Murshidabad - a great performance

Reporting from After Care Home for Girls at Shilayan by Priyanka Mueller, Intern of Kolkata Sanved

On the 15^th of march the participants of the After Care Home for Girls at Shilayan had a performance at the Shelter Home under the supervising of their DMT trainers Sampa and Soni di.

Sampa and Soni di who are regularly going to Murshidabad to teach the Children at the Shelter Home DMT prepared with the participants a performance. The preparations begun a long time ago and finally the date of the performance should come.

On Monday the 11^th Sampa and Soni di travelled already to Murshidabad to do the final settings and preparations with the inhabitants.

On the 13^th Sreeja di reached the Home to support Sampa and Soni di. Tuesday Sohini di, Somita di, Bithika and myself travelled to Murshidabad to document everything and support our Trainers.

Bithika and myself got ready and meet Sampa and Soni di at the Shelter Home. There we also meet the DMT participants who were busy practicing the performance to make it perfect.

All of them seemed to be full of anticipation and they practiced very hard so that the final rehearsal ran well.

tiger make - up

Sampa and Soni di did not had to help too much. They knew the steps and everything went well. At the end of the Rehearsal Sampa and Soni di just gave them some few tips and motivated them so that the next day performance would be a full success.

The next day began very early for the Kolkata Sanved Team in Murshidabad. We got ready and the full team went to the After Care Home to meet the participants and to prepare the Roundtable Meeting.

All of the residents expected our arrive.

First we had to prepare the Round table Meeting where Members of different Organisations and of the Shelter Home came to discuss how DMT helped the participants and how the future with DMT can look like.

Round table meeting

During the meeting, Sampa, Soni di and myself helped the performers with their outfits and make up.

The meeting was almost over when the ready made performers walked to the place where the stage was set.

All of them positioned themselves on their positions and waited for the show to start.

The Audience came and took their seats and then it started.

The performance was divided in three groups.

The youngest had a small dance prepared and performed with full of joy.

The next performance was a small theatrical dance. It was about the nature. There were trees, butterflies, tigers, deer, peacocks as well as wind and river.

At the end there was a performance by the older participants who had prepared a dance.

The 30 minute performance was mainly about the nature. Sampa and Soni di choose the nature as the main topic because they feel like, that the nature is a very important part in our life. Without nature we can’t life. And everyone should appreciate the nature with all their creatures like the animals. For them as well dance is very important so they tried to make a performance out of this two very important facts for them.

And it was a full success. To put this two very important topics for the trainers as well as for the participants together and do a performance out of it was successful. The audience liked the performance and they honored all the hours of practicing and hard work with a lot of applause.

A big praise applies on Sampa and Soni di who had more then 80 girls under control and did such a big performance with them.

Also a thanks belongs to the participants that they worked so well with their trainers and made it possible to set such a nice show.

The Trainers and the residents are looking forward to see each other at the next DMT session and to dance all free all their emotions through dance again.

the whole murshidabad team

If I can fly

From the 28th to the 31st of January Kolkata Sanved  welcomed the Fine Arts Photographer Brooke Shaden who has specially arrived from America for the "If I can fly" - Workshop.

 The 4-day workshop was insisted on the fact that the Kolkata Sanved Trainers and Trainee tell a story which can be photographically explained by self portraits.

Brooke Shaden and the Kolkata Sanved Team discussing the mood boards

It was not necessary to be their own story. It was the choice of the participants what they wanted to tell. A story about joy, grief, hope, dislikes or likes.

The participants got some time to think about a story and what they want to tell and how they want to express their selves. After some time each of them shared their story with the group and explained their mood boards to them.

The second day started for the girls to think about the details of their mood boards. What is the story about? What is the mood of the situation? How can you express is with one snap?

For all these questions and more Brooke was on their side to help them to find the right way and to create what is in the girls mind.

As the story should be told by self portraits Brooke explained to the girls how a camera works, how to use it, and how to set it to make good pictures.

After lunch time we packed our bags and went to New Market to get all the props for everyone with different story. It took us some time until everyone was satisfied but after a great long day they were happy with the things they found.

A very excited day went by and all of us couldn't wait for the next day to come to shoot our own pictures.

In the morning they already started on their own to do their make up and hair, to get the set ready, and to prepare their clothes/costumes.

They again showed what a great team they are because everyone helped each other with make up ,hair and the whole styling.

Participants are getting ready

And then it started:

One after the other was able to do her self portrait.

While one took a snap the other renewed their lipstick or watched or gave helpful tips.

Brooke Shaden assisted everybody. She gave good tips so that the pictures would look even better and stood to the girls helpfully to their side.

On the last workshop day Brooke took the portraits of the participants  including me, laura, Sohini and Namrata. We have been told to bring our favorite saree or cloth  with us to shoot the pics.

Like the day before we worked as a great team helped each other with the make up and hair styling so that Brooke could start with the first one very soon.

Brooke had for everyone a special pose in her mind so she helped us to feel comfortable in it and took the snaps.

As the trainers and trainees are all dancers and they know their body and how to move it it was very easy for them and for Brooke to set them in the right pose and to click the pictures in a short time.

Brooke with one of the trainee showing her how the picture came out

After all the pictures were taken by Brooke the trainers and trainees styled Brooke and took a portrait of her.

At the end of the workshop we watched all the pictures which were taken in the last 4 days and enjoyed so see how much fun we had.

Kolkata Sanved thanks Laura from Blossomy who established the contact. A special thanks goes to Brooke who specially for this workshop arrived from America without her we could never had such a fantastic workshop and thanks to her for donating a camera. Another thanks belongs to Amy who traveled with Brooke and who is also a photographer, she supported everybody as good as she could.

Throughout the workshop the whole Kolkata Sanved team learned a lot, how to express yourself trough one snap and where to keep the focus and even more. As well the whole team enjoyed these four days a lot and all of us have now new skills which we try to train as often we can.

Thanks to everyone who made this Workshop possible.

the whole workshop team