Our workshops, run mainly in primary schools, are designed specifically for your needs. They range from a half day session to longer projects of a term or more in length. Some schools have used our work to contribute to an Artsmark award.
“....with the influx of many children from beyond the Fens, it helps give them an insight into what is traditionally a land based rural area, explaining in snap shots of our history and traditions how the area was, and has come to be....”
Parent, Year 6 Child
Workshops in Traditional Dance, Local Stories and Customs
We provide tailor made workshops to give children an insight into their unique local history.
Workshops typically include:
Molly Dancing - traditional dance which was practiced by farm-workers from the Fens. This usually includes live traditional music from the area. Please see our Teaching Resources pages for more detail.
East Anglian Broom Dancing - traditional dance historically danced as a competition.
Storytelling - local stories are compared and contrasted to stories from around the world. Often pupils are encouraged to embellish the stories with drumming. See some of these stories on the Teaching Resources pages.
Country Dancing - social dancing from Norfolk and other cultures from around the world. This usually includes live music using traditional tunes.
Drama - for longer projects local stories are turned into plays and performed by the children.
Poetry - the local environment is used as a stimulus for poetry. Follow this link to see some examples.
Local History & Research - books, school log books, world war literature and the internet are used to find out more about the history of the pupils’ home town or village. Findings are collated to form reports and written passages.
Performance Skills - our workshops frequently culminate in a performance of the skills learnt. Throughout the time we spend with the pupils we concentrate on what aspects of the task are important to ensure a high quality performance. Videos and DVDs are used to analyse this further.
Please look at Recent Projects pages for examples of the opportunities we can provide and see the St Germans and Magdalen pages for an illustration of the breadth of work we can cover.