The Life Underground project involved three Doncaster based groups aged 10+ in a music, dance and drama project to explore the mining history of South Africa and South Yorkshire.
Funded through Arts Council England, Yorkshire this project was delivered in partnership with Sigopanda. Specialising in dance, drumming and voices, Sigopanda was founded by two professional Zimbabwean artists; Simon Banda and Godfrey Pambalipe. They have been working very closely in the UK performing at theatres and community centres throughout England and Scotland. They also deliver workshops in schools and communities using their artform as a way of communication, building confidence and cultural exchange.
The content of the project was based on a dance piece Sigopanda has been performing throughout the region based on Gumboot dances, which developed as a means of communication between South African miners.
48 young people from Rossington All Saints School, Hall Cross Upper School, Millennium Volunteers and Connexions took part in the project. Participants used gumboot dancing, body percussion, vocals and tableaux to convey what they had learnt about mining in the two countries as part of a performance to a small, invited audience at Hall Cross Upper School. The young people involved enjoyed the experience so much they wanted to do an encore!
The piece was performed for a second time at the launch event for the newly refurbished Elmfield Youth Centre. The opportunity to perform gave the participants a real sense of achievement, and for some young people gave their teachers and key workers the opportunity to see them excel, where they might usually be hard to engage.
Following the performance, the artists leading the project offered a half day workshop to local primary schools based on the same themes through our Education team and the Arty Ed newsletter.