Theatre Company Scarecrow “Hand Shadow Art Workshop” Okayama

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dates‍

2023/11/11 (Sat) 14:00-16:00

venues‍

Okayama Performing Arts Theater Halenova 4th Practice Room
3-11-50 Omote-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama-ken 700-0822

What is the summaryHere

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Hand drawing workshops performed by Scarecrows, who have invited overseas art festivals and performed in 27 countries around the world. Participants ranged from those who were new to hand painting to those who had watched past Scarecrow performances. It was a high-intensity workshop that began with demonstrations and lectures on what hand shadow painting is like in 2 hours, and ended with actual performances of short works.

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The first half started with a demonstration of hand painting by troupe members.
“I know this!” is a major hand drawing of foxes, crabs, dogs, cats, etc. It started from where people felt close to hand drawing, and there were moving voices of emotion from the slightly difficult squirrels and rabbits, saying “oh ~” and “amazing!” regardless of age.
In addition to animals, things that can be expressed, such as tools in everyday life such as “teapots and teacups,” and boatmen using chopsticks, etc., step not only into animals, but also into places where they step into places, and they will sing and demonstrate a short scene where the boatman crosses the boat.

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The “puzzle game,” where you make each shape with your left and right hands and think about what can be created when those shapes are combined, was a corner where children could feel the richness of their imagination.

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Among them, it was introduced that it is expressed using the whole body of what is called a hand shadow painting, such as an “elephant,” which uses not only its hands but also its head.
After that, I watched the performance footage of the children's stories “The Oyayubi Princess,” “The Ugly Duckling,” and “Dancing Animals” for about 20 minutes from the hand shadow painting performance “Hand Shadow Show.” They were children concentrating on nonverbal works without dialogue, and adults who were more moved than children, saying “amazing!”
There were many children who played with shadows on the screen during the break, and they seemed to be having a great time.

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In the second half with a break in between, we went to practice and present the “Dancing Animals” workshop version I watched earlier.
After reviewing the animals we learned in the first half and an additional lecture, we will be divided into a team centered on children and a B team with children, students, and adults in higher grades to practice the work. They were further divided into 3 groups within the team, and I learned hand drawing and order of 12 types of animals in total, 4 types per group.

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While struggling with “the position of the hands and the way shadows come out” when you are practicing with only your hands and when you project shadows on the screen, you will continue to groan and improve in a short time. It was a short presentation time of about 2 to 3 minutes, but after the end, it was full of smiling participants. The sight of the children desperately trying out difficult hand drawing and the adults returning to their childhood and actively practicing while saying “it's difficult ~” was impressive.

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I talked about my experiences this time with my family who couldn't participate in the workshop, and I tried hand drawing with smartphone lights, flashlights, sunlight, etc., and it suddenly came to mind that my experience at this workshop would continue even after I got home.

They cooperated with the Okayama eventNPO Okayama Children's CenterThen, we create opportunities to come into contact with the performing arts, and regularly hold performing arts appreciation sessions, workshops, child-rearing support salons, and children's experience activities. At this workshop, I also felt that a community where parents and children interact with each other through the Children's Center has been formed.

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Workshops with the same content will also be held the next day in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and will also be held in December at 4 locations: Takeo City in Saga Prefecture, Miyakonojo City in Miyazaki Prefecture, Isahaya City in Nagasaki Prefecture, and Iki City in Nagasaki Prefecture.

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Report: Takeuchi Momoko