In February, Tacøo took part in the Introduction to Youth Leadership Workshop ran at Meadows Community Centre by the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The session focussed on youth participation and youth voice, designed as a stepping stone for young people, building up their confidence and understanding the value of having their voices heard – becoming an advocate for others in the future.  This is what Tacøo had to say about the experience:

This is a little bit about the “Intro to Leadership” workshop and how I found it

Today’s workshop was very fun and interesting! It felt very safe and welcoming from the adults running it.

At the start, it felt nice having ice breakers and little games to get to know the adults and the other young people attending the workshop.

Learning about the different Leadership roles and looking in detail about Leadership roles and the different attributes they should take on in there field was really interesting as we talked in groups and developed mutual ideas and understanding. 

Lunch was also very nice as talking with the other young people and getting to know similarities and differences between each other made the experience feel welcoming.

Having the quick problem solving and communication task in pairs was a good break down on how different leadership roles are used in the real world, and how they make decisions with their ideas.

The last activity we did was a group project on campaigns with a small brief. Everyone worked together to put ideas to create an idea for a campaign which I believe worked very well. We were able to put our top skills and top leadership skills that we found out by doing a small quiz, into this team exercise. We were able to agree and develop ideas and work with others of similar leadership to create a bigger picture for a plan that we all thought was great.

I really enjoyed this workshop and working with the new people I met. I also thank the adults in charge that made this experience welcoming, fun and equally very educational.

Tacøo – Junior Sinstars (Aged 14)

Valoris has one more scheduled stop which is Camper Calling Festival this weekend in Warwickshire. Here’s Lil’ Tim’s experience of Valoris and the Expansions. 

Let me introduce myself, I’m Lil’ Tim, I play the king. My experiences with Valoris so far has been an adventure, or should I say versatile Valoris. What I mean by that is she’s a 1972 VW Campervan turned into a moving, travelling pop-up theatre performances that can travel anywhere in time and space. We have been touring various festivals, areas of the U.K and occasional schools on the timeline, performing and giving them a taste of who The Expansions really are. We have met a lot of people on our journey so far and if they enjoy what we do we invite them to participate. We give them a specific time and place to meet up for anyone who wants to get involved to learn some new skills that they can take on their own journey.

Ankles and chin, ankles and chin, come on down this weekend.

Princess Lozza informs us of all the details in working with Valoris:

As part of the rehearsal process we had to integrate how we were going to include Valoris our VW Camper Van into our performances. Firstly we had to organise how we were going to fit 5 performers plus lino, cushions, tripods, speakers, and a generator all inside. We found all the nooks and cranies to pile high all our equipment balancing Lil Tim ontop. In our first week of rehearsals we received a workshop from Mark at MarkMarkProductions and he gave us advice on outdoor productions and what helps generate an audience. He said height was a great element to have so we decided to have our character The King ontop of the van shouting instructions to the rest of the characters. This helped apply the clear difference in status of the characters to the audience. 

James TheRobot shares his experience of week one of Valoris and the Expansions rehearsals. It was only the beginning…

Yorkshire Dance offered us a two week residency with sharing. Darren and the team were welcoming and supportive and it was a massive help. The first week’s exploration included Lizi Patch and Mark Tillotoson masterclasses focussing on theatre and clowning skills such as improv, characters, fixed point, hierarchy, and generating and establishing games. The second week was focussed on choreography, creating material and consolidating the world of the piece. Working with Lizi and Mark was challenging in many good ways. The days included many tasks/ exercises that helped us use our voices, get into/ maintain characters, and share with each other and the audience. 

Fly Cai shares his enjoyable and funny experience of Valoris and the Expansions so far:

We all have a different part to play in the performance from the King to the Fool and each performance has travelled to a different location around the UK. We have been ending with workshops where everyone teaches the audience and public in their character, this has been entertaining for the members involved in the workshops.

My architype is the hero so I’m the strongman of the group. I pass everything around when setting up the equipment in the performance because I am the strongest of all the characters. The hero architype has speech to say throughout which is his strongman talk that primarily involves his diet of protein and spinach.

There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes for our latest project, Valoris and the Expansions. One person in particular created the designs for our posters and our costumes. She even has an exhibition that has just begun and will continue all the way through to September which you can check out. Here’s a bit of info into how Ali Hunte’s process works:

I usually start with research. In this case I was given themes, an overall vibe and what the fabric was going to be used for. I looked broadly at Hip Hop and explored it as much as I could. I’m primarily a fine art printmaker, so my next step is to do some drawings to make prints from. I wanted some quintessentially hip hop images that I could build the design around. Once I had those images I carved them out of lino and printed them. From there the process is digital, playing with the images, colours and repeating patterns. I came up with several different designs and colour ways and refined the print based on feedback from Lucy. I enjoyed the collaborative aspect of this kind of work, it stretches my creativity which is always a good thing.

