Moltoir: a training course for Cultural Youth Workers
in using movement methods to work with young people
Erasmus+/Youth project
1/12/2022 -–31/1/2024
Language: English
Coordinator Partner: Crooked House Theatre Company, Ireland (www.crookedhouse.ie)
Partner organizations:
Μain target groups - Who is it for?
Moltóir is a training course for cultural youth workers.
It is suitable for those aged 18 and over (with no upper age limit) who already have some experience as facilitators of young people in the field of performance. It is also suitable for directors or theatre-makers who do not have a lot of experience in movement practices. A cultural youth worker is any artist who works with young people, using their art-form to help young people develop life skills, self-confidence, citizenship abilities, resilience, and social skills. Each partner organisation brings 6 participants in total. This number includes one who will facilitate or co-facilitate a workshop or a programme. The course will be in English. Participants should be able to speak some English.
Short description
This is a training course for youth workers. It will introduce participants to several movement practices that are used by the trainers themselves in their cultural youth work. Moltóir wants to share movement practices to young people to create meaningful bodily learning experiences.
Moltóir specifically proposes to explore a selection of movement practices that can be used by creative facilitators to enhance and support the wellbeing of young people. We mean a broad definition of ‘wellbeing’ to include:
• A strong and positive sense on one’s own physical presence in a communal space
• A comfort and ease with one’s own body, one’s appearance, and one’s projected ego
• A sense of emotional positivity derived from physical activity, exercise and fitness
• An ability to communicate and express emotions, ideas, and attitudes non-verbally
• A chance to practice bodily balance, harmony and control
• Ability to control, direct and channel physical energy, impulses, reactions and spontaneity
• Awaken the desire to play and to reconnect with physical expressiveness
The objectives of the course will be that:
- Participants on this course will be shown ways to use various movement techniques to explore some of those outcomes above with young people.
- Participants will also be engaged in reflective activities – analysing and processing their experiences and learning on a daily basis.
- They will also discover more about different cultures though exchange with other participants.
- Participants will learn about the Erasmus+ programme and be introduced to using it as a support for their own programmes and projects.
- Participants will enhance and share their own transversal skills, especially those skills developed by collaborative group work and creative, aesthetic engagement.
WHAT MOLTOIR MEANS:
Moltóir is the Irish word for ‘mover’. It has the double meaning, as in English, of moving a body but also of being an activist or persuader of others, being part of a social or political ‘movement’. It also conveys the sense of emotional weight – someone who is ‘moved’ emotionally to react or act. Movement is the first language of communication. It is shared by every living thing. Human movement is motivated by an idea of arriving at a destination. The idea comes first, and the movement is the method by which the idea is realised. Movement forms the basis for many performance disciplines. Many people consider dance as the main performance form based on movement. However, so too are theatre, speech, and song
WHY MOVEMENT:
Why movement? We are interested in exploring how we can work creativity with young people using a variety of movement practices. We do not wish to restrict the training to dance alone, although it is very important. We are also interested in looking at common movement practices such as yoga, martial arts, and gymnastics. Furthermore, we are keen to explore practices that might not normally be considered in this range of disciplines, such as walking and posture; gesture and percussive body movements; stage combat; slow motion and double-speed movement; chorus and synchronised movement; and many others. We believe that movement practice can be more inclusive, if facilitated well, than other language based creative practices. It need not be dependent on verbal language, nor on physical ability or fitness, nor on learning ability or intellectual capacity.
THE TRAINING (online and in Ireland)
The training course will consist of 3 modules.
A) Preparatory Module (Online, May-June 2023) There will an online preparatory course of three workshops with all 50 participants. This will introduce the participants to each other, to the trainers, to the methods of work proposed, and to the themes and ideas of the project. These 3 online sessions will be 90 minutes each. They will occur in March, April and May 2023, hosted by Crooked House on zoom.
B) Movement Methods Module (in Ireland 3-9/7/2023) This consists of introductions to 5 movement methodologies that can be applied to cultural youth work practice. Participants will experience each method in a two-hour workshop. These workshops will be in the mornings before lunch. There will be 10 places in each workshop. All 5 workshops will be repeated each day. A different group of 10 participants sign up for each workshop every day. This way, participants get the chance to do each of the workshops over the course of the programme.
C) Devising Programme Module (in Ireland 3-9/7/2023) This module consists of 4 programmes which train participants in making creative work with young people using one particular movement technique. These sessions will be in the afternoons of the training course in Ireland. Each programme will have a fixed group of participants. Each one will be led by an experienced artist from 4 of the partner countries (one of whom will be Ireland). At the end of the programme each group will have created a short performance which will be staged for the public on the final day of the Moltóir project.
Reflection Sessions During this in-person activity there will be creative reflection sessions to help participants process the experiences they are having and to conscientize their learning.
The way we will work The main working methods are: (1) experiential (based on the participants having experiences of activities and reflecting upon them; and relating to the real lives, needs and experiences of participants); (2) embodied (the theory, ideas and application of the methods are explained through procedural learning – that is, they are explored in activities and exercises that involve participants moving, talking and interacting.
Results
The project results will include: - A performance for the public, which will be recorded and uploaded to our website, of the result of working on 5 movement techniques during the week. - A film documentary of the project, showing some of the exercises and activities, interviews with practitioners about their methods, and interviews with participants about their learning. - A description of each of the workshops in the second and third modules - A series of short video blogs from participants about tips and techniques that they find useful in this work. - A set of plans and ideas about future Erasmus+ collaboration projects
What type of participants will be selected?
They should be Cultural Youth Workers aged over 18. Most should be working with young people in performance (usually theatre, dance and film), or collaborating with youth groups to use these media as tools to develop transversal skills and to shape the community in which they live. Most participants on this course should be working in informal learning environments, where voluntary participation is central (such as youth projects, youth theatres, youth dance ensembles, and youth creative arts programmes). None of the participants will have detailed experience of safely using movement as a method of involving, engaging with, and supporting young people. So, this programme is at the level of an introduction to the movement methods and to how one might use them in youth work settings. Participants should be connected, in some way, to the partner organisations as staff, or volunteers, or freelance facilitators, or collaborators from other groups. Participants should aim to implement the training they receive from the course in their work with the partner organisation’s youth groups (or their own youth groups) thus enhancing the reach and impact of the partner’s youth work.
On this programme at least 25 of the participants will be describable as ‘participants with fewer opportunities.’ The obstacles they face include: - Discrimination due to identity, including belonging to the LGBTQI+ community - Difficulty connecting to training and other opportunities due to isolated work and living conditions - Living and working in war and occupation - Poorly paid and facing economic hardship - Low level of language training. The project will support the inclusion of these participants by providing translation/interpretation services.
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Moltoir & TENet-Gr
Coordination & Management for TENet-Gr: Sonya Dova (coordinator), Vassia Kossyva (management)
Youth Workers: Charoula-Dimitra Adamidou, Morfoula Stergiou, Artemios Arkoumanis, Kelly Giannaki, Penelope Kazakoni, Ioanna Mitsika
Consultant: Nikos Govas
Info: ++2106541600 / info@theatroedu.gr
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