Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards

Hello from Tallinn!

The first day full of workshops ended very well and promising regarding the performance.
There even was a first tryout in the big entrance hall of the national library. The athmosphere and acoustic are amazing. At the end of the day all countries presented national food and traditional dances which have been tought to the others. Dancing the Estonian, English, Slovak and Czech way is now no problem anymore!
The second day was based on text and writing. Siret Paju and Arji Manuelpillai led the workshops with different smaller groups. Each nation was represented in each group. The participants created little fairy tales and divesed small performances which have been shown at the end of the day. A kind of highlight was the PLAY FAIR. The young participants together with Estonian professionals created a very special stage reading. A big thank you to the kids, the teachers and of course to the Estonian artists!
Day three was great. The guest workshop leader Anne Türnpu got a very good feedback by the young people. The theme of the day was text and song. In Raudoja Kõrts the kids were teached trational Estonian dances and songs which perfectly fit to the topics. At the end traditonal food was served. This day was a great mixture of intense work and lots of fun.
The fourth day was again full of new cultural and artistic input. The rhythm workshop from Arji and the vocal improvisations workshop run by specialist Anne-Liis Poll fit perfectly in the preparations of the performance on Friday. At the evening there was planned a visit in the hotel spa and after this a spontaneous jam seesion in the piano room finished an exiting day.
Day five was completely focused on the performance. In the morning Inga Vares gave a workshop “physical text” and the choreographer Kaja Kann run a movement workshop. Late afternoon/evening there was a chance to rehearse in the whole Library what was only possible during the closing times. So not so much time left to prepare the show. Bye the way: the visitors list is closed now, we’re sold out :-).
The focus of day six was the preparation of the performance. From early morning on the time was used until the library opened. At 21:00 the show started. It was well received by the audience and after it there was a well deserved party after a busy week.
Day seven was a day off. The local Estonian participants offered guided tours through beautiful Tallinn. In the afternoon there was one internal teachers evaluation meeting followed by a big feedback round with all. The dinner took place in the restaurant Kaerajaan (which is an Estonian traditional dance) at the market square.
The last day was the departure day. The Estonians spend a long time in the hotel to say goodbye to everybody. It won’t be for ever, a start to keep the contact has already been made at facebook. Finally it was a great week full new experiences and memories. AITÄH-THANK YOU to VAT Teater, to Tallinn, to Estonia!