Dance students from Stratford-upon-Avon College were delighted to welcome a visit from the team at Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and partake in a workshop based on the company’s current tour of Edward Scissorhands.
The students ventured to Birmingham Hippodrome to watch the spectacular ballet. This was followed by welcoming the New Adventures team to the College to lead a practical learning session inspired by the show.
Dance Artist Sam Archer, Take Part Director Kerry Biggin and Schools and Young People’s Producer Paul Moss took the students through a workshop session discussing the show. Students learnt about New Adventures methodology learning repertoire from the Edward Scissorhands show and then took part in a creative task which explored character, staging and story using body language, facial expression and spatial relationships.
Students used the experience to produce their own suburban ballet piece. They really enjoyed the experience. Tash Gibbs commented: “It was so different and abstract and a really interesting way to approach creating dance.”
The students really enjoyed the range of activities they got to take part in during the workshop
The session then finished with a question-and-answer session where students could enquire about the work Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures do, the roles within the team and routes into the company.
Paul Moss hoped that students were able to take a lot away from the experience, commenting: “We want to incite creativity and connection and joy, and also hope this can make young people aware that this can be a job.”
This workshop really was a cut above the rest!
