The Animal Choir

TINY & mighty: Olga Middendorp (pedagogue) and Sarah Kate Gardiner (choreographer).

The Animal Choir: Rixta van der Molen (goat & various small birds), Masaki Komoto (rooster and crow), Hans Müller (grey heron), Miyuki Inoue (cicadas)

Workshop, 60. The Animal Choir performs exclusively for six children (2-6yrs); a dance group known as TINY & mighty. The performance is followed by a workshop with movement and physical play, led by a pedagogue and a choreographer.

**Screen shot from video documentation.** Video documentation is NOT available for the public as it requires consent from the parents. If you wish to see it, contact me!

Accompanied by the adult group leaders, the children enter a silent room where the choir is spread out. This is the first time they meet, and the children are shy. As the choir calls out to them, they move from one performer to another, gathering around their feet to listen.

How do we give them space for the children to reply? As performers, our focus has earlier been set on holding the attention of an easily bored and critical audience. Now we need to learn to be less dominant.

Babies learn language by imitating adults. But before they even know the content of words, they instinctly react to the emotional qualities of the voice. Can this intuitive knowledge be expanded to understand other species?

It is not only babies who imitate parents - adults imitate their babies too! Cooing with babies, parents mix sounds and words, often speaking in a melodic higher pitch, a 'baby-voice'. I'm curious how we, both toddlers and adults, can sharpen our sensitivity for the musical and emotional layers of our voices.

Can imitating animals exist parallell to established pedagogies around language learning? We need a space for it, a room and a social architecture.