Leigh-Anne Abela

Three actors from Stage Breeze, Dorianne Bonanno, Natasha Turner and myself were invited to this year’s European Youth Programme:

“Here We Live!

Creative passages for understanding the different and cultural polymorphism in Europe”.

Along for the experience were four other non-governmental organisations from Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Hungary.

The very arrival at Thessaloniki airport set the mood for the week with the warm and friendly welcoming of the Greek Artistic Pedagogic Youth Group “Sxedia”. At the start of the seminar, each of the representatives introduced their country and their organisation setting the stage for easier communication and better understanding. In smaller formations, the workshops allowed us to relate on a personal level with these young people of different nationalities, using our creativity to bring down borders.

The theme for the Greek representatives was “differentiation.” They drove the point that the essence of a person comes from within, in being his/her own individual and not defined by the country of birth or the native language. Everyone is different in his/her unique way. Interesting brainstorming and performance sessions where carried out in connection with this “difference” issue. One of our performances played on the interaction with the character of Aisha, a coloured girl from a different background. In the end, the same director was drawn into acting out the role of Aisha himself – a supposedly dainty female! The idea was to breakdown all misconceptions, be it gender, colour or culture.

As part of their representation, the group from Greece introduced us to Christos, a local percussionist, whose rhythms and sounds captured each of us. I found myself enriched by the experience of being introduced to various percussion instruments. The concept behind this afternoon was to allow music to act as a devised language among the whole group - each of us was communicating through the beat of the drum … or at times the playfulness of it!

The group from Slovenia homed in on psychological workshops. This group collaborates with deaf children back at home. They set the scene of an 11-year-old in an imaginary crisis. Out of the blue she begins to act strangely among her classmates due to her family, childhood and attention-seeking issues. Our task was to collectively identify the problem and resolve it. The character of this girl, now smoking pot was again left in the capable hands of our weighty Italian guy!

We started dealing with the fact that this child was going through a lot of background problems, some of which were drug problems, lack of attention, her parents’ divorce, and conflicts with her own body. We discussed these issues, plausible solutions and finally we pinpointed out the best solutions. This is when we finished off with various tableaux of the solutions – a tableaux of the girl surrounded by her friends open heartedly giving her love and support, another tableaux of the girl who stopped smoking pot with the aid of her friends and a final tableaux of a family portrait. It was fascinating how everyone ended up in the same line of thought of unifying forces with this girl in need of a new vision of life!

It was time to let our hair down. The imagination from the Polish group led to circus work, consisting of diabolos (props consisting of a spool which is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks held one in each hand), toss juggling with balls, beanbags, rings and clubs. They demonstrated a huge variety of tricks, even the use of fire torches. Adrenaline started pumping as we were allowed to handle the acts. The building was at stake so we moved to the open air. This led to quite a number of laughs, yet another way to enhance integration.

Cultural visits around Thessaloniki were not lacking and an enjoyable cultural night was organised. Each group shared and experienced the history, language, music and culture of the five countries. I was delighted with the opportunity to perform improvised street theatre in the Greek’s main piazza. Here each night, many of the social minorities, take for instance the disabled and drug addicts, interact with the mainstream crowd and passers-by in the name of entertainment. Our goal was to be part of this microcosm. All the participants of the seminar joined forces in three successful performances displaying the skills acquired during the workshops - one focused on masks, one on drama and instrument playing and for the finale, juggling.

The group performing with the masks paid attention to the idea of fusing cultures together making sole use of the masks and body movements. The second group, in which Dorianne and Natasha were part of, explored the idea of discrimination – a girl whose parents never allowed her to interact with buskers. Last on the list was my group. We livened up the evening with our newly acquired juggling skills, interacting with the audience in this piazza.

I find myself truly grateful and fulfilled for having journeyed through this unforeseen and deeply profound experience.

I shall be sharing the fruits of this eye-opening encounter in my homeland. Needless to say, my colleagues and I are proud to have left a singular and spirited footprint back in Thessaloniki and in the hearts of the youths we encountered - typical of our culture as Maltese people.