We are the

If you work with young people and would like to learn more about how to include drama into your teaching, join us for the Drama in Action workshops this autumn! Led by professional theatre director, actor and playwright Eimear “Mimi” Burns, the programme includes dynamic informative sessions based on scriptwriting, directing, performance skills and games, and offers youth educators professional development and the tools and techniques to enrich their lessons. The programme is particularly suitable for local primary and secondary school teachers who work with young people in English. Registration Deadline: Four days before workshop begins Workshop 3: Creating Workshops for Today’s Youth with Eimear “Mimi” Burns  25 November 2020 (Wednesday), 6:30pm – 9:30pm Planning a fast-paced, meaningful educational workshop takes skill and know-how. In this workshop, educators explore how to develop and lead workshops for large groups of young people. The workshop also looks at how dramatic arts can be used to creatively tackle themes related to students’ everyday lives, such as self-confidence, team-building and how to deal with bullying. Given the current prevalence of online classrooms, Burns also discusses how teachers can adapt their techniques to facilitate virtual workshops, looking at the kinds of activities that work well in online contexts and how online platforms can be used to effectively encourage creativity. Workshop 4: Staging a Full Production from Start to Finish with Eimear “Mimi” Burns Part 1:  2 December 2020 (Wednesday), 6pm – 9pm  Part 2:  4 December (Friday), 6pm – 9pm  Part 3:  6 December (Sunday), 9am – 12pm  *Participants must be able to attend all 3 sessions. Directing a school production or festival performance for educators can be an exciting challenge and a valuable experience for students to build confidence and creativity. In this workshop, participants follow the process of putting on a production from start to finish – learning about the art of directing and how to facilitate a smooth and enriching rehearsal period, and gaining a deeper understanding of the creative production elements that can help produce a magical performance. ​

This summer, our emerging young dancers enhanced their dance and choreography training in the Youth Assistant Choreographers Summer Online Dance Programme – Team Ailey.  Working remotely with guidance from YAFies Rae Lee and Tess Chau, our dancers in Team Ailey sharpened their choreography skills and dance techniques. They also worked on individually choreographed sections of a song that were recorded and combined as part of a dance film at the end of the one-week programme.  The Team Ailey dancers also learnt new dance phrases and audition techniques in remote workshops conducted by Yung Yan-yin, Cletus Chan and Marah Arcilla.  Filmed by Natalie So and Casey Wong​ Artists’ Statement by Rae Lee and Tess Chau “Hope” and “unity” were the two keywords we used as inspiration behind the final video project. We wanted to choose a theme that was appropriate for the uncertain time we are currently undergoing.  As it was many of the dancers’ first time participating in the process of choreographing and devising, we also wanted to select a theme they could easily picture and remain abstract enough for interpretation. Having adapted the programme online, unity is the perfect word to describe the final video. Even though the dancers spent all week working at home individually, we were able to come together, to unite and create.  Participants Abigail Dunn Ahlia Koram Ainara Sierralta Anabelle Fong Anastasia Tin Andrea Lam Aya Skye Walker Babitha Srirajan Celestine Hung Chloe So Emilia Oliver Gloria Guan Hannah Willis Jackie Howe Julie Hui Lauren Kee Maya Cheung