Extra News January 18, 2007 (English)
Chicago Youth Put Their Own Spin on ISH
by Jessica Del Curto
Kids of all ages, all colors and all types of skill have been working intensely these past two weeks to put on a production that celebrates the many forms of street art.
The Chicago kids are working with a traveling group from Amsterdam, called Ish. Ish was started in 1999 by Marco Gerris, who wanted to create a troupe that celebrated the talents and disciplines from the street and the club circuit and couple them with aspects of cartoons, video games and film. The troupe added an educational component where they travel around the world and help local artists and teenagers put on their own production. The Chicago Children's Theatre invited the troupe to Chicago and helped find them students through the After School Matters program.
The name Ish came from the suffix ‘-ish' which is used to describe the indefinable.
And that's exactly what the performance is. Ask any of the teenagers what the performance will be like, and they can't really pin down an exact description.
But they can tell you that they are having a blast. At-risk kids from all over the city tried out for Ish. Auditions were held and the kids who were dedicated and willing to learn were accepted.
“It's not important that you have any skill,” said Charlotte Lammers, who is from Holland and is part of the traveling production. “That doesn't matter because we are here to teach you. The only thing we expect is everyone to be committed.”
It's a rigorous schedule for everybody. Kids arrive at the Harris Theater every day after school at 4:30. They are taken into a room where members of Ish teach them various forms of street dance. They break at 7 p.m. for dinner and then are taught things like graffiti letters or other aspects of hip-hop culture until 9 p.m. They rehearse on weekends as well. At the end of two weeks they put on a production to show the public what they've learned.
Students don't just learn how to breakdance. There are all sorts of aspects to putting on a production that members of Ish want kids to learn. There is the public relations side to it, where kids make flyers, design a logo and take part in management. There are also students who help create the video, or design costumes and edit the piece. The Chicago students decided to call their production “Urban Explosion: Movement of the Streets.”
“I have always been interested in graffiti, so I auditioned,” said Joanna Arellano, 16. “We are doing a bunch of things, like street dancing, beat-boxing, scratching. It's wonderful.”
She said she loves that all 45 of the students are from different neighborhoods in the city, and they have come together to make this happen.
The students also get a chance to learn about life outside of America, and experience music and art from other cultures.
Erick Dorris works with the Chicago Children's Theatre as a program coordinator. He said what he has witnessed so far is a cultural exchange of happiness.
“Urban culture – hip-hop culture – is kind of the biggest export out of our country,” he said. “It's in our media, it's in our music and it goes out to the rest of the world, where they put their own spin on it. It's an opportunity for people to see that this is what I do on my streets and it now comes back. It's great to have a global perspective.”