Beauville Arts in China

Beauville Arts is involved in an exciting project with the Hong Kong-based charity China Care Fund. Since 2008 we have put on three hugely successful shows in southern China, working with school groups of over one hundred Chinese students at a time, to stage a musical theatre show in English.

The shows are devised and rehearsed in 4 to 5 days and then performed to audiences of around 4000 people.

In February 2012 we are heading to Qinghai province to work with students in this poor mountain region.

Watch videos of our previous China trips:

2008    ‘A Hero’s Tale’  in Guangdong                   2009  ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in Teng Xian
                        

2010  ‘Lion King’ in Teng Xian

The aim of the project is to expose Chinese young people to Western teaching techniques and culture. The young people work on a challenging project, which allows them to express themselves artistically, whilst working and performing in English. The students come from rural villages in China and for many this is their first contact with people from outside China.

The 2009 cast

 

The team includes Jonathan and Claire Mallalieu, Charles Knights and Sarah Guillermin from Beauville Arts plus helpers/translators from China Care Fund.

Dance rehearsal

 

We are interested in hearing from anyone, students, parents and teachers, who might be interested in getting involved.

For more information on China Care Fund visit www.chinacarefund.com

Show night

 

For further information on this project please email Claire on: claire@beauvillearts.com

  • Student letters…

    “I was worried I could not communicate with our foreigner friends. Once we met, I realised that my worries were unnecessary. They were so friendly and humourous.”

    “When the performance ended, we just danced to the music and were crazily happy”

    “When we first met, I was fascinated by your openness and passion which filled me with joy and excitement. I recognised that this was a rare opportunity for me”

    “It was only five days, but we had so much to learn. In those few days, our hearts beat together for one common goal. It was a rare, wonderful experience for us”

    “I shall shut the box and preserve these memories which will last forever”

    “Now we go back to our normal lives, but their smiles have become bright spots in the beautiful landscape of our memories, reminding us to be ourselves, brave, natural and self-confident”

    “I felt a little uneasy before I attended the music camp. it was the first time I interacted with foreigners and performed in English. Truly, it has been an invaluable experience for me.”

    “This taught me that there was nothing I could not do so long as I had real determination”

    “I have benefited not just musically or linguistically, but I acquired new values in life and learnt new ways of doing things”

    “Although we came from different countries, and spoke different languages, this was the first time I was moved and overwhelmed by non-verbal interaction. Words may fail me, but so long as one is sincere, then one can communicate with body language, a look, a smile or applause. So even though I could not talk to them, I believe they could feel the sincerity in each movement I made, each note that I sang each line that I drew and each colour that I painted.”

    “The music camp gave us a different stage to perform on.  What we learnt from that experience became part of our life’s treasures.”

    “When I threw myself into the performance and I let myself go in performing all range of emotions, I truly experienced what “performance” really meant. We have to give our best in our performance, isn’t this also true in life?”

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