Good to hear of something as popular as hip hop being used to focus the attention of school students, many of whom are disadvantaged. When I was teaching we used rather inelegantly to call it ‘starting where the child is at ’ (and then, by implication moving him/her on).
This term, THEATRE IS is touring Hertfordshire schools to work with around 1000 students on a project which has already been very successful in Norfolk and Essex where 3000 kids have taken part.
This is how it works. First Hip Hop artists from Throwdown UK go into schools with a lively show to inspire the students. Those youngsters are then invited to take part in It’s Our Theatre workshops. There they can learn the creative and entrepreneurial skills required to create their own theatre - but everything they do is firmly rooted in their own culture.
The workshops lead first to a local Slam Night and then to a county wide Slam Night in March. After that, participants can audition to be a part of the creation of a new piece of hip hop theatre scheduled to tour the local area and further afield.
The good news is that in Norfolk and Essex a number of participants have gone on to stage their own events and develop their art.
Take, for example, Intensi-T, a shy drummer who took part in It’s Our Theatre Norfolk. Through the process he discovered a remarkable talent for beatboxing. He learnt how to take advantage of it and setting up events with Encore, a group he established with fellow participants.
Intensi-T has now performed on stage with UK Beatbox Champions to crowds of 15,000 and is one of the UK’s leading emerging beatboxers. Encore now runs regular Slam nights and squares the circle, as it were, by employing the artists who taught them to come back and perform.
Stuart Mullins is the Creative Director of THEATRE IS. He says, “It’s our theatre is all about giving young people ownership of theatre, dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. It’s not just about breeding the next generation of theatre makers, it’s about enabling them to be entrepreneurial with the ability to make a living from their talents.”
Good stuff eh?
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