As part of the umbrella project - Working Whispers - I devised a piece of Dance Theatre with the children – Coal/Glow. After our group visit to the Big Pit, the children and I brainstormed words for the kind of piece we wanted to devise. We wanted to make a piece together that captured some of the gritty realities of working down the mines. We wanted to respond to our working history which is in danger of being forgotten. We were curious about the true nature and body wrecking demands of this ‘working class’ industry and whether we could resonate this in our piece. Connecting literacy to movement we wrote physically emotive words connected to the coal industry – key words the children chose were: dynamic, strong, powerful and committed. We wanted the audience to feel how it was to be there, in the mines.

 

How did we do this?

 

The children learnt to channel their imagination into movement. They experienced learning about our history through dance, at the same time as being brave about dance.

They were up out of their chairs excited and physically engaged in their learning. Using a sensory approach, we began by observing, listening, and experiencing different stimuli. Understanding what it meant to be down in the pit. I had an important realisation whilst listening to our guide, when he gave us a tour of the Big Pit. I connected the notion of community. On the one hand, the children from their different schools felt held by the sense of community that their schools offer. Whilst on the other, I felt the solidarity and survival of the coal mining community. I knew then that I wanted this strength of togetherness to be embedded in the piece.

Developing the children’s sense of leadership and teamwork was vital. I wanted the children to have real agency in the creative process. There were no taught steps. Through the application of a creative methodology the children learnt to develop and structure movement from their ideas and connect their learning to history and beyond.

 

The children were a joy to work with. Focused, determined, and above all they embodied all the words we wrote for ourselves on that very first day – dynamic, strong, powerful and committed.