On a cold November night in Donny, The Point echoed to the sounds of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, as The Young Orangery, darts' performing arts group for young people with learning disabilities performed their very own township dance.
Working with artists Thuba Gumede, Godfrey Pambalipe and Janet Wood, the group created a lively performance incorporating song and dance. The piece was included in the Get Doncaster Dancing event at The Point.
The group loved working with Thuba ("He has such a big smile!")learning the steps and some words in Ndebele, a Zimbabwean language. We learned a game called River Bank that Thuba used to play as a child. Thuba would shout "River" or "Bank" and we had to jump to the right side of the rope on the floor, but he tried to catch us out! ("It made us listen and think.")
We made up a chant "Woza, yebo, Africa, drum!" and sang a song about different ways of saying hello, including several different languages and signs. At half-term we did our first performance to parents and friends.
When Thuba returned to Zimbabwe we did further work on our dance with Godfrey and polished up our performance.
"Godfrey made it even better. We had to work hard to improve. It's made us work as a team."
The success of this performance has made us even more determined to push ourselves further and achieve high quality performances.
"I like performing – and I like practising to make sure we do it right. Practice makes perfect! I felt pleased and excited when we got it right."
Quotes from participants.