Post Note – a script for school assembly

Mr Oakley:

The artists in Residence programme is a programme for Professional artists to come and work in a school environment. These could have been visual artists, Musicians or sculptors or performing artists. Kingston High was successful in its application for an artist in residence and we were offered the services of a pair of performing artists.

Kelly and Julie were in the school for a total of ten weeks and in that time they worked with groups of students as well as pursuing their own arts practice. I was excited to have this programme in the school, particularly so that students could see how professional pathways in the arts might work – to find out how people make a living being creative. And to offer an experience that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to offer in the classroom.  Twelve students had the opportunity to work directly with Kelly and Julie and I have asked Tamara and Ben to tell you a little about their experiences.

Tamara:

You will probably know about the lady with the pink headphones and rainbow shoes and her friend who wore scarves who would sometimes be doing really strange things in the learning street. We had the opportunity to work closely with Kelly and Julie and find out more about the ways that they create their work and the meaning behind it.

It was great being a part of something that was outside of Drama – As well as being part of Drama. It was a great Experience for not only myself and ben but the rest of the group as well.

Throughout this course we learnt a lot about ourselves as individuals and about each other. As the course went on over weeks we went from a group of students who didn’t realy know each other to being great friends.

Working with Kelly and Julie has been a great experience and I have learned a lot not just from them but also from the whole group that I was working with.

Ben:

For 6 weeks we worked with Kelly and Julie training and playing in performance as a part of a community.  We learnt how to really see the environments that we work and learn in every day. We then used performance to engage with and see the environment with new eyes.

One of the great opportunities that came out of working with the artists in residence was that we got to perform at the Salamanca arts Centre on a Saturday night as a part of their 35^th birthday party. It was great to be doing something out in public with a whole group from school.

We really enjoyed working with Kelly and Julie and in the time we had together we became great friends.

Thanks.

Late notice of our final farwell

There was cake (of course), swords, antics, and very lovely cards

Thank you KHS, Mr Oakley, Ms Suskia and our fabulous Space Activators, Maddie, Tamara, Ben, Zac, Davis, Kyle, Jack, Jacob, Chloe, Cassidy, Elizabeth, Megan, Liv and Georgia.

It has been a gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Par Points

On Monday I started with a small sub-section of the space activators. The mini ensemble’s working title is the Par Points (say it with a Southern accent). We worked through the basic background and principles of Parkour training…

The scoop from nerd fitness:
Parkour is natural, effective movement. That’s it. In French, we use the term passement for overcoming any obstacle. You pass or traverse a barrier in whatever way suits you and the moment; there’s no one prescribed method for anything.

Parkour is a lens of efficiency applied to every aspect of your movement through life. At its broadest definition, it implies a low-impact and considerate attitude towards bosses, co-workers, family, friends, driving, consumer purchases, and the environment (natural or manmade). What is the least effort and what are the least number of things you need in order to live the most meaningful and happy life you can? Parkour is an exuberant and responsible celebration of life.

Anyone can figure out a way to traverse an obstacle. Parkour is just a mindset to find your own best way through in each particular situation and moment.

From one week to the next, you could be looking at the same obstacle. You are developing a traceur’s eye (a traceur is somebody who practices parkour, by the way) to see different ways over or around the obstacle depending on conditions. Is it wet, dry, hot, dark, cold, sunny, etc.? These are conditions over which you have no control. Ignore them at your peril, but become familiar with them and you may find ways to turn them to your advantage.

Conditions you CAN control relate to your mind and body: are you tired, fresh, fed, hungry, on or off balance, distracted, fit or out of shape? You can take care of these before training; you will likely not be able to control them if you are fleeing from bears, zombies, or your homework, so come prepared.

Our method:
Train with conviction and intelligence: parkour’s emphasis on awareness of your environment and circumstances, as well as performance under pressure, requires as much of these qualities as you can muster, then challenges you to dig deep down and find even more.

Train for fun: the playful and spontaneous nature of parkour encourages creativity in a way that I can only liken to improvisational jazz and dancing.

Leave no trace: traverse the environment respectfully and safely and leave no trace- the zombies won’t be able to catch you if there is no evidence that you were ever there!

Our aim:
to be and to last

A quick history of The Project so far

STAGE ONE

Our AIR proposal was originally called the re-gifting project:

THE REGIFTING PROJECT is a participatory live art project that offers a school community an opportunity to engage in physical theatre workshops, witness a working relationship in the making and contribute to the development of a new movement based performance.

Artists Kelly Drummond Cawthon and Julie Waddington will ask the school community (students and staff) for submissions and generous offers in the form of ‘gifts’. These gifts could include text,sound, video, objects, clothes, websites, tasks, or questions. The artists are charged with the responsibility of using and responding to everything they receive. Gifts will be re-used, recycled and re-invented as part of the composition and devising process for a new movement based performance to be REGIFTED back to the school community in an open show and tell performance.

While in residence, the artists will think, collaborate and create together in open view of the school community offering an opportunity for students and teachers to witness a new partnership evolve and grow; a new performance language form; a new collaborative practice emerge and; the creation of a new performance work.

In conjunction with the creative development residency, the artists will offer opt-in workshops for the community in physical training, ways of seeing, composition and performance. Opportunities will be explored to include and engage students in the regifting and performance making process and be part of the final community outcome.

STAGE TWO

We initiated a pre-AIR residency experiment at the Long Gallery and renamed the project: The Architecture of Gifting

STAGE THREE

The Project has continues to chart a new course- following the original structure we set for ourselves of responding to every gift we were given- we started on day one of our residency at Kingston High School, with the first gift- the school environment- architecturally and socially- The school site and its community of staff and teachers.

This gift has proven so rich and so full of opportunity and potential that it is breeding a project of its own- the Space Invaders…

Within this evolved frame, the residency still has at its heart the creation of time and space for a new partnership to evolve and grow; a new performance language to form; and a new collaborative practice to merge. As we chart the impact of environment on the community of Kingston High school we simultaneously will be charting the development of a community of two- our collaborative relationship- and documenting the process of a new collaborative practice in formation.