a lot has been going on since i have come back from the US. The kids were extremely happy to know that people in the US really liked the stuff that they had made...that their bags and files were being used internationally was a real matter of pride and of course, the real thing was that they got to earn a lot of cash!!
Since then we have been doing various different things - two weeks back Channi Uncle (a very well known theatre personality of chandigarh who happens to be Sukhmani's Dad) started a theatre workshop with the children and sometimes i also participate in the daily exercises which are simply awesome!! Initially, when Uncle agreed to take this workshop, i was a little skeptical as to how the kids will react to it...would they be able to listen to Uncle for more than two hours at a stretch, would they participate in different exercises that Uncle would ask them to do (actually, we had tried different theatre games with these kids about a few months back and it was quite a disaster). Inspite of all these fears we decided to go ahead with the workshop and the kids amazed me the first day. They participated in the first exercise with full fervour and i was sitting there amazed...wondering when did the boys changed so much...they not only listened to Uncle and played the theatre games, they happily listened to Uncle's feedback and incorporated that feedback in the subsequent game!! It was simply lovely to see them that day and i immediately picked up my phone and called Amit to share that moment with him :-)
Anyway, since then the workshop has been going on...and i personally think that everybody should go through such workshops even if there is no intention of doing real theatre...it really opens you up and makes you more expressive. The exercises are such that you have to come out of your shell and learn to express yourself freely. One of the exercise that they start with is the "mirroring". Two people go into the circle - one person will act something and the person would just copy whatever the first person is doing (basically be a mirror) and then the roles are revered. In another exercise, we are told that we all are "pagal" (mad) and we have to prove that “i am the biggest pagal in this world”...it was so much fun doing that!! infact, we also came up with our own "pagal" song :-) Another exercise that i have loved is the one in which Uncle took us out on a street and divided us in two teams. He asked one team to stand on one side of the road and the other team on the other side of the road. Then, we had to talk to each other across the street…it was a little embarrassing with all the people staring at us but at the same time it was fun and exciting!
More later…
Since then we have been doing various different things - two weeks back Channi Uncle (a very well known theatre personality of chandigarh who happens to be Sukhmani's Dad) started a theatre workshop with the children and sometimes i also participate in the daily exercises which are simply awesome!! Initially, when Uncle agreed to take this workshop, i was a little skeptical as to how the kids will react to it...would they be able to listen to Uncle for more than two hours at a stretch, would they participate in different exercises that Uncle would ask them to do (actually, we had tried different theatre games with these kids about a few months back and it was quite a disaster). Inspite of all these fears we decided to go ahead with the workshop and the kids amazed me the first day. They participated in the first exercise with full fervour and i was sitting there amazed...wondering when did the boys changed so much...they not only listened to Uncle and played the theatre games, they happily listened to Uncle's feedback and incorporated that feedback in the subsequent game!! It was simply lovely to see them that day and i immediately picked up my phone and called Amit to share that moment with him :-)
Anyway, since then the workshop has been going on...and i personally think that everybody should go through such workshops even if there is no intention of doing real theatre...it really opens you up and makes you more expressive. The exercises are such that you have to come out of your shell and learn to express yourself freely. One of the exercise that they start with is the "mirroring". Two people go into the circle - one person will act something and the person would just copy whatever the first person is doing (basically be a mirror) and then the roles are revered. In another exercise, we are told that we all are "pagal" (mad) and we have to prove that “i am the biggest pagal in this world”...it was so much fun doing that!! infact, we also came up with our own "pagal" song :-) Another exercise that i have loved is the one in which Uncle took us out on a street and divided us in two teams. He asked one team to stand on one side of the road and the other team on the other side of the road. Then, we had to talk to each other across the street…it was a little embarrassing with all the people staring at us but at the same time it was fun and exciting!
More later…
1 comment:
I really enjoyed reading this!
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