“Hip Hope Hero” is a two- phase project and involves:

1. An international artistic exchange between schools in South Africa and in the UK

2. The creation of a professional touring show co-produced by The Birmingham REP, and a presentation performed by children at the opening of the show

This involves the creation of a theatre show by school children to be performed in South Africa and in the UK in December 2011.

Using digital technology children work collaboratively to produce and perform in shows that combine puppetry, projection, animation, dance, storytelling and original music.

In this project we will be working with Darren Rajbal, winner of South Africa’s Got Talent. Darren’s style of dance (Hip Hop/street) appeals exactly to the age group of children we will be working with in Britain and South Africa.
As a deaf animator Darren will also inspire ideas for visual communication.

We are currently seeking funding for the South African side of the project which will include Darren running dance and animation workshops in schools in South Africa along side the Moving Hands artistic team.

Check out Darren's 3 min YouTube clip:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVrTRbXjGn4

The creation of a professional touring production

The second phase is the creation of a touring show incorporating images, ideas and music that have come out of working with children in both countries and will be performed by three professional artists and directed by Steve Johnstone.

The production will include visual theatre techniques including mixing puppetry with Hip Hop dance and animation to present stories.

The show will run for 2 weeks at The Old Birmingham Repertory Theatre in June 2012 and will tour for 4 weeks in the UK.

We will develop a short performance piece to be performed by the children alongside the professional artists and using images created by children and artists in both countries.

This project is supported by the Arts Council UK and will be co produced by The Birmingham REP