Babel, the first project to come out of the Boys Dancing residency at Warwick Arts Centre, offered a chance for young men in the region to get dancing.
Boys Dancing resident at Warwick Arts Centre half-term workshop Babel
The three-year Boys Dancing programme, commissioned by People Dancing as part of the West Midlands programme for the Cultural Olympiad 2012, aims to encourgae young men to participate in projects which give them an experience of the challenge, discipline and exhilaration of making dance.
Babel invited boys from across the sub region to come to workshops running throughout the half term week by choreographer Liam Steel. MC Kenny Baraka was there for the first part of the week, and the workshops were a unique opportunity for the young people to explore extreme words and themes such as media, heritage and image. Here’s Kenny talking about what he thinks the boys got out of the workshops:
Throughout the rest of the week the boys worked with Liam Steel on movement – producing an evening of sharing their work in a performance hastily put together for Friday. Some of the boys who took part in the week-long project gave some feedback as to what they got out of Liam’s teaching (see video below). Johnny said:
We learnt things which were really clever and it’s something we can hopefully take away and put to our own advantage.
AJ said:
It’s allowed me as a dancer to explore and do different things and methods to get different moves. Liam taught us how you do not need to do things which is set.
Liam said:
On a personal level I had got a bit disillusioned with teaching and this re-installed my belief in the work that I do. Each boy will get something different out of it.
Education Director Nick Bishop said:
“The seriousness with which the lads undertook the work and their clear love of dancing showed itself in their commitment to sharing a piece that was pulled together on the final day itself from all the work they had done with Liam Steel and Kenny Baraka in the previous 4 days. What a moving experience! And the small but perfectly formed audience really showed their appreciation of the patent ability and desire to do their best that the boys showed. It’s been a great experience for them all that will give new energy and new vision to their own dance-making back in their groups and schools.”
See more videos and comments from the project on the Warwick Arts Centre blogs page here. There was also a summer project aimed at getting boys involved in dance which resulted in a short film which you can find out more about here.
Boys Dancing is a People Dancing programme, part of the West Midlands’ Culture Programme for London 2012 funded by Legacy Trust UK, Arts Council England West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands People Dancing uses the inspiration of the London 2012 Games to get as many people as possible dancing in the West Midland
