The front pages of every paper today are trumpeting the success of Team GB in China, and in particular that of triple gold medal winner, Edinburgh bike racer Chris Hoy. But there’s another British Olympic victory in the making, and it’s the off-track one of groups of young British actors, singer and dancers variously making their mark in Beijing’s cultural Olympiad celebrations.
The National Youth Theatre, who are now in the midst of their annual summer residency at Soho Theatre, have also been represented in Beijing as the only British company to have been invited by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to take part in the Chinese International Youth Arts Festival, where they presented a production of The Merchant of Venice for which 25 young actors from the UK were joined by 12 cast members from Beijing as part of a remarkable cultural exchange. And they’ll be represented again at Sunday’s closing ceremony, when the Olympic Flag is handed over from Beijing to London, to perform the National Anthem.
As Paul Roseby, co-artistic director of the NYT has said, “For the National Youth Theatre to be part of the historic Handover Ceremony in Beijing sends a positive message to all young people across the globe. We will not only be representing the best of Britain’s youth, but our group of culturally diverse, talented young people will take this life changing experience to inspire thousands more to celebrate youth, innovation and friendship at the London Games in 2012.”
And while Zoo Nation conclude their West End run of Into the Hoods at the Novello Theatre on August 30 - a show that has coincidentally become the longest-running dance show ever in the commercial West End - the company will also be represented in the Olympics handover. Not that has been without controversy: as a story in Society Guardian today puts it, the announcement of their participation back in June was “met with horror and derision by certain sections of the press” - including The Guardian itself, which it reports here headlined the story “London hoodies to pick up Olympic baton”, and implied that Into the Hoods “glamorised drug-dealing, pimps and gangsters”.
At least Kate Prince, the choreographer behind the company, is quoted answering back, quipping that the show “was as much about gangster rap, drugs and pimps as The Sound of Music was about the Nazis.” But as Kate’s own presence leading the company proves, it’s all about challenging and changing people’s perceptions: as a white woman from the New Forest, she says that “Journalists have been endlessly asking me, ‘How does a white girl from the countryside end up doing something like this?’”; but as she adds, “Saying I can’t do this is like saying a black man from Hackney can’t direct an opera. Anyone can do anything, aren’t we past putting people in boxes?”
And however you label her and their work, ZooNation’s mission stretches far beyond its current West End and Olympics presence into the very heart of the community. It runs subsidised Saturday classes, has a youth company ZooYouth and various outreach projects. “The power we have now is to go out and reach those who may not make the good decisions, may not have that opportunity,” says Prince. “I remember getting into trouble and running away when I was young just to get the adrenalin rush and bonding thing. If you’re doing dance, you’re not going out and robbing someone. You’re too motivated, and knackered. I’m not saying dance is going to save the world, but it will make a dent in the problem.”
And it’s not just the players who can be changed and challenged, but also the audiences. “We had an opportunity to get people into the theatre who previously would have had nothing but a negative image of hip-hop and young people, and to get them leaving with a smile on their face.”
If the current Olympic victories are putting a smile on everyone’s faces, then Sunday’s closing ceremony - with participation also from dancers from the Royal Ballet and CandoCo, the contemporary dance company featuring disabled and non-disabled dancers, before they return to kick off a new UK tour in October - is sure to keep it there. But it’s also proof that, though some have feared about the displacement of culture by all things sporting come 2012 (and the worries that funding will be sent that way, too), these companies are suddenly going to have a global reach that was surely unimaginable before: projected worldwide television viewing figures on Sunday are expected to be 1.5bn.
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