Torbay arts group’s appeal gets Down Under response
Residents rallied to the 'I want to break free' appeal - Credit: Archant
Doorstep Arts wanted to hear 'I want to break free' from across the Bay - and one came back from Down Under
Even the penguins broke free - Credit: Archant
All over Torbay the tune of 'I want to break free' has been seeping from houses, windows and gardens and all because of Doorstep Arts.
This non-profit arts education organisation runs drama groups at youth clubs, church halls and schools.
They are also the creative education company in residence at the Palace Theatre, Paignton.
The young people who attend these groups range from 0-25. They write their own stories and songs, and they explore original ideas through drama process, play, and imagination.
The 'break free' inititative had them breaking free all over the place - Credit: Archant
But the past few months has seen a great change. Polly Ferguson-Carruthers from Doorstep Arts says that the lockdown has been tough for all concerned.
She says: 'We have been on countless zoom meetings and we were talking about the ways that we can connect with the community. To be honest, I wanted to break free from my life at the time, I have two young children at home and thus there was a lot of pressure, so I thought I'd use the iconic song 'I want to break free' to… break free! We started to ask the community to get involved and they started to send video clips in singing and dancing to the song.'
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Doorstep Arts use drama as the main focus in their community work but all this came to a standstill during Covid 19. They have been running various adapted workshops during this time and you can see the results on their Doorstep Arts Facebook page.
'We've done weekly zoom sessions, dancing, play and creative lockdown songs and it's been a real whirlwind,' said Polly.
'It's been great to connect with existing families and to meet new ones. We've had so many videos and a great age range, from three and four-year-olds to the more mature. And not just from the Torbay area, we even had a video from Australia. If you want to film yourself then please keep them coming in, email me at polly@hotmail.co.uk. You can see the results on www.doorsteparts.co.uk.'
Doorstep Arts are coming back in the autumn term but obviously there will be lots of new rules and regulations.
