Day Four South Sudan: September 19, 2014 Thursday and Friday today have a very similar schedule; leave the guesthouse at 8:30 not to return till 6:00. We first journey to Lologo CFS to perform for more of the community. There was a slight miscommunication and the show was moved to a new location, under another beautiful mango tree. Today we began with a very small crowd, which slowly grew to over 250+ audience. The reactions to us as an ensemble have been amazing. At one part the woman were laughing so much they all began to sing and chant together. Our performances are finding new and exciting moments every time we work. Following the show we spent 30 minutes playing and interacting with the community before we headed to our workshop. Today we all agreed it might be a better use of time and teaching if we split the group in two. We began with an entire group warm-up lead again by the South African clowns Gavin and Banana again included physical movement vocalizations and a few group games and ensemble work. After splitting the students Gavin and I worked with status, focus and the classic clown Double-Take. The students seemed more focused in the smaller groups. Following the workshop we stopped for lunch on the way to Mahad to meet with the students for a third day. Today in Mahad we arrived to a locked door for the Child Friendly Space (CFS). This gave the team a unique moment to spend some time with other members of the community. The woman and children seemed delighted to have us play and interact with them as we waited for the students and teacher to arrive. A poignant moment for me was when the door was opened they needed to lock us into the CFS because we would have been overrun by all the children wanting to be a part of the workshop. This day in the workshop was so much fun, we constructed jugging clubs balls and tin can stilts. The students were instructed to take some paper and crayons and draw a picture, it was so amazing to watch and for me notice how quit and focused they all became when asked to do this task. The pictures were so great. We then decorated the juggling clubs and stilts with the colorful drawings. We will at the end of the week use all the props in a showcase with the students for there community. We are all looking forward to collaborating with the students to showcase the work they have been doing.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:26:07 +0000