On Saturday 16 January, Bishop Luffa students participated in a sensational performance at the Chichester Festival Theatre with the African Music and Dance Company, Kasai Masai. This was part of the Dialog Project and was presented by 'Roots Around the World'. The Dialog project is an exciting opportunity for young people. If offers a unique chance to truly experience new cultures in an approach that engenders a respect for tradition, with a desire to bring ideas, backgrounds and attitudes together in a creative environment. Bishop Luffa School was represented by our musicians Gideon Bridgeman, Elliott Hanan, Robin Hildyard and our dancersCharlotte Bennett, Dani Carre, Thea Chambers, Harry Davies, Emily Evans, Anna Froud, Annie Haugh, Ellen Lithgow, Amelia Redfurn, Olivia Whatmore and Megan Wojick. They worked with professional dancer Sarah Alexander and professional musician Andrew Walker. The title of their piece was Tribal Movements inspired by the storytelling of African dance and representing the joys and the hardships of the tribe, expanding musical, cultural and personal horizons by re-mixing the diverse styles of funk, dance music and African influences to produce an amazing extravaganza of music and dance. Our pupils combined elements of improvisation, phone numbers, broken beats and conversation and interwoven the themes of displacement, warfare and celebration to create this final performance piece - discovering their own Tribal Movements.
The evening was absolutely sensational - a wonderful celebration of African culture and arts and also of students interpretation of this. It was a vibrant night, the Theatre having over 600 people in the audience with our students' contribution being exceptionally good.
Mrs N Furnell
Team Leader, Drama