Tomorrow sees students and teachers from Deyes High School (Sefton), Shanhu Middle School (Chongqing), Harbin No 1 High School and Lambeth Academy (London) gather together at Siobhan Davies Studios in Southwark for a three day 100 Words workshop. The four schools were winners in the CHINA NOW 100 Words Schools Workshop, run in partnership with the British Council and sponsored by HSBC. The workshop will provide an opportunity for students to work together on developing and creating new material which will be performed in both English and Mandarin to an invited audience on Wednesday evening. We’re co-delivering the workshop with Theatre 503 who hosted a 100 Words workshop/performance involving artists from Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre earlier in the year. It’s the first time that we’re using Siobhan Davies Studios – converted from a Victorian school annexe by architect Sarah Wigglesworth, it’s a stunning building with two superb studio spaces. We’re expecting the week to be a lot of fun and also a real chance to explore the potential of 100 Words as a creative language learning project.

There hasn’t been time in the past week to post regular blogs. From our arrival in Beijing on 6 September to our departure last Friday, it was non-stop. We were based at the China National Paralympic Training Centre, a brand new complex near the airport with stunning sports facilities including outdoor and indoor running tracks, a velodrome and vast sports halls which were used for the workshops run by five groups of trainers from the UK. Aside from 100 Words, the other UK trainers included Northern Ballet Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University, yeastCulture and the Youth Sports Trust. The workshops were just part of a range of activities designed to nurture the leadership and communication skills of around 220 Young Advocates drawn primarily from mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK. The Young Advocates included both disabled and non-disabled people, all of whom were committed to developing the Paralympic Spirit.

The Youth Forum started with a session exploring the Young Advocates’ vision and mission for the week. It was followed by an evening visit to the Bird’s Nest to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games. Everything about the occasion impressed from the stunning architecture and outstanding performances to the enthusiasm of the hundreds of Chinese volunteers. The next two days were spent delivering workshops. We spent much of Sunday using theatre and music games to get to know our group of Young Advocates. By the end of the day we had moved onto writing and our participants had generated several 10 word plays which were subsequently filmed on Monday by Young Advocates involved in yeastCulture’s workshops. On Tuesday we had a day out – a visit to the Great Wall, lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Beijing, a performance by the China Disabled Performing Arts Troupe at the Poly Theatre and another visit to the Bird’s Nest in the evening to watch some athletics in torrential rain. Our final workshop day followed during which, we pulled together content for the ‘Grand Showcase’ performance on Thursday afternoon. This was a true sharing of work created over the week in each workshop and a celebration of the creativity of all the young people involved; a documentary which had been filmed and edited during the Youth Forum was also shown. Our final evening was spent at a VIP reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence, where there was an opportunity to advoacte to Lord Coe and representatives of London 2012 about the success of the YAP Youth Forum and the importance of continuing such initiatves over the next four years of our Cultural Olympiad.

The Young Advocates Programme Youth Forum kicks off tomorrow in Beijing at the China National Paralympic Training Centre. Natasha and John are already in Beijing, having left yesterday. They plan to spend today checking out facilities and potential locations for making 10 word films, as well as meeting up with British Council colleagues, other British arts practitioners and some of the British and Chinese Young Advocates. Tristan and I will join the morning briefing session on Saturday fresh from our flight. In the evening, we’re all lucky enough to be attending the Opening Ceremony for the Paralympic Games in the stunning ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium. Workshops will then run from Sunday for three days, with a day trip to the Great Wall in the middle. The Youth Forum culminates in a Grand Showcase performance on Thursday afternoon. We have a detailed plan worked out for the first day of our workshop but the rest of the content will be very much shaped by the group of young people we’ll be working with. We’re looking forward to meeting them.