercises allow everyone to have a chance to be included, by doing things that limit our use of senses.
Also, we then did another exercise where we put movements together from forming a simple image, which then later turned into a movement that flows together. Lastly, we did an exercise where we chose a specific sound, closed our eyes and allowed the sound of our partner to guide us towards them. Again, these type of exercises allowed us to get an idea of what it's like to have limits to our senses, and because we are going to be working with people who have less abilities than us, I think it was great that we put ourselves in similar positions to them, therefore I think that everything we do would be done with a bit more truth towards it.

Community Arts Blog

The Chickenshed company was founded in 1974, originally in a disused chicken shed, it was founded by Mary Ward and Jo Collins. They work on a range of different people in their performances. Their performances are performed by children, teenagers and adults of all backgrounds and abilities. Their ideas are converted into workshops and with their motivation they put great work and performances together. None of their shows are held by auditions, but rather on their members strengths in performing arts, which allows them to be cast accordingly.
They are registered under a charity with the name 'The Chickenshed Theater Trust'. A lot of their performances are based on real life issues, which I think makes their performances much more effective for the audience. From watching their videos, I can tell that their work isn't just about learning lines and putting on a performance, but rather about the thought, dedication and hard-work that goes into it.