Gazeta Wyborcza, Lublin ( 2006-11-19)
Last Sunday in Gardzienice about a hundred children learnt a Togolese dance and took part in a Congolose ritual to welcome New Year.
“Children are open-minded and do not think in stereotypes. Thanks to this kind of meetings we have an opportunity to inplant in their heads a positive image of Africa,” says Simon Mol from Cameroon, head of Migrator Theatre. Thirteen members of the multinational group held a workshop with children from nearby villages, drawn from local primary schools in Stryjno, Piaski and Gardzienice.
The workshop started with face-painting with colors chosen by the children. The children rapidly found a common language with the artists; “From the very first moment they were asking us questions. They wanted to know everything,” Simon Mol says with laughter. They made national flags of guest’s countries; Congo, Togo, Guinea, Cameroon, Albania, Georgia and Chechnya, and learnt to say “Good Morning” in six different languages. In the rooms of the 16th Century Palace, youngsters learnt African modern/traditional dances and traditional wrestling from Togo and Guinea. They had a chance to learn a chidren’s game from Cameroon, one of which was to joggle four stones in the air. In the background the rhythmic sound of drums could be heard, with everyone free to play.
On the first floor the children were learning the mysteries of a ritual to welcome New Year in Congo, which is linked with the beginning of the rainy season there. Sitting in a circle, they watched each movement by actor Christian Emani’s as he went about performing the ritual. First we had to scream “Old Year” in one of the African language, and then later we had to throw a chain and repeat “New Year” much harder” recounts Monica, an eleven-year old girl from Stryjno who traveled to Gardzienice with her sister. They also learnt phrases of a Georgian song and how to count in Albania. The practising groups were constantly changing as the children, divided in little groups, had to try all the activities so as to avoid getting bored.
The idea of the workshop was that of Ewa Zielinska of OPT (Centre for Theatre Practice) Gardzienice, who spent six years in New Zealand, where she started a theater group LAB. Members of the group were emigrants from all over Europe – Holland, England, France and New Zealanders as well. She was the only one person from Poland there. At LAB she was the director and an actress. Now, she tries to use these practices in Poland, “I would like youngsters to meet people from different national groups, to learn the flavors of different cultures. For example, we are planning a meeting with artists from New Zealand,” recounts Ewa Zielniska. Both parents and schools have welcomed the idea. She admits that with each event, there are more visitors. “In October we expected 60 people, and 80 showed up. Now there is around 100 here.”
Lots of prarents showed up later in the day to watch Migrator Theatre’s performance of “Africa my Africa”— a political musical, which shows a compressed history of Africa, putting main impact on the eras of slavery and colonialism.
The last part of the event was a performance by children where they could show their parents what they had learnt during all day.
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