The Father Figurine workshop journey began at Stantonbury School in Milton Keynes.
Coupled with the performance, our education package aimed to work with young people and have them experience the work intimately.
In the 2hr workshop, we used hip-hop dance and spoken word to explore the growing prevalence of mental health issues in young people. The students had very intuitive responses and feedback at Stantonbury School.
This inspired us to head to the other schools on our workshop tour – working with an all boys group, a mixed group, and two all girls groups.
We value open and honest feedback when working with young people. Too often they feel like there is a right thing to say when giving feedback.
After each experience, we asked three things of them to encourage their own thoughts: “I found the workshop / I enjoyed / I would change”
I found the workshop
“Exciting / Tiring / Exciting and different / I liked the popping / It was amazing I am glad I came / I enjoyed creating our own dance moves / I found the workshop fun and cool because I got to learn new things”
I enjoyed
“Watching you / Learning the repertoire / Speaking about mental health and how you can help someone / I loved the partner work / That it was fast and energetic / How they gave us lots of help / I thought it this was really fun. I can use this in my dances for GCSE / Everything. I think this was a great experience and it was the most fun I have had in a while”
I would change
“I would change it so it was a bit longer and we got to watch something first so we were inspired / I would like to watch the actual piece before the workshop / More time to add our own parts / Go through the moves quicker / More time to be creative.”
The 70+ young people we worked with were a pleasure! Thank you to Stantonbury School in Milton Keynes, Cheney, Larkmead and St Gregory the Greats School in Oxford for welcoming the Father Figurine workshop experience!