WebPlay's Sydney Thornbury shows how global collaboration with ICT extends the creative curriculum
On Monday June 14, 2,800 people crammed into the Royal Albert Hall for a very special performance: Swanning Around. It was an interpretation of one of the most famous ballets, and its success was also the result of the use of ICT.
Project partners the Royal Albert Hall, English National Ballet and WebPlay, helped five schools in the UK and partner schools in China to develop a new work inspired by Swan Lake. The performance, with some specially commissioned music, will be repeated at World Expo in Shanghai in September this year, with representatives of the UK schools going over to take part in the performance.
Working with English National Ballet and WebPlay enabled the team to find new ways of engaging participants, particularly through the internet, to create a means of communication between students in the UK and China. This has meant that they have been able to find out more about their partner school, their backgrounds and communities as well as following the rehearsals and preparations for the final performance.
None of the students attend a ‘dance school’: they are all ‘ordinary’ students who have a particular interest in dance and movement. Each school had a member of the English National Ballet working with them on their version. Schools only came together for the final rehearsal a few days before, but because they had communicated with each other in a variety of ways, this was not a problem. This was not a work of five separate schools; was an ensemble piece, in fact an international ensemble piece. And this is where the technology really did make the difference.
'Since 2000, WebPlay has worked with more than 25,000 children globally'
WebPlay is an arts education charity that combines technology and drama to create inspirational, cross-curricular projects for schools to raise children’s achievement, creativity and cross-cultural awareness. Since 2000, WebPlay has worked with more than 25,000 children from across the UK, USA, India and now China.
Technology has the potential to bring people together to communicate in meaningful and intelligent ways that increase our awareness of each other and the world around us. When you add to this the power of artistic creation, the possibilities are endless.
The culmination of the Swanning Around collaborations were enjoyed at the Albert Hall and soon will be in Shanghai too, but the ways in which the students have used the technology to communicate with their partners, and the process they have undergone to develop their dances, has been every bit as important as the finished production.
Over the past eight months, the students have created web pages, researched Swan Lake online, uploaded digital videos of their rehearsals and chatted virtually with each other and with professional dancers from English National Ballet. It has been fascinating to watch the relationships form between students from such different cultures. In developing their dances and using technology, the young people participating in Swanning Around have also developed their cultural awareness, their dance and communication skills and their self-confidence (how many of you have danced at the Albert Hall?) and aspirations.
Sydney Thornbury is executive director of WebPlay
Schools taking part in the UK: Burnt Mill School, Harlow; Holland Park School, Kensington and Chelsea; Latymer Upper, Hammersmith; Salford City College, Manchester; St John Bosco Arts College, Liverpool.
WebPlay
