Over the past 12 months we have been delighted to partner with both St Albert’s Primary School, Pollokshields and Isobel Mair School, Newton Mearns on a new Dance for Camera project, engaging with over 200 young people. Responding to children’s growing digital interaction and curiosity about engaging in an online world we delivered this creative programme to develop the children’s creative skills in the areas of choreography, dance, movement, performance and film production.
Starting in May 2021 we led a week of introductory workshops to P4-P7 introducing the pupils to choreography, shooting and framing for camera. We then went on to work with St Albert’s P6 and P7 pupils (now P7 and S1) to create their own dance film inspired by Barrowland Ballet film Whiteout. Their resulting film Hoods Off is a powerful dance film giving a voice to the young people, and exploring being judged for what you are not who you are. In September 2021 we then returned to work with St Albert’s P5 and P6 pupils to help them create The Tea Party, a brilliantly comical dance film inspired by our own Loose Leaf Tea. Finally, this spring we were delighted to work with both St Albert’s ASN Unit classes 1, 2 and 3 and Classes Skye, Bute and Lewis from Isobel Mair School in the creation of their own film Frames inspired by our recent dance installation piece Family Portrait. During each filming process pupils’ gained experience both in front and behind the screen and got to learn about creating dance for camera.
This week we celebrated the resulting films from our Dance for Camera project with two amazing premiere screening events. On Monday 6th June we celebrated and premiered the three new films created by pupils of St Albert’s Primary School, with a packed audience of pupils and their family in a spectacular red carpet premiere event. A huge thank you to all who joined us for the celebration and to the school for hosting such a special evening.
On Tuesday 7th June we were delighted to return to Isobel Mair School to screen Frames to all the creative pupils involved, alongside family and teachers. It was fantastic to see the pupils reactions as they spotted themselves on screen.
A huge congratulations to all pupils who took part in the project and a big thank you to all the teachers who supported the process, to our brilliant creative team, and to our funders Creative Scotland.
Dance for Camera was funded by the Scottish Government’s Youth Arts Fund through Creative Scotland with support from Youth Music Initiative and Time to Shine. The Youth Arts Fund ensures creative opportunities for children and young people continue to exist across Scotland despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
