Actions Speak Louder than Words…..

The day begun with us wanting to find out how much the group knew about each other. So, we did a quick "which animal do you think your friend is ? exercise" The challenge was a little tough cause all they got was their paint brushed and paint so that the drawing is more spontaneous. 

Initially after a few giggles we had some interesting outcomes of the exercise, which also helped us know if the kids had really spent time with each other.

Mahesh with his drawing of Darshan, in Darshan's trademark orange T-shirt and then comparing him to a tiger as he believes that Darshan talks loudly.

Manjunath with his drawing of Jyoti, in her polka-dotted skirt, with a representation of a monkey on a tree because Jyoti keeps jumping around the studio

We were then joined by VASP a young theater group of Bangalore comprising of young professionals who are following their passion in theater while trying to keep up with a corporate job and a demanding lifestyle came in to spend an entire day with the children to teach them a little bit of theater.

The entire group in smiles after a good day !

Parthasarthi, Sandeep, Deepika and Harish put in all their energies using various theater exercises to touch upon life topics like importance team-work, need for concentration and good listening skills.

Sandeep working on a concentration exercise through movement

Mahesh and Ramzan using their paper sticks to find each other in the dark only by making a sound with their sticks

A group ready for action with their water theme

They also through just keeping to actions brought out every aspect of water.

If WATER was a person, how would it feel when cold, hot, dropped, splashed, poured, drunk etc, and finally through a story making process of why we need water to exist in our lives today and for all the years to come for the human race and planet earth at large.

Darshan and Pooja enacting their play

Pooja acting as a person lost without Water

The spirits of the children was really elevated, the excitement continued when Vibha Ramaswami, a Kathak artist and a teacher, came in for a Kathak 101 workshop with 3 of her students Nishant, Merzia and Shivani accompanied by her young son Mehul.

Vibha Ramaawami with ther students Merzia, Shivan and Nishant starting with the basics

Vibha began the workshop with a lovely quiz cum presentation of the different classical Indian dance forms and how they are all inter-related. Then starting with the basics Kathak steps, they went on to create a short but beautifully put Katha piece on Water.

The group learning their first steps with the young dancers and Vibha Ramaswami

 

The children learning the show lightening using a Kathak move

The energetic and very loving Vibha Ramaswami and not to forget graceful

The young dancers - Nishant, Merzia and Shivani put up a short performance for the children

The children loved it! We were concerned that the boys may not enjoy it that much as classical Indian dance is associated more with girls, but, having Nishant as one of their guides they were really interested and also the smiles of Merzia and Shivani blew them away.

The excited dancers !

At the end of the day they also promised to start working on their English skills because it is now becoming more clear to them that most people like and would like to know more are people who know a common language – English. So, they have all promised us to start attempting to talk more English with us, but we also made them realise that the entire day they have spoken about Water as a topic without using words and only actions, so they should first realise that communication can never be a barrier if they know how to explain themselves using actions.

Day 9 ended in a happy note of “Ta Dhin Dhin Ta, Aa Dhin Dhin Ta”