Dance Umbrella
Torriano Junior School
Regis Road Recycling Centre
Learning, Access and Outreach Programmes of The Place
Robin Howard Dance Theatre
Pupils: Charley Arrindell, Aisling O'Brien, Safari Christian, Fiona O'Brien, Rachel Cullen, Yasemin Oguzca-Moore, Calum Dewane-Bayfor, Sebastian Rennie, Calum Dewane-Bayfor, Finn Donovan, Rachel Groum, Sidney Ilunga, Armani Lewis, Bettie McNally, Moses Nwokeji, Nikita Sanghera, Aaron Sheppard-Garcia, Theresa Walker, Miracle Weir, Jessie Young, Yi Zhou
The children workshop took place at Torriano Junior School from 25th – 29th of September 2006 and involved 20 children. First day of the workshop Learning & Access Department of The Place organized a visit in Regis Road Recycling Centre in Camden. Children rehearsals on theatre stage were held on 5th and 6th of September together with the company members. My Name is King performances were presented in Robin Howard Dance Theatre on 6th and 7th September 2006 as a part of Dance Umbrella Festival.
After the first performance Lenka Flory, Simone Sandroni and the DEJA DONNE company held a post performance discussion moderated by Mrs. Emma Gladstone. The company was invited to openning night reception organized by Corporate Mobile Recycling Ltd. Present personalities: Emma Gladstone-director, Donald Hutera-journalist, Claire Verlet-director CND Paris.
On 7th October morning Simone Sandroni directed a workshop for emploies of Corporate Mobile Recycling Ltd. on dance theatre creation and composition rules of choreographical material.
The performances were visited by Torriano Junior School director Bavaani Nanthabalan and class teachers Emma Surtees and Lindsay Vaughan. After the second performance children received diploma for participation at the project.
Journalists who wrote on performances/workshop:
Camden Gazette 4. 10. 06 workshop review
Ham&High 5. 10. 06 workshop review
Recycling & Waste world 12. 10. 06 workshop review
Dance Eupope Magazine, November 2007 performance review
Dance Umbrella celebrates and champions contemporary dance. It pushes the boundaries of innovation and enriches the enjoyment and experience of contemporary dance for its audiences.
Dance Umbrella is responsible for the explosion of interest in contemporary dance in the UK, increasing public awareness of the art form and inspiring artistic excellence. Its annual London festival now ranks highly among the world’s leading international dance festivals.
Dance Umbrella also works year round commissioning and co-producing new projects and manages regional tours, spreading its mark of quality to the public throughout the UK.
Recognised as one of Europe’s most adventurous dance promoters, Dance Umbrella is dedicated to the development of choreography, choreographers and dancers, and their audiences.
The Torrianno Junior school is about 240 pupils which is average for schools of this type. The
school serves an area of London where there is considerable unemployment and recognised social
and economic deprivation. There are 54% of pupils eligible for free school meals, which is well
above the national average of 20%. The school serves a mixed community with almost 50%
coming from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Our main aim is to see that he or she is helped to settle happily and achieve to the best of her or
his ability. We pride ourselves on being a multi-cultural school community and we value the
contribution of each individual. We work with parents and carers to foster caring attitudes, mutual
respect, self-discipline and self-confidence.
Our aim is to give visitors to the centre the opportunity to learn more about recycling and waste minimisation in Camden, to promote the three 'R's' - reduce, re-use and recycle to show the possibilities of recycling - much of the furniture is made from recycled materials and the building has many sustainable features an opportunity to view the working site.
The centre is fully interactive. We use an interactive whiteboard and sorting games for younger visitors, including a recycling quiz.
Report on collaboration from Bavaani Nanthabalan, Headteacher of Torriano Junior School
The organisation of the project was good and the duration of workshop just right. There was a good relationship between pupils and teachers, and it was great to see the pupils in the theatre and taking part in a professional performance. This experience was very new for them and even more challenging because of cultural differences and different ways of learning. Expectations were very high and I was delighted at the children‘s sucess in meeting those expectations, thanks to the work of the company, The Place and the school. It would have been nice for the children to have met the artists before the workshop started and for them to have been able to do more dancing, but our teachers and the pupils gained new skills, techniques and ideas that can be utilised and developed in the future. The children really loved the workshop and particularly enjoyed the theatre experience. The whole project built their confidence and allowed them to use initiative, ideas and imagination.
