Education & Accessibility

The five-day workshop at GHS Keri reached out to middle school students from GHS Keri, Morlem and Surla. It was conducted by a classical dancer and a martial artist, combining perspectives from different kinds of traditional practices and ways of relating to daily life and nature. The ‘Stories of Nature’ theme of the workshop did this by using simple movements that the students could easily relate to and draw from their own experience. Initially, the students took their time to open up, to feel comfortable with expressing themselves through their bodies. The mixed composition of the classes with both male and female students also meant tackling some preconceived notions about communication and interaction. But the students eventually opened up and were excited by what the workshop had to offer. For the sharing on the final day, they demonstrated the exercises they had learned during the workshop and chose poems from their school curriculum to perform on. The feedback received from the children indicated that they enjoyed the workshop, and especially valued being able to connect their daily learning with kinaesthetic inputs.

For future workshops, we look forward to seeing how this can be opened up to more schools, with students having an experience of dance and movement that they can connect to their school curriculum. We shall continue to consult specialists who work with children about the most effective ways to communicate given the challenges of time and language, particularly time given that students are also busy with their schoolwork and other regular activities. 

Objectives

Children are the future of the arts. 

–          To take the arts beyond performance spaces and deepen an active relationship between artists and society at large.

–          To stimulate and feed the curiosity and spirit of inquiry that young audiences have.

–          To take arts programmes beyond the cities – to spaces where artists and their audiences both encounter new dimensions and ideas.

–          To introduce non-linear ways of thinking through mainstream education; for instance, how can the arts improve communication skills, body awareness, encourage teamwork, besides bringing new perspectives to stories, episodes and lessons from the school curriculum?