Sisters Grimm, whose award-winning production of INALA, a Zulu Ballet opens at The Peacock Theatre in London’s West End on 30 April, announced on Wednesday 24 April their educational partnership with the Mosaic Initiative at The Prince’s Trust, providing access and opportunities for young people to benefit from the INALA experience.
Sisters Grimm are working with the Mosaic Initiative’s Secondary School Programme that will see over 1,000 young people and their families attend a performance of the show, participate in a pre-show experience and learn about the career opportunities within the theatre industry.
The Partnership offers the opportunity for young people from a range of communities across London to experience INALA, at no cost. The INALA Schools Programme aims to engage with and inspire young people, offering insight into the creative process, introducing new career paths and raising aspirations. Sisters Grimm are passionate about developing future audiences and making their work accessible to all.
Limited tickets are still available to schools and youth groups for weekend performances only. Interested groups should contact Florence Hawkins, Schools Programme Manager at [email protected] for more information.
INALA delivers an exhilarating fusion of South African and Western cultures live on stage, presenting three-time Grammy® Award-winning choral legends, the Soweto Gospel Choir, with choreography by multi award-winning Mark Baldwin OBE and current and former members of The Royal Ballet and Rambert.
Nizam Uddin, Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust says,
“The Mosaic Initiative is proud to support the INALA Schools Programme. The ambition of Sisters Grimm to open the Arts to as many communities of young people as possible is one we passionately share. Their commitment and involvement with Mosaic also enables us to reach our common mission of connecting those young people to more relatable role models and helping to give them the confidence to visualise success in a form that they can both relate, and aspire to.”
Pietra Mello-Pittman, Producer at Sisters Grimm says,
“Sisters Grimm piloted its social impact programme as a response to the terrorist attacks and Grenfell Tower tragedies in the summer of 2017 to unite people and to encourage community cohesion. We are now honoured to be partnering with the Mosaic Initiative for our INALA schools programme to expand our offering further. We have a vision of a society that celebrates diversity, in which individuals are inspired, access their emotions, and are empowered to take their own decisions. Sisters Grimm aims to enhance empathy, self-expression and inspiration among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, by offering them access to high quality, entertaining theatre and a framework to develop their own creative activities at school.”
At every performance of INALA’S three-week run at The Peacock, there will be 75 tickets on offer for London-based secondary school students and their families. Mosaic partner schools including Orchard Park High, Deptford Green School, Skinners’ Academy, Southfields Academy, Prendergast Vale, Westminster Academy, Bishopshalt School and Greenshaw High School will be bringing their students to a performance. Sisters Grimm will also offer sessions and opportunities to the students, including a pre-show Q&A with company members and the chance to watch a company warm-up, as well as the offer of a subsequent workshop at their school with the INALA cast and crew.
This will be an amazing enrichment opportunity for the students who are taking part in the Mosaic Secondary School Programme, as well as the wider student body of each school. The schools who host Sisters Grimm Careers Workshops will get expert advice – they’ll be given an introduction to all the different roles involved in staging a West End production; from performance related advise to an insight into behind the scenes roles. Leading these presentations and workshops are Sisters Grimm founders and INALA Producers Pietra Mello-Pittman and Ella Spira. As a former Royal Ballet First Artist, Pietra has first-hand experience working both on stage and backstage and can offer sound advice on both and Ella who left school at 17 has since become a Grammy nominated composer and inspirational business woman.
Ella Spira, Producer at Sisters Grimm says,
“I grew up in a diverse but edgy inner city part of Gloucester, considered to be very rough and what we’ve achieved shows that with vision, hard work, focus and resilience, it doesn’t matter where you come from.”
The workshops will consist of a Warm Up Class introducing ballet and Zulu dance techniques as well as Repertoire – when the students will learn a short piece of rep from the show. They will then be encouraged to take part in a Creative Task – based on the way choreographer Mark Baldwin OBE created movement for the production they will create their own sequence, and finally the students will be encouraged to share their performance of the work, both at school and via Social Media with the hashtag #ShareYourRhythm
