Down To Earth at Dairy Meadow Primary School, Southall

On Friday 17th December our Down To Earth project went to Dairy Meadow Primary School in Southall.  It was the last day of term so we were due to perform at 1.15pm as school finished early. It meant we had 2 hours rehearsal time in the morning, lunch break and then the performance to the whole school.  We started the day with a very short warm up and then straight into the workshops.  In spite of the time constraint we managed to finish the morning with time to spare. Year 5 worked very well and kept on task throughout. Performing to the whole school is always slightly more daunting than just to a class or two and you always want to be better prepared than you actually feel.  In every performance there is always one memorable moment and today it took place in the Museum of Extinct and Endangered Animals Scene. We visit a museum where the children recreate a Californian Condor, an Indian Cobra and Salt Water Crocodiles. The Crocs start by holding a still pose wearing crocodile masks, at which point Elton John's Crocodile Rock kicks in and the Crocodiles start dancing. When the music stops the Crocs resume their original pose. This idea was inspired by an Eddie Izzard sketch where he said that cats that purr are actually drilling. Whenever we take our eyes off them they get their drills out and put their goggles on and drill.  Classic Eddie Izzard!  In rehearsal the Crocs were very self conscious and didn't really want to do the dance bit, however in performance it was very different! With the whole school watching they got their confidence and stole the show with some very individual and original dance moves. It was interesting that children felt strongly about animals suffering because of climate change and human activity.  During the performance one little girl in the audience from year 2 spoke out about the killing of an elephant in the Indian scene. She was shocked that a sacred animal could be shot by someone. I guess if we all lived with this value towards the earth we might not be doing this project.  Our Down to Earth/ A Rocha project draws to a conclusion on Monday 20th December at Clapham manor primary school.