Congratulations to the Boston Community Collaborative’s students who recently performed, “Twisted Tales”. The show included BCC students from our weekly dance and drama classes at the St John School afterschool program, and at the Improv Asylum’s exciting studio space. This show was based on classic fairy tales from unique points of view and took place on the SJS stage.
“Twisted Tales”, is an original play that was written, directed, and choreographed by BCC’s lead drama and dance instructor, Ingrid Oslund. Miss Ingrid used our third session of our class season as an opportunity to collaborate with our students as playwrights as well as performers. There were 3 short plays within the larger production that were created completely by these students, guided by Miss Ingrid. Ingrid gave them a framework and, using their knowledge of how a play functions from their previous experience this year, the students had artistic control. It is a common convention to look at fairy tales from multiple points of view, but Ingrid wanted to explore this with the goal of creating full, well-rounded characters.
Our youngest students took on the classic version of fairy tales as a way to familiarize them with telling a linear story. Through song, dance and storytelling, these young performers, as elves, gnomes, and fairies adorably explored and performed traditional versions of the fairy tales Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and Peter and the Wolf.
Our students who meet at the Improv selected characters they wanted to explore and constructed a narrative around them. These students performed a “Split Screen” play called “It’s Good to Be Bad”. The students selected their favorite villain stories and flipped them on their head. The audience got to see that the terms “good” and “bad” aren’t always black and white.
Our older SJS group of students took on the challenge of changing the typical perspective of a wolf, and examined how these stories could be told in a new way. These students performed “twisted” versions of “The Three Little Pigs”, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Peter and the Wolf” from the point of view of the Wolves.
The theme of this session’s dance classes was contrast; Looking at different ways of moving using the imagery of the sun and moon. The younger class learned the basic positions of ballet framed within a dance about the sun. We then had fun with some classic jazz movements to transform these adorable little nuggets into terrifying zombies. The older class also had a sun and moon dance, contrasting traditional musical theater movement for the sun and hip-hop movements for the moon. They also had two contrasting stories to tell, one utilizing lyrical dance to tell a story of coming together and the other, Bob Fosse’s style of Jazz to tell the story of “Peter and the Wolf”.
BCC is delighted to add opportunities this year that mix kids from different contexts. Our SJS students may know our North End classes students thru the Nazzaro Center, from sports, from their respective neighborhoods, from the playground, from their daycare long ago – it is a thrill to bring them all together in collaboration.
BCC was incorporated in 2013 and strives to create community by connecting people and resources.
BCC offers courses in Drama, Dance, Fitness and Engineering for Kids during the St John School afterschool program, courses in Drama in the North End, and at the Josiah Quincy afterschool program. BCC holds a Movers and Shakers class for babies and toddlers at the West End Community Center. BCC hosts a number of community events: Movie Nights in the Gassy during the summer, an annual Halloween Party for adults, and an annual Springtime Egg Hunt in Christopher Columbus Park. For more information, contact becca0923@yahoo.com.
Upcoming Events:
• June 16, North End Library, 2:30ish -5ish, Hosting of 5th Annual Father’s Day Craft. Free, all are welcome – craft entails Miss Becca taking your child’s photo, and running to CVS to print – for the frame that you will make.
• July 8, Boston Community Collaborative involvement in Downtown North Association/City of Boston Canal Street Festival. More Details to come.
• July 5-9, Dover NH at the Seacoast Fringe Festival. “Woman Writer’s Suicide Club”. Our adult main stage production from this year has been accepted into this regional theater festival. Ages 18 and up.
• Wednesday nights all summer long. North End Movie Nights in the Gassy
• August, 2017, Two – week long summer intensive theatre offerings for kids, “Hairspray”. A musical theatre intensive based on the music and book of the Broadway hit “Hairspray”, and “Of Monsters and Men: Shakespeare’sVillians” A Shakespeare Intensive. Details of these 2 weeks being formalized now.
• Fall, 2017, Classes resume.
• October 28, 2017, Adult Halloween FUNraiser.
• October 31, 2017, Post Trick or Treat Dance party for kids and their caregiver.
• Spring 2018, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – Next year’s youth/adult collaboration. Auditions, February 2nd and 3rd.
