Theatrical practices and play models in working with children and youth in multicultural communities Cover Image

Театрални практики и игрови модели при работа с деца и младежи в мултикултурни общности
Theatrical practices and play models in working with children and youth in multicultural communities

Author(s): Elena Panayotova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Education, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Pedagogy
Published by: Нов български университет
Keywords: applied theatre; education; innovation; art; interdisciplinary; performing arts;

Summary/Abstract: Thе article presents the experience, methodology and results achieved by the „Artists for Children and Youth” program, existing for fourteen years between 2003 and 2017, comprising multicultural teams of 300 young artists from Europe, and 5000 children and youth from Bulgaria, Kenya and Tanzania. One innovative model for working with underprivileged children and youth through the means of the performing arts that emphasizes on the values in the arts and theatrical approaches as a bridge for communication, integration and fostering interpersonal and interethnic tolerance.The presented methodology combines five creative workshops: dance, music, puppet theater, mask theater in the system of the French pedagogue Lecoq, visual arts, and two training workshops in martial arts and yoga. The program content part offers a revival of oral traditions, a return to the forgotten ability of storytelling, handles and classifies tales from different cultures, provokes and develops the imagination. The practical experience presented adds valuable information to the potential that the theatre art brings to indirect learning and integration of the emotional experience of the individual.