a little bit famous?

So we’ve done the doco, the radio interview and we we also the feature story on the latest arts@work newsletter.

http://www.arts.tas.gov.au/news_articles/space_invaders

A day on the learning street

Lowly, unpurposeful and random as they may appear, sidewalk contacts are the small change from which a city’s wealth of public life may grow.

(Jane Jacobs:The Death and Life of Great American Cities, p. 72)

Getting to the basics of community

In this weeks Student Activator 2.0 workshop we spent more time investing in our ensemble community and contemplated the bigger KHS community.

I reflected before class how important playing the circle name game has been for building our little groups. Even with the Space Activators 1.0 who all came from the same year 9/10 drama class the group didn’t really know each other and learning names made a huge difference in their confidence to collaborate and play with each other – resulting in the gorgeous public art performance on the stairs at SAC35.

The circle name game is one of my favourites.  I play it with every group I work with, even if it is a one off workshop.  When I know people’s names, or at least am seen to be seriously trying, they are more willing trust me and take risks, to step outside their comfort zone, to try something new or share an idea.  The more people that know each others names, the bigger the multiplication of that effect.

Our new Space Activators 2.0 ask for it each week.  They want to know and confirm they know this group.  They are super keen to play, are not scared of eye contact, teaming up trying something new.

THE GAME

• Stand in a circle with a bit of space between each person.
• Go around the circle with each person saying their own name.  Do this twice and ask everyone to see if they can start by learning one or two new names.
• The leader starts by saying someones name across the circle and then walking to take their place.
• That person says the name of someone else and walks across the circle to their place
• and so on.
• If / when you decide to start getting people out, have then stay as part of the circle – but sitting down.
• Adding the ‘getting out’ element immediately sharpens every ones focus – we are a competitive species even in play….

RULES include:

• Say a name before you start walking away from your place – TALK then WALK
• Say a name and get out of your place before the person coming towards you arrives at your spot.
• Don’t say the name of someone on either side of you.

Post game we had a great discussion about how many people each of us knew (and knew the name of) in each grade – throughout the school.  This flowed into how big each grade was, how they are kept very separate now in the pod system, how we can meet / get to know know people – through siblings, friends siblings, mixed activity groups like ours, and combined classes in year 9/10.  How else??

A school is a unique community.  Communities are more productive and harmonious when individuals feel connected and valued.  Shared pride can be a powerful force. It does feel like we are sending out a few strands of connecting web into this community – these stands may look fragile, or not be seen at all…  I wonder what they will catch during our last days at KHS.

Thought for the day

We are trying to bring disparate worlds together, not so that we can all get along, but so we can see out of the ‘me’ into ‘us.’
– Anna Deavere Smith

Gearing back up and finding a post easter groove

We are back after the Easter Break and starting with a new group of space activators. A sense of beginning yet with some Project 1.0 activators in the room we have a checkered history of shared experience. Some of the new faces are recognizable from our lunch time interventions – curious enough to come along and try to find out more.

We only have 4 weeks to devise a pop-up performance to culminate the residency so today was a quick intro to the viewpoints of tempo, space, shape, and gesture wrapped up into a short game of grid. Through the work we continued to encourage and require the group to mix-uncomfortable territory for grade 7 girls crossing paths with grade 9 boys.

In the development of our final pop-up space activation, we are working to discover new rules and structures for engagement– how does an unsuspecting audience recognize an opportunity to participate? How are they welcomed and provoked to witness and experience their place and community in a new way? The workshops with the new group of Space Activators 2.0 are presenting a good testing ground for our work.

 

technological challenges

Poor Julie just spent an hour crafting a fantastic blog post but lost it all when she hit the publish button because her cell phone lost service…

If only we could have access to the school wifi…