This Sunday was BGirl RascElle’s shining debut in Valoris and the Expansions. Performing at the notorious Hotbed Theatre Festival in her hometown, we brought the five Expansions and the baby blue VW van to Cambridge Junction. Here’s what she thought about one particular process in the rehearsal period at Yorkshire Dance in Leeds:

To kickstart the rehearsal process we were taken out of our comfort zones to explore the power of acting. Working alongside theatre professionals, Mark and Lizi we were invited to meet a variety of archetypes. Once we’d become acquainted and familiarised ourselves with the five archetypal characters, we introduced them to breakin’. We each focused on presenting these new characters through our own movement and interaction. As we became more confident performing, the story began to grow and took us in a direction we were not expecting. Developing the characters before the dance was an interesting process and inspired me to think outside the box. I wonder who I’ll choose to be today 😉

Valoris and the Expansions has been brewing as an idea in many different forms for as many years.  We have trialled outdoor shows, street shows and busking as youth development activities but have never had the opportunity for our own professional training in these very specific areas.  Thanks to support from Babylon Arts, Safer Kirklees and Arts Council England we were able to work with experts Mark Mark Productions and Lizi Patch during our residencies at Yorkshire Dance and Leeds Grand to explore some of the nuances of street theatre.  

We are barely one month into the project and have already performed five shows; broken down; run various company members over; and found ourselves in OK Diner querying how big a big baked potato might be, when we slipped through a portal on the A1 and into an alternate universe.  With eleven more shows already confirmed we are bracing ourselves for a remix of Wacky Races as we very slowly zig zag across the country, running mainly off vegan farts, with an eclectic playlist unwantingly harmonised to by Lil’Tim in a sugar coated daze.  If we are lucky we’ll hit a road downhill and reach a steady 64mph for longer than it takes to change lanes.

People didn’t believe it could be done – garlic bread. Bread with garlic. A ‘taste sensation, the future’ as Peter Kay famously said of the side dish. In 2014 the thunderbolt of fun that is Lil’Tim won the UK Bboy Championships world finals, and just like your first bite of garlic bread, the bboy scene got a glimpse of the future, with moves and an energy that were unbelievable, unsurpassable. Lil’Tim has spent a lot of time nurturing new generations with his infectious positivity, and through the SIN Cru company classes, he has been able to refocus some of that good sheeet back into his own personal development:

I’m part of the SIN Cru family and have been taking part in the company classes. We have been working on foundation – foundation is not only about moves, it’s about the way we think and interpret our feelings into movement. We have been trying to take ourselves back to the roots of bboy culture to be more authentic in the way we present ourselves when entering the circle.

I have been working on basics – hand; hips; feet; arms; back positions; working in and out of different techniques and moves; all to help me get rid of bad practice and unhelpful habits I have done over the years. It makes me realise the strengths and weaknesses I have in my body, and which areas I most need work on. I have struggled with breathing, as I realise I hold my breath a lot so I need to be more conscious of that. Also to free up the tightness in my body, I need to stretch and condition more.

I teach a lot of the time and now being a student again has helped me for when I teach. I’m having an amazing time and know what I need to achieve before I start battling again. 

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Mechanikool is a first rate popper. He has been doing his thing for years, travelling the globe learning from, sharing with, and influencing dancers of all generations. Several moons ago Mechanikool made the trek to the Bridge with the sole plan to clean up at Urban SINfonie and take home the money. He returned last year to work with Fly No Filter on new work FINEST and has been a pretty permanent fixture ever since. Here are his thoughts on company class so far;

As this is the first time I have invested in artist development I remained open minded about what I expected to learn/experience on this course. 

What I like about the company classes is it gives you a chance to explore things that you might have been procrastinating or not confident enough to attempt to practice. In my case it was building my familiarity with lower level movement in popping. Traditionally, I attack a lower/ground level move as a momentary thing but I wanted to understand my anatomy in these positions. This involved partly building strength in my legs and improving fluidity in motion. If I had a regret, it is that I understood the opportunity better to approach working on this in a different way but at the same time maybe I need this slower reaction to understand the need to explore more effective practice strategies.

Another thing that I have been highly grateful for is the opportunity for yoga,  the meditation, stretching and even the Tabata sessions. I already the see the benefits to my conditioning. This is an aspect of my dance journey that I’m not always so consistent with but it has encouraged me to get back on some of these exercises in my own time. I’d also add that seeing the younger artists and how flexible they are in certain aspects has encouraged me to aspire to improve my own body for the sake of longevity in this dance.

I have highly appreciated the opportunity to work with new people in a different location, which has been truly fun.

An excerpt of Mechanikool performing FINEST … audio ON 🙂

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