Lalit Gupta
The mad race to score maximum marks in annual exanimations and with unending school to tuition cycle, children are hardly left with any free time for themselves. The summer holidays therefore come as an opportunity for children to get a break from the otherwise stressful routine.
It is up to parents to decide whether to let children in free time completely immerse themselves in a world where only video games, televisions, iPods and computers exist or to make the summer break as an occasion for physically and creatively refreshing experience.
Other than the outdoor activities like trekking, rock climbing and going to sports stadia for different sports, the alternative which has caught the fancy of number of parents is to enroll children in summer workshops which are designed to help children become more expressive and imaginative would the best idea.
According to recent studies, summer workshops that provide complete change from classroom education are widely enjoyed by children as they enable them to explore their personalities, and make friends, in a non-academic way. Such workshops for children of different age groups organized by individuals and NGO’s in capital city of Jammu and other district towns of the region have emerged as popular choices during summer breaks for parents who are looking around for options that best suit their child’s temperament.
In comparison to metros like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, where acting, art, craft, animation, poetry, photography, aeromodeling, dance and movement, comedy, creative writing and many more activities attract children, the choices offered in summer workshops in city of Jammu and other major towns mainly focus on theatre, painting, pottery, clay modeling, ceramics, dance and music.
Painting:
Conducted by private art studios, individual artists and art students, painting workshops are the spaces where a child discovers new ways to express themselves. He will also get to work with paint, fabric and other fun materials.
Art and craft are activities manage to quieten even the most errant of children. A perfect way to pass time while creating something that one can call one’s own, the memories of items produced can stay with you for life, with the happiness of creation, equaling the greatest highs of life all through.
Other than city’s one of oldest art studios, Kesar Art Circle near Jewal, today one can virtually find art studios and individual art teachers in every area. Parents also find these neighborhood workshops convenient as it saves time and hassle of commuting long distances. Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages (JKAACL) also holds painting summer workshop for children regularly.
Pottery/Ceramics/Clay Modeling:
Studio pottery is another popular area where children get introduced to the thrill of making and handling clay, creating forms through methods like pinching and rolling before going on to shaping clay on the potter’s wheel. Clay being an easy and malleable medium for creating sculptural forms inculcates in children the respect and understanding of materials and tools, along with excitement of creating shapes that one likes. At the end of it one can also take back home what is created in form of fire baked terracotta and ceramics.
Presently studios in Jammu like the one opposite the Church on Extension Road Gandhi Nagar, near Shopping Centre Bakshi Nagar, Kabir Basti Bohri and at Sangrampur, are offering short term summer courses in pottery\Clay Modeling and Ceramics. Theatre:
Jammu being one of the active centers of modern theatre in the country, boasts of many amateur active theatre groups. Some of these groups are regularly offering summer theatre workshops where kids learn basic theatre techniques. Such summer workshops also culminate in the staging of a play.
Jammu’s well known group, Natrang, is doing Children’s theatre in Jammu since 1992. It started a full fledged children’s weekend club which works around the year with an exception of a break of one month in March every year.
Speaking about role of theatre in development of child’s personality, Balwant Thakur, Natrang’s founding director, said that theatre has amazing power to bring an all-round change in human beings, particularly in children. This is high time that people of Jammu should expose their children to theatre. “Theatre and arts are the most developed techniques of human and personality development and empowers a person with lot of confidence and sharpens of mind”.
Samooh Theatre, Nav Durga Kala Mandir, Ek Saath Rangnmanch and many other groups are also holding summer theatre workshops for children in Jammu. JKAACL also organizes Summer Theatre Workshop.
Dance:
The dancer does with the body what a poet does with words, or painters with a brush—communicate ideas, feelings, experiences, and tell stories. This is certainly true for contemporary dance forms.
Supposed to be a complete exercise for the body, dance provides physical, developmental and artistic benefits to children. Apart from muscle strength and flexibility, young dancers develop a sense of balance and improve agility and coordination. Importantly, develop body awareness and learn correct posture. Studies have shown that physical activity like dance helps children relieve stress and feel relaxed. It also is a great way to help your child develop a positive lifelong attitude about staying active and healthy.
Dance classes are fun and a great way to meet new friends. Young dancers develop essential social skills through interaction with other students. Group choreography fosters teamwork, communication, trust and cooperation. Dance also has been proven to nurture important life skills, such as discipline and focus. Dancers naturally display confidence, self-esteem and poise. These skills are developed through participating in dance performances. One of the greatest benefits of dance is that it sparks a child’s imagination and nurtures individual creativity in a unique way. Dance classes share the joy of physical self-expression in a supportive and structured setting. This can have a positive impact on children who have limited physical abilities, who act out or who have a difficult time sitting still. Involving children in dance also teaches the basic elements of creative movement, such as time, space, rhythm and design. While people may not be as familiar with modern dance as with ballet or jazz, modern dance in particular honors the creative spirit and celebrates the individual. Modern dance does not simply conform to conventional movements, shapes and patterns. Instead, it requires the young dancer to learn movement from the inside out, nurturing the body and focusing the mind. There is one final reason to get your child dancing. In Jammu there are many dance academies and institutions, which along with conducting regular classes also hold summer workshops for children in modern dance forms where movement and rhythm are the main focus. Other than Jammu many such dance schools are also working in towns like Kathua and Udhampur.
Shashi Gupta of Friends Dancing Institute having two branches in Chhanni Himmat and Bakshi Nagar said that parents in Jammu are very much enthusiastic that their children learn dance. He said dance programmes on TV channels like Dance India dance, Boogie Boogie, Dance Ke Super Star have also made aware the talented children and their parents the need for proper training. He said dance institutes in Jammu like Grace, Unique, Jackson dancing institute and many more are holding dance classes for children regularly.
Apart from modern dances, the classical dance like Kathak is being taught by few ‘nritya gurus, in Jammu including V N Kohli, Naryan Prashad, Priya Dutta and few others. The summer dance workshop is also held by JKAACL.
Music:
In city of Jammu, which boasts of old tradition of Hindustani classical music, number of Sangeet Vidyalayas continue to be run by senior musicians and music teachers for training the interested children and young persons in classical music both vocal and instrumental.
But in last few decades western music institutes have also been part of city’s cultural landscape. Teaching children instruments like guitar, drums etc., and such music schools also run short term courses in summer.
Recently held music programme ‘Golden Guitar’, in which number of young guitar players participated showed that western music is becoming popular with students. This coupled with many public schools liked Heritage and Jodhamal also running music schools in their premises have given a boost to western music in Jammu. So it is high time before kids have exhausted all their sports, run out of games to play and before they start complaining about boredom, parent should enroll their children in summer workshops to channelize their energies as well as give an opportunity to do something creative and imaginative, where for a change they can be themselves and not mechanized zombies caught up in grind of modern day formal education.
Till few decades back, summer breaks for children meant much anticipated visits to homes of maternal uncles, aunts or other willing relatives and friends, While accompanying adults (mostly mothers) welcomed the change from grueling domestic routines, children relished opportunity to meet cousins, their cousins and local lads and lasses who often became all-time friends. Away from the hawk eyes of parents, the thrill of roaming outdoors, exploring surrounding landscape, glens and forests full of chance encounters with exotic birds, animals, plants and herbs, climbing trees, pluck mangoes and other seasonal fruits, playing folk games, bathing in nullahs, chos, baolies and streams—it was a wonderful and invigorating experience. Everyone came back with gifts, happy memories and the longing to do it again next year. Those were of course the times of ‘‘normal’ childhood in joint families, of care and respect, offering hospitality to guests, of sharing love and affection: A life which offered a high degree of happiness quotient.
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