"I feel fantastic! Everyone tried enormously hard.”
- Year Six Student.
“I loved writing the post cards...I feel proud. I thought I did quite well...Thank you for working with us. It was nice working with you. I feel very lucky to have met you.”
- Year Six Student.
“I loved writing the postcards and letters to loved ones...Thank you. I am very grateful you gifted me with this wonderful opportunity. It was amazing and fun. You are all shinning stars!”
- Year Six Student.
In June 2011, Scribble Ink was sent on a mission to a place where no (sane) man had ever gone before; immersed in an atmosphere that cannot be entered without extensive training, courage, patience, virtue and a whole lot a coffee, Scribble Ink took that brave step and entered...a primary school!
Hargrave Park Primary School along with Scarabeus and Company of Angels invited Scribble to participate in the HPSA (Hargrave Park Space Agency Project) designed for year six students. Using space as a metaphor for transition, we explored the emotional, physical and intellectual changes that take place when going from primary to secondary school.
A combination of ariel dance, improvisation and written works brought together a promenade performance which encompassed the themes explored. Scribble had the honour of running a few creative writing workshops where the children drafted letters to their loved ones and their future selves 'from space.' I also got a flavour for ariel acrobatics, and a taste of what makes a good set design. After hours of hard work, what was once a school, soon transformed into a cyber-stylish-crazy-funky-cool space agency.
Humour me for a moment and imagine the following journey: You enter the space agency and are escorted to the 'cosmos post office.' Here you find the letters your space agent loved one wrote to you; telling you how much they love and miss you and how much has changed since they were 'on earth and/or in training'. You also glance at a range of post cards and pictures made. Perhaps you skim through the letters they wrote to their future selves; asking what life is like in secondary school and what has changed since the pre-teen years. (Click the e book below to view these beautiful texts).
They float around the cosmos post office, waiting to be approved, stamped and sent to earth. Suddenly, you are transported to another space where you observe some of the most intense training for a space agent. You see the efforts they go through in the cold and the rain. Perhaps you want to intervene? Grab them a warmer spacesuit or tissue but before you have the chance to act, you are snatched and placed in a realm of awe and beauty.
In the spaceship, you see the astronauts sit together, dance together, take off and fly together. It’s beautiful and this contrasts the freakish tension on the next journey; the 'Aliens in the Dark' segment. You're blind folded and made to work your way through all things wet, cold, squishy and scary. If you're lucky, you make it through without a scratch...of trauma. You're tired, hungry and in need of energy. You stop at the cosmos shop and find the most absurd yet impressive supplies; calorie free, life preserving energy bars, high voltage alien fighting lasers, it's all there. You fight your way through the angry customers, the odd shop lifter, the ghetto fabulous shop manager, the rigid security guard and you reach the landing.The final destination graces you with ariel choreography as well as confetti, and after this journey you smile, knowing you not only observed but passed the levels need to become one of the HSPA!
Many thanks to Designer Libby Todd who introduced me to 'string weaving'. I know where to go when I want my house decorated! A big cheers to Ehireme, Sammy, Hauk, Beatrice, Clare Elizabetha and Daniel for their support during the workshops as well as their creativity in the theatrical elements, and of course, a massive thank you to Scarabeus and Company if Angels who allowed Scribble Ink to participate in possibly one of the best kids promenade pieces ever!
Click here to download the e-book.