May 2013
13 posts
“What is learnt in pleasure stays as a treasure”
– Hogttes
“The analogy of art being a bridge between inner and outer worlds is sometimes...”
– Caroline Case and Tessa Dalley
“Engaging in the process of art provides the possibility of a more spontaneous,...”
– Mathews, Burkitt and Newell
The Children's Hands
The hand, apart from being the most shy part of the body is the most active. This is demonstrated by the many phrases and idioms in most languages around the hand as a part of the body. People talk of ‘my hands are full, he is a handful, he manhandled me, a bird in the hand, a helping hand, be in safe hands, be out of hand, bite the hand that feeds, hand in hand, hand in glove, hands are...
“Almost everyone has used art as a child and can still do so if encouraged to...”
– Miriam Liebmann
Drawing Our Stories
We started our visual art, craft and drama project on a high note with children drawing pictures that speak louder than words. The enthusiasm and honesty that is shown by students just goes to show how much they desire to let out of their young chests. They take up any opportunity to say something through whichever medium with so much zeal. Their energies are huge but their horizons are small for...
“It became apparent that ‘doing art’ achieved more than filling the...”
– Miriam Liebmann
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WatchOur friends at FAT RAT films specialise in making films for non-profits and supporting advocacy groups. They are an extremely talented bunch and in 2010 made the video for Dramatic Need’s Children’s Monologues which you can see HERE
In 2009 Fat Rat’s Gemma Atkinson was assaulted by British Police. This poignant documentary film is FatRat’s quest for police accountability....
April 2013
16 posts
The many phobias that we exhibit
Have you ever wondered why you find it difficult to operate machines? At the ATM you take longer than everyone and computers are a total nightmare to you. Well I have been like that and some drama process helped me discover where I picked that. I call it technophobia and I think it was my upbringing that created that in me. This is not scientifically proven but listen to this.
As a young boy at...
Our Extra Mural Classes Begin
This week has been an exciting one for us as we began our extra mural sessions with children from secondary schools in Rammulotsi. So we got off to knowing each other by playing name games and throwing our names around. We learnt each other’s names in leisure and would keep them in our memory as they say what you learn in leisure, you keep as a treasure
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Please put a pen to paper in support of these...
We are in the midst of asking our students to share some deeply personal, and sometimes painful or traumatic, stories as part of our upcoming fundraising and awareness campaign articulate. It’s been difficult going for all involved with both students and staff becoming emotional at times. The bravery it takes for a young person to openly talk about issues such as rape, HIV, violence and...
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What American Architects can learn from Rwanda →
Exciting weeks of creativity
Our extramural sessions start on the 22nd of April with exciting activities lined up for the students.
One exciting project is a long term creative path that students will enter this term touching on three different forms of art which are visual art, craft and drama. The journey of creativity and story telling begins with students drawing up a picture that speaks to them and animating the...
“Nothing happens without being imagined first”
– Anon
In Defence of Play
As I prepare for my long awaited games and exercises with the children of this community, I have had to look back at my own childhood and my own history of playing. I realise now that my childhood and playful days prepared me for the more demanding tasks of life. The late applied drama guru and proponent of Theatre of the Oppressed Augusto Boal said of theatre that; ‘The Theatre itself is...
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March 2013
16 posts
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“Only the story can continue beyond the war and the warrior. It is the...”
– Chinua Achebe
16 November 1930 - 22 March 2013
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Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82
Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author and towering man of letters whose internationally acclaimed fiction sought to revive African literature and rewrite the story of the continent that had long been told by Western voices, died on Thursday in Boston. He was 82.
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“Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art...”
– American Art Therapy Association (via ipekinlondon)
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ART DRAWS OUT ANGUISH OF TRAUMATISED CHILDREN →
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Dear Sis Dolly....
What’s good DN fam!!!
Its the month of March and as we MARCH on forward into our destiny, it is always beneficial to document the journey. Bearing this in mind, this week Dramatic Need participants have begun what I like to think of as “snippets of the ME I AM”. Armed each with a little notebook specially for this purpose. The kids will begin to document whatever they want to ...
“It is more important who they are as people and only then is it important who...”
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WatchAs part of our series on the power of storytelling, we present this inspiring TED talk by professional storyteller Chimamanda Adichie…..
February 2013
28 posts
Keeping it Moving... Teboho's weekly update
Hello Hi Dramatic Need Family!!!
Its been a while… but I can guarantee that we have certainly not been resting on our laurels. In fact, It would be fair to say that at this point; Its ‘All Systems Go’ here at the Pieta Patsa Community Arts Centre (PPCAC). These youth are moving from strength to strength and this up coming month is sure to be nothing less than FIREWORKS!!!
With...
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Fancy Fitness Flavour - TRUST: TEBOHO'S WEEKLY...
Fancy Fitness Flavour - TRUST
Classes at the DN Piet Patsa Arts Centre this week were all about TRUST!
Many of the youth Dramatic Need works with face rejection in their daily lives… be it in school or at home there is always an element of feeling unwanted, unworthy and unloved. In turn this plays a significant role in manifesting feeling of self-loathing and self-doubt in these...
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VOTE FOR CREATIVE CHANGE! →
Our recently-launched sister design project Global Art and Design Project (GAD) has been shortlisted in GoodMaker’s microfunding project The World is Counting on You(th)
With the same principles as Dramatic Need, but with a focus on design and coding, GAD deserves all the support and votes possible. Click on the link above to read more and vote.
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A THEATRICAL FEAST
On Monday night, members of the Dramatic Need Board of Trustees in London went to support their fellow trustee Kobna Holdbrook-Smith in his leading role in Feast at the Young Vic theatre.
It was an incredibly moving, funny and powerful piece following the course of slavery across a 300 year period… but we will leave the details up to the BBC’s Manuel Toledo to describe (he’s...
