AHA! Summer Express ‘12, Ranga Shankara’s signature summer workshop programme for children is all set to arrive, with 16 workshops for 7 to 17 year olds, by 14 of India’s well-known arts practitioners. There are workshops on Theatre, Acting, Music, Filmmaking, Writing, Visual Arts, and many more. The workshops will see more than 500 children participating and will take place at Ranga Shankara between 9 Apr and 7 May. Registrations begin on 10 Mar. AHA! is Ranga Shankara’s Theatre for Children programme in association with Britannia Industries Ltd.
“AHA! Summer Express is a time of the year that we love! It brings to Ranga Shankara, children who fill the air with their energy, creativity and yen to learn. This year’s line up is perhaps the most diverse and powerful we have had so far. The fact that every workshop faculty is a star practitioner of the arts makes the whole experience special. The children of Bangalore never had it so good!” says Arundhati Nag, Creative Director of Ranga Shankara.
Bombay Jayashri leads the Summer Express debutants with a unique workshop to introduce music to children. “I hope to experience the joy of music with these children. I will be happy if the workshop helps them get in touch with the song in their hearts and have them ask for more, either as musicians or as listeners, as they grow up”, she says.
Joining her are Kapila Venu (Acting), Anurupa Roy, Shaili Sathyu and Hamsa Moily (Theatre), Shilo shiv Suleman (Visual Arts), Nimi Ravindran (Writing for Theatre), Jaaga Media Centre (Filmmaking) and Suma Murthy (Rangoli).
Summer Express veterans Neeraj Kabi and Padmavati Rao (theatre), Anju Sudarshan (Cooking), D M Suresh (Car Mechanics) and Virginia Rodrigues (Photography) have designed new workshops this year.
Complete details of the workshops are available on rangashankara.org. Registrations begin at 11 AM on 10 Mar at Ranga Shankara. Payment is by cash or cheque only and age proof is mandatory. A limited quota of seats is available for registration on e-mail. You can write to aha.rangashankara@gmail.com from 10 AM on 10 Mar.
Summer Express is a much awaited event in Bangalore. Started seven years ago, Summer Express focuses on theatre. This year, there is a wide array of theatre workshops to choose from. Theatre workshops use the medium of theatre to instill self-confidence, help children shed inhibitions, use their strengths well and just have fun.
Kapila Venu, the celebrated Kutiyattam artiste takes the children through the basic techniques of acting as delineated in the ancient texts of Kutiyattam. This workshop is an excellent introduction to acting. A filmmaking workshop is scheduled this year, which will take the children through the complete process of filmmaking. The music workshop will be an introduction to the basics of sound, rhythm, silence and tone, showing how music is fun!
Most workshops end with a presentation by the children, to which the parents are invited too.
