LAA’s 11th anniversary celebrations saw the reprisal of an original production Chutki, staged in 2013 that was written by a former student. The story was adapted from Paro Anand’s children novel Wingless, in which the protagonist, angel princess Chutki finds friendship and love in her journey to gain acceptance for being different.
A jungle scene comes alive in 3D from the iPhones of audiences as they watched the children of arts training centre, The Little Arts Academy (LAA) perform in “Ki”, a year end theatre show adapted from English author Rudyard Kipling’s classic children story, The Jungle Book.
The jungle scene is one of several digital backdrops that have been created and animated by the children and youths aged six to 19 using digital art tools such as Google’s Tilt brush to provide an immersive experience.
This infusion of technology is a first time for a production by LAA, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in November 2018.
Says curriculum manager, Azizah Abdullah, “The children have taken the ownership for this performance to go beyond traditional art making so as to bring a new experience to this production. They feel a sense of accomplishment when they see their works come to ‘live’ through the use of digital technologies, which opens up new and unexpected possibilities.”
Performed by the children of The Little Arts Academy, DamaiLane: Part 1, is based on Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho. The story follows the life of Dara, a young village girl who wins a scholarship to study in the city school. Her Father, a conservative man disapproves of her furthering her studies, while her brother, Kamal becomes envious. Dara faces obstacles at every turn and eventually overcomes them and proved to herself and others that she is capable.
As the end of 2016 approaches, it is now time for the LAA’s annual year-end production. This year, the play put up will be a reimagination of Roald Dahl’s riveting children’s novel ‘The BFG’, the story of a big friendly giant, his human friend Sophie and their quest of a lifetime to save the children from human-eating giants. The morning of 1 December, opening day of ‘The BFG’, is buzzing with adrenaline at 10square@Orchard Central, where the play will be held. This is the day that the children have all been waiting for, the day they will showcase their individual talents, after weeks upon weeks of tireless rehearsals. Here’s a peek of ‘The BFG’!
This anniversary production titled A Tree’s Tale is adapted from The See-Saw Tree, a play written by David Wood. Performed by children from The Little Arts Academy, it tells a story of resilience and creativity in the face of adversity. The play ends with a twist which asks for your participation.
A beautifully painted cherry blossom tree, accompanied by white cranes neatly scattered on the floor of the auditorium at 10 Square @ Orchard Central was the focal backdrop of LAA’s 6th annual production, Dreams.
More than 40 children and youth were involved in the production. Dreams was graced by Ms Kathy Lai, CEO, National Arts Council, and attended by board members of The RICE Company Limited, Board of Trustees of The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, partners, sponsors, families and guests. Held from 22nd to 23rd November 2014, the children performed in front of almost 200 guests who came to watch the two productions.
After almost three months of intensive rehearsals, the day to stage LAA’s fifth anniversary production – Chutki, had finally arrived. An hour before the matinee show was scheduled to start, parents and guests were lining up outside for their tickets to gain admission at the Alliance Francaise.
Chutki is a story that advocates acceptance, while at the same time presenting the beauty of the arts. This story was written by Nur Shahanaaz Muhd Taufik, one of the Youth Division theatre students, and was adapted from the story Wingless, by Paro Anand,about theangel princess Chutki who was born without wings and thus treated differently by the other angels.
More than 60 children from across all four art forms and youth from LAA were involved in the production. The children and youth ballerinas took on the role of Happy and Dark Angels, while the Nu Style dancers were the street kids that introduced Chutki, our protagonist, to the beauty of the arts. The budding actors from the Children Division took on the roles of the main and supporting casts. Coordinating all of them, as well as the stage was the Young Actors Anonymous, the Youth Division @ LAA theatre group. The youth took on the roles of Assistant Director, Costume Designer, Stage Manager and more, taking charge of the performance from the backstage.