Report on collaboration from Clare Farrow, Programme Manager, Dance Umbrella
Dance Umbrella’s presentation of Déjà Donné’s My Name is King in September 2006 presented a unique opportunity to involve young people with professional artists to produce work for performance alongside them. It was the first time Dance Umbrella had organised a major performance project for primary school-aged children. Thus, children not traditionally given access to world-class artists, were able to explore their own creativity using themes around recycling, have access to quality dance workshops and be involved in professional performances. In addition, Dance Umbrella’s partnership with CMR (Corporate Mobile Recycling), a company committed to environmental sustainability, supported the production process and enabled us to develop new audiences, as well as provide an opportunity for CMR staff to participate in a dance workshop directed by Simone Sandroni. It also enabled Dance Umbrella to do something positive for the environment. CMR designed a bespoke bag to recycle old mobile phones for Dance Umbrella’s mailing list of over 5,000 people and audiences at performances. To date nearly 200 phones have been recycled.
Report on collaboration from Chris Thomson, Learning & Access of The Place
This was an innovative project which brought together four organisations in a very interesting collaboration. The theme - recycling – was treated both literally and metaphorically, and in doing so crossed curriculum boundaries and challenged the 20 children involved to stretch their imagination and their understanding. The school teachers too had to embrace and deal with different ways of working as the performers – working in English and in Italian – showed them different ways of working with the children. For the most part this was positive, but some cultural differences had to be negotiated and this was hard work for both the school and the company. But by the end of the project the children had learned to work together as a team and to relate to the company as artists and performers. They had also risen to the challenge of performing in a professional theatre, and had done this with confidence and professionalism that increased as the week went on. For The Place, this was an opportunity to work with a company whose work we respect enormously, and to integrate education and performance in a new way. Being part of the creative process, our teachers learned, as one always does, from watching others’ praxis and solving problems together. The process was a learning experience for all involved.
However, though we had planned with the company and watched a prior production in Prague, some of the changes instituted by the company between these two productions demanded new reactions and accommodations. On the other side, the company and The Place had to deal with the managerial nature of the education system here, and in particular the demands of child protection and health and safety policies. Though necessary and important, these procedural matters made management of the project at times rather complex, and took energy and resources away from the creative work. Overall, then, this was a successful project in which everyone learned: new knowledge, skills, attitudes and understandings were gained by the children, school teachers, artists and managers. Problems arose and were dealt with; all of us deepened our understanding of each others’ work and values, in the context of an important theme which has left a lasting legacy with the children who took part.
Report on collaboration from the children:
What did impress you the most, what will you remember?
- EVERYTHING impressed me. And I can remember everything such as the performance, practising, meeting everyone & playing the games.
- the crew being so nice, the scenery and my part. Feeling nervous and all the places where I was.
- Pietro’s loud voice and the amount of fun we had.
- my special part
- I will remember when Rachel ran with Andrea
- the lights, acting, the experience
- I’ll remember everyone who worked with me in DEJA DONNE
- everything!!! Thank u so much
- when I threw the paper back with Moses
- having so much fun
- Pietro’s loud voice. And he could change from happy to angry
- how strong everyone was and nice, and the experience
- Andrea doing the thing with ball
- the music
- the workers endurance, creeping onto the stage in the spotlights, when they were dancing
- the games we played and the language we heard and the art I had never done
- how Pietro is really kind, but can seem so fierce in the play. All the fun I had when I performed, and the bow, of course.
FINN: I have been on stage before, but being on stage with them was the best! I liked the scene when I got to walk across the wall ON MY OWN! Because it boosted my confidence.
It was an AMAZING experience. I would tell my grandchildren about it. The proces of making it was so fun and imaginative, it was great! (I also really liked my extra bit!)
SEBASTIAN: fun, bright, tasty sandwiches. It was hard to wait for my turn.
Yes it was fun and we liked doing our bit. I liked when he said „I am King“ because it was strong. It was very exciting and I think that we could have done a bit more.
Fun, exciting, artistic, free, powerful and lovely.
SIDNEY: It was so cool, I wish I could do it again. Andrea was the best and Pietro.