By Krishma Shah | Project Executive
Last year was nothing but a Roller Coaster for all of us, with Lockdown and everything going digital, we are so grateful that CREATE could be a part of so many beautiful initiatives.
The highlight of the last few months was our Pehchaan’s Speech & Drama Performance Day which was held on 27th & 29th September. Watching them perform was once in a lifetime moment for both us and the Children. Through our CREATE workshop sessions, we empower and educate children from marginalized backgrounds with leadership, teamwork, self-confidence, and communication skills through the medium of drama and the creative arts. Activities such as speech exercises using different emotions, commonly mispronounced words, poems, Talk time, Talk shows, Performing scenes in pairs, Speeches by famous leaders, Storytelling, Conversational English pieces, Interactive games using video formats helps them to improve their English and also engages them creatively & impactfully in these Covid times. We have incorporated a new methodology of learning which helps kids improve their pronunciation and vocabulary known as MMR (Mirror, Rehearse & Record). Attached below are feedbacks from class and a link to how our Performance Day looked like.
We also had a very successful Offline workshop which at Seva Sadan – an NGO that works towards the welfare of marginalized girls. They were a bunch of very smart, enthusiastic, and hardworking girls. Just within 2 days of offline rehearsal they gave the best performance, they thoroughly enjoyed games, fun activities like Mime, Story Enactment, Improvisation, Plays, Speech Exercise & Monologues, also their willingness to learn new things was admirable. At the Performance Day they handled the backstage work with such ease from moving chairs and tables, Props, stage position, costumes & the performance transition, music They were very smart and alert as said by our Instructors Ms Dayle & Ms. Azita. They also added that they had improved so much from Day 1 in terms of the way they speak, their stage presence, body posture. Instructors and kids thoroughly enjoyed the day and they ended the day by clicking pictures and dancing to Bollywood songs. We are extremely proud of our girls from Seva Sadan. Don’t miss watching their performance, link attached below.
We are so happy to start our Speech & Drama courses with VConnect our new NGO which is a parent support group for families of children who have hearing loss. All our children use hearing devices to listen and speak to communicate. The NGO was founded to work towards the full integration of the children and mainstream. They work with families pan India and some who reside in Kenya too. The kids thoroughly enjoy the workshop and it also helps them in the areas of language, clarity of speech & confidence in their abilities to communicate.
We also created something very special for Children’s Day on 14th November. In keeping with our maxim of Equal Opportunity FOR ALL- Our Children from CREATE, which includes kids from marginalized groups and physically and mentally challenged backgrounds from Vconnect, Salaam Bombay Foundation & Pehchaan students came together with children from mainstream schools, to wish everyone a Happy Children's Day. Attached is a link below, do listen to their thoughts and their special message for us adults who need to rediscover the child in us all.
We conducted 2 De-stress workshops for SFS which stands for Special Families Support Group. The main purpose of the support group is to support the family and bring joy, love, respect, and laughter in their lives and this year we did a fun, interactive de-stress with drama workshop with the Adults of these Families.
Adding to it we were so delighted and humbled to run our DE-STRESS WITH DRAMA program, one for participants in Mumbai & one for participants in Dubai from Friends of Max. Cancer survivors rocked the stage with their performances. A glimpse from the class and feedback are attached in the images below below
Last but not least we designed a fun and interactive De-Stress with Drama workshop with Aspire for Her, an NGO to facilitate and help women get into the workplace. This was greatly appreciated and their ideas and performances were great.
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