An innovative education programme is targeting a lacuna in the arts world in Malta: dance performances for children. The surprising aspect of this, Veronica Stivala discovers, is that children are far more advanced than adults think and that all we need to do is make dance performances more accessible to children.

Toi Toi Moves is the latest branch of the Manoel Theatre’s education programme, Toi Toi. The series of dance performances for children aged between four and 11+ kicked off late last year and continue running until June, successfully addressing a lacuna in Malta’s arts scene: dance performances for young people.

Founder and arts education consultant Rosetta Debattista explains how she and her team felt it was time to introduce children to dance and movement.

“Children understand dance more than adults think. Although a performance can be a bit abstract and contemporary, children take it as an art form without too much explaining required. They are emotionally involved,” she says.

Sessions are held for different age groups, namely those aged from four to seven, seven to 11, and 11+. The current season features six shows, with over 120 performances stretching across nine months.

The first of these, Trust Me, was received well by young audiences who “really related to it”, although Rosetta admits that attendance to the dance performance is still the weakest of the Toi Toi shows (which also include theatre and music). Rosetta says shows are always followed by a workshop. She adds how a dance performance offers a different emotional journey to, for example, theatre.

“Children are so sensitive,” she says. “They really follow a performance. I was surprised by these little children, who were so transfixed.”

An added plus to these shows is that they feature live music, which naturally gives them another dimension.

The Toi Toi Moves are a melange of new performances and others that have already showed elsewhere. Rosetta says the importance of repeat performances for the performers themselves who, through repeat shows, can learn to tailor their pieces to their audiences.

Dorian Mallia, founder and director of the Moveo dance company, discusses Trust Me, which premiered at the last edition of the Malta Arts Festival. What is interesting about this performance is that it is a duet, performed mostly blindfolded on a two by two metre box, one-and-a-half metres off the floor.

“For the students and the dancers, the performance feels dangerous. However, in reality it is not about danger, but about trust,” says Dorian.

The dancer stresses the importance of taking productions to schools by noting how this helps students educate themselves about theatre and performance from a young age.

Children are honest and instant in their feedback... that is what makes them a difficult, yet exciting, audience

This is also creating more work for artists, enabling the sector to develop. He also underlines how practitioners always talk about accessibility and audience development, but also that nothing much is being done about it.

Platforms like Toi Toi are bridging these gaps and providing a vast number of performances for people who would not otherwise attend a dance performance.

More needs to be done and Dorian is adamant that the needs of children with disability are better addressed. It is always interesting to get a fresh perspective on things. I speak to Ingrid Sciberras, founder of the flamenco dance company Alegria and a newcomer to the Toi Toi organisation, to learn about the challenges of performing for children.

Ingrid believes strongly in the education of young children in arts and culture, whether dance, music or drama. She admits that introducing young children to flamenco will be a “little challenging”.

“Our idea is to deal with a subject close to their heart and work out the flamenco moves around it with a slightly different twist.”

One of the past Toi Toi performances.

Although the work is still in progress, she does reveal that they will focus on a children’s fairytale and work out flamenco to the different aspects of the story.

Also involved in the project is ŻfinMalta, the country’s national dance company. I am curious to learn how, working on a performance for children, fits into the company’s ethos.

Artistic director Mavin Khoo stresses how this aspect of the company’s work is “absolutely crucial” and “an area of work that ŻfinMalta takes incredibly seriously”. He observes that there is so much being developed within the creative industry in Malta at the moment and that this has led to improved organisational structures and strategies to develop the sector. “Audience development is a major factor and has to remain so. When we talk about new audiences and building a legacy, our focus needs to be on educational and outreach initiatives. Given this perspective, working with Toi Toi is of great importance.”

Indeed, Toi Toi is working hard on encouraging schools to attend these performances. The next show, OdySea: 4 Hands, 3 Dancers, will be followed by a school show.

The ultimate outcome of this performance is for children to become more familiar with masterpieces of classical music.

For this to be achieved, the team wanted to create something which children can interact and have fun with. In this case, that something is a musical maritime quest towards a place of great inspiration, says Kostas Papamatthaiakis, who worked on devising the performance.

Speaking about the challenges in finalising the project, Kostas points out that children’s motivation is not long lived. “They are a difficult audience to captivate and engage throughout a performance.” But the team has taken on this challenge and has attempted to create a world into which children can be instantly drawn. An even stronger challenge is to keep them motivated throughout the whole performance.

Kostas’s frank statement neatly sums up the work being carried out through Toi Toi “Children are honest and instant in their feedback. Perhaps, that is what makes them simultaneously a difficult, yet exciting, audience. In certain ways, we have to be real with them – even if the reality we are presenting is a complete fantasy.”

OdySea: 4 Hands, 3 Dancers takes place today at 11am and 12.15pm.

www.teatrumanoel.com.mt