How does one keep children busy during this lockdown? “There’s only so much reading one can do, so don’t you start that,” says an annoyed friend, even before I can say something. Go online for storytelling, music classes… “but where are they,” she asks and I turn for an answer to Coimbatore’s artistes.
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Shrinithi Mahendran, storyteller
“It’s a flow of one way communication,” says Shrinithi Mahendran, and though she doesn’t encourage too much screen time for kids, “interactive screen time is still better than just watching videos.” Going online has helped keep herself occupied while continuing to do what she loves. “Also, what is better than stories to keep our morale up and make children happy.”
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Shrinithi used the Zoom videoconferencing app for her first online session and found it both convenient and easy. “I can preside over the meeting as a host just like I could in a real conference room.” She also offers the pros and cons of such online sessions: “there are no geographical boundaries. Some people who lived in different cities signed up and felt like they were in a storytelling programme together.” The flip side is the lack of physical presence. “I wanted to hear their laughter and reactions but I had to keep everyone muted. The charm of working together in a classroom was missing. Also, children just walk out of the screen sometimes to get something or some parent or guardian is in the screen suddenly and they are talking to them. There is distraction because the presence is virtual.”
While she agrees that online sessions are useful to break boundaries she prefers “gathering around in an activity room and learning together.” But then she admits that in such times we do need to make the online work. Her first session was over five days, and she says, “when I was saying goodbye to the children, they asked, ‘won’t you tell us stories tomorrow? Is it because you are busy? We want more sessions.’
Shrinithi’s sessions will be announced on her website childrenofthestarlight.com and her storytelling videos on her Instagram id @childrenofthestarlight and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/childrenofthestarlight/
Leon James, musician
Known for his love and mastery of exotic and indigenous instruments, Leon says he would love to take online sessions but “the real challenge is that most of the instruments I teach are not easily available.” The other factor is that these instruments need hands on experience unlike the guitar, violin or drums that can be taught online. What he is doing online is to “host sessions … give demos and explain the history and the making of various musical instruments.”
On World Theatre Day (March 27), along with Chennai-based theatre group Thinai Nilavaasigal, Leon performed in a live-streaming play “in which each actor delivered their dialogues from their homes. I also did a session with indigenous instruments like the Chinese Hulusi flute, Armenia Duduk, the Brazilian Berimbau and the Australian Didgeridoo.” They used the Zoom videoconferencing app and it worked well, despite some technical glitches, he says. Leon points out that there may be issues with sound and video quality, as “each person uses a different network and connects from different locations. Not everyone has the same Internet speed.”
While agreeing that he can see and interact with his audience in an online session, Leon describes an offline session as a “leap in the dark. I may have beginners, amateurs, enthusiasts, researchers and even other musicians, which is a very different experience compared to a live online show.
Leon can be contacted through his Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/leon.james.39982 ) or on his Instagram handle zulu_leon_musician
Gauri Chakravarthy, theatre artist
Gauri Chakravarthy was supposed to hold drama classes at Helen O’Grady International; “I had it all planned and did not have the heart to drop it,” she says. So she moved them online. “This is the first time I am conducting an online session and I am both sceptical and excited,” she says. Gauri will use the Zoom videoconferencing app and each session will have 20 students, as “I understand that Zoom allows interaction with 20 people at once.”
Gauri has formulated her curriculum to suit the online world. “I won’t be able to see my students like I do in face-to-face sessions so I made it very interactive and fun,” she says. Participants will learn the basics of speech, creative movement and mime and improvisation and “there will also be competitions like storytelling, recitation and mini scriptwriting.”
Gauri will conduct two sessions: one for ages eight to 12 from April 3 to 10 (11:00 am to 12:00 noon) and the second for those above 13 years from April 6-13 (12 noon to 1:00 pm). Registration fee is Rs750 each and those who wish to enrol can call 9677780227.