A good day

The latest session at Wesley Hall was great. There was a new woman there who was really keen to participate and enjoy it all and this also had a positive effect on the less confident ones. We did a lot more active, energetic warm up exercises and then used various props to improvise different characters and situations. It was a smaller group, as the regular English class is not running for a few weeks. This was something that was a concern for me and I'd wondered whether to cancel my sessions during these weeks, but eventually decided to continue for anyone who wanted to come.

It was actually a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere and people seemed really willing to 'play'. We ended up doing small scenes in groups using the props and created a wedding scene and a family holiday. Both scenes involved a lot of humour. At the end, one participant asked if we could do a performance, which is something I have tentatively mentioned, but not wanted to push, so that reinforced the idea that their confidence is building. One man was concerned that people would not understand his English, but I reassured them that we can use a mix of verbal and visual work, as well as possibly incorporating different languages. We'll see what happens next session (tomorrow!)

The Exodus festival, run by Community Arts Northwest, is on Sunday (2nd August) in Manchester, so am hoping a few of them will go and we'll all get inspired together.....

Info on Exodus if you're interested - it's free and worth a visit:

Exodus Festival Sunday 2^nd August 2009 12-6pm

Urbis and Cathedral Gardens

Come and join us in this unique celebration of arts and culture brought to you by Greater Manchester’s diverse refugee communities.

Featuring traditional and contemporary sounds and dance from Zimbabwe, Somalia, the DR Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Pakistan, and other countries across the globe.

There will be interactive workshops, children’s activities, delicious food from around the globe, and an exciting array of world craft stalls.