A group of 30 or so Performing Arts students have been incredibly fortunate to benefit from a project involving rapper Isaiah Dreads and hip-hop dance specialist Isaac Farmer. The project has been run by Activate Performing Arts, who have formed a partnership with the National Trust to produce 'Performing Dunescapes' as part of the Trust's national project 'Dynamic Dunescapes'.
Performing Dunescapes is based in Purbeck and sees Isaiah and Isaac lead movement and music workshops with young people, using the sand dunes at Studland as inspiration. Students met both artists to hear about their work and discuss creative ideas for the project back in September and visited the dunes together. In a series of four workshops throughout October and November, both artists worked with students to develop their song writing and dance skills, in a creative response to their visit to the dunes.
With Isaiah, students devised, rehearsed, performed and recorded their own rap numbers either individually or in small groups, and with Isaac they learnt a range of hip-hop moves and rehearsed a group number. At the culmination of the project, the group's rap recordings were played to an audience of student peers, with Alfie and Marek taking to the stage to perform their songs live. The audience was also treated to a live performance of the group dance number before Isaiah and Isaac took to the floor to demonstrate their talents.
About the artists
Dorset-based hip-hop artist Isaiah Dreads has been making music from the age of nine and has performed at festivals across the UK including Glastonbury, Wireless, Bestival, Lovebox and the Isle of Wight Festival. Through performing and consistent release of videos online he has become an acclaimed MC and rapper, with over 7 million streams on Spotify this year.
Isaiah Dreads (@isaiahdreads) • Instagram photos and videos
Dance artist and choreographer Isaac Farmer is a qualified Street Dance teacher and has achieved titles at International, UK and Regional level. He has danced for over 15 years with Shake Dance and has performed on Britains Got Talent, MOVE IT Main Stage, Breakin' Convention UK Tour, to name a few.
Isaac Farmer (@isaacfarmerr) • Instagram photos and videos
More about the project
The project is funded by the National Trust and is part of the wider Dynamic Dunescapes project, a national project focused on surveying, protecting and rejuvenating dunes across the country as healthy biodiversity hotspots. Many young people living in Purbeck have never visited the dunes at Studland and the overarching aims of the project are to engage young people in this area, inspired by performing arts.
The Swanage School is also involved with the Dynamic Dunescapes project through its Science Department, with students conducting insect and fungi surveys over a five year period to contribute to collection of data on how dunes are changing over time.