ALEX PINDER PERFORMING ARTIST
  • Introduction
  • News Page
  • Actor in the Theatre
  • Actor in Film, TV and Commercials
  • Theatre director
  • Acting, Theatre Teacher
  • Photo CV
  • Workshops
  • blog
  • Contacts
  • My Education and Training
  • Reviews
  • Papers
  • Show reels
  • Artists in Community International

Workshops in Schools In India and Nepal

2/3/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
While running  workshops in vulnerable communities we have been asked to work in the local schools. They   have been in  Jainabad Gujarat, a village  near the salt pans,  in and around the brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as a school in Bhaktapur. These schools provide children with a basic education to about year eight. They have very few resources and the classrooms, are very basic with bare walls and very old desks facing a blackboard. They remind us something out of a Charles Dickens novel. 

As they have no, or very little access or understanding of   the performing and visual arts, we have often started the program with an impromptu performance, that I begin when putting on my clown nose.  It tends to happen at a school assembly where  we are first introduced. As the students do not know who we are and what we are doing there,  It is a great way to break the ice. 


I improvise around a few themes, around a “park-bench”. Simple routines such trying to read some else’s newspaper  or falling asleep on someone’s shoulder.  I am always trying to sense the student would be willing to perform with me,  looking out for that  individual who may have the  desire to have a go on stage. There is always someone.  The students love watching one of their own. After a while I encourage them to perform with each other, and I step back and watch. When   a teacher accepts an invitation to perform, with a student as happened in Jainabad, it is pure joy for the audience.


At the community school in the brick kilns, UEMS, the organisation we were working with, are trying to raise awareness of basic hygiene, washing hands, and  brushing teeth. I was asked to   perform on this theme. The first student who performed with me was hilarious, and totally  took over the stage. It was then very easy to find other students to get up and perform. It is rare for students to come up with their own ideas, but in this tiny school in the back blocks of the Kathmandu Valley, we found some raw talent 

 The girls take more time  to perform, but we always insist that they have  a chance at getting up in front of others, and make sure the boys give them space to do so. At this school there were two girls that were particularly  good.  They  managed not to copy what I did, but made an improvisation of their own. 

This is always a great way to start in the schools, and the students become excited at what could happen next in the workshops. It shows to the students that learning fun.

1 Comment
best essay writer online link
4/1/2020 04:53:32 am

What you did was helpful for the mental health of the students. We all know how schooling can be so stressful, and some of them are choosing to keep it to themselves. Holding the workshop could lessen the heavy feelings they have been carrying since then and I want to commend you for that effort. We all know that it was not easy to be in front of many people. But for the sake of others, you are choosing to take that path!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a performing artist.  I work as an actor, director and theatre teacher. I love to take audiences on imaginary journeys which uplift, inspire and give insights into the world around us.

    Archives

    March 2017
    June 2015
    February 2015
    February 2014
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    ​Neutral Mask

    larval masks 
    Bone MarrowTheatre
    Jacques Lecoq
    Physical Theatre 
    Basel 
    Switzerland 
    Carnival
    Nadine Dimitrievitch 

    All
    Abbotsford Convent
    Actors
    Bakul Tree
    Bengal
    Brahmin
    Clowning
    Comedia Dell'Arte
    Drama
    Enchanted Evening
    Fair Fax Festival
    Ghost Stories
    Goldoni
    In The Middle Of The Night
    Jacques Lecoq
    La Mama Theatre
    Mime
    Mime Movement
    Moliere
    Nepal
    Niki Pidd
    One Man Show
    Physical Comedy
    Polash Larsen
    Potato Shed
    Shakeapeare
    Shourov Bhattacharya
    Street Children
    Street Theatre
    Tagore

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.