Daytrippers was the last of the Borderlines groups I started to work with but it is the one I have done the most hours with, and even though I haven't been with them a huge amount of time they have all become like family, they are again hugely welcoming and accepting of new people and I have had such a brilliant time with them.
This
group is completely different again to Strathcross. The group is made
up of adults and young adults all of whom have learning disabilities,
autism, or more physical disabilities. I was most anxious about this group as I knew the pyhsical disabilities may mean it was going to be more of a challenge than Strathcross. This group is much smaller and seem to all know each other really well and enjoy seeing each other.
Over all of the sessions they have been working towards a show back which is in two weeks time. With groups like these it is almost different every time you perform something to when you rehearsed it because no matter how many times you practice something it is harder for them to take it in, and they respond much better to visual cues than verbal communication.
Over all the sessions I have attending these have been the most challenging yet the most rewarding. I have seen this group go through many great times, like giving some of its members a birthday party. But there have also been incidents with certain members which have affected the atmosphere amongst the rest of the group. And for a few weeks the group had to be spilt into two and work separately spending an hour with Filiz and an hour with Julianna so this change the energy in the group, and them seem much happier when they are all together.
This group is overseen by ELITE which is Enabling Living Independently Today & Everyday, a user-led communicant interest company who hope to break down the barriers which prevent disabled people from leading a full and independent lives. They teamed up with the Borderlines group to make the ELITE theatre company and enable these people to gain new experiences build relationships and express themselves as independent people through theatre.
We have been focusing on preparing them for their show back. It is a long process because they need to repeat things many times than perhaps others would so they understand what they are doing and feel happy with what they have produced. The show back is going to be called 'Seeing Me' and is about people seeing them from a different point of view. They have been practising some original songs for the last few sessions which sound beautiful, and even those with restricted speech make noise in the melody sound which is really nice. They have been spilt into four small groups and working on the seasons, so we have been building up a close relationship within our small groups over the past few weeks. The group I am working with is representing Autumn and we are exploring what happens in that season. We have also been using objects and materials to create 'monsters' for each season.
In other sessions we have been exploring the idea of thinking about something that is precious to you, such as family or friendship and using an item to represent that and they creating short scenes about the item being put in a safe hiding box and then someone steals it.
Because the show is about seeing them through their shoes, they have been working on short movement pieces about positive and negative things about their personalities. It has been really interesting to see how they think about themselves and how they tackle new challenges, and how if you are patient with them they come up with some fantastic ideas.
After the show back in two weeks, I really hope that they will have a summer project, or something which starts up next term because this is a group which I have become very attached with and hope I can develop further with them.
Sessions:
1.
Thursday 15th
March 2012, 10am-12.30pm: 2hours 30mins
2.
Thursday 29th
March 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours
3.
Thursday 19th
April 2012. 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours
4.
Thursday 26th
April 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours
5.
Thursday 3rd
May 2012, 9.30am-1pm: 3hours 30mins
6.
Thursday 10th
May 2012, 9.30am -12.30pm: 3hours
7.
Thursday 17th
May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours
8.
Thursday 24th
May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3hours
9.
Thursday 31st
May 2012, 9.30am-12.30pm: 3 hours
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