Pupils at two of the borough's schools had a chance to get creative – and meet 'dancing Ken' from the Barbie movie - with exciting puppetry workshops.

As part of the build up to the Arts & Ideas Festival, Discover Twickenham Bid partnered with the South London Careers Hub and Autin Dance Theatre to host the workshops.

The students learned new skills and learned about how to forge a career in the creative arts, while they were also very excited to find out that one of the puppeteers featured in the new Barbie movie as dancing Ken!

The events took place at Christs School, in Queens Road, Richmond, and the Richmond Park Academy, East Sheen.

The Autin Dance Theatre are the company behind Out of the Deep Blue, which will be taking their supersize creations to the streets of Twickenham on July 1. (Credit Discover Twickenham BID)

The workshops explored puppetry, movement and storytelling activities as well as making simple paper Bunraku puppets.

Bunraku is the traditional puppet theatre of Japan, Bunraku puppets are about one-half life size and each is operated by three performers: a principal operator and two assistants.

The Puppeteers co-operate to manoeuvre the limbs to produce life-like actions and expressions to create a magical and life like performance.

The Autin Dance Theatre are the company behind Out of the Deep Blue, which will be taking their supersize creations to the streets of Twickenham on July 1.

The event tells the story of story of Eko, a sea giant who rises from the deep ocean, uses magical storytelling to bring environmental sustainability into focus for families and festival goers.

The outdoor family spectacle features a 13-foot-tall Sea Giant Puppet operated by 5 world-class puppeteers and contemporary dancers.

The workshops explored puppetry, movement and storytelling activities as well as making simple paper Bunraku puppets. (Credit Discover Twickenham BID)

Speaking about the value of the school workshops, the BID manager, Amanda McLoughlin, said: "It was fantastic to be able to bring puppetry to life for students at local schools as part of the Arts & Ideas Festival. 

"It is important that the festival not only entertains young people but also inspires them to follow their passions and see the creative industries as genuine career opportunity.

"I hope these students will join us on 1st July to see Eko, the larger than life puppet when he comes to Twickenham and will appreciate it with new insight having taken part in the workshops."

Alex Holmes, Whole School Career Leader at Christ's School said: "An amazing workshop from the Autin Theatre team who brought enormous energy and enthusiasm to the session which really engaged students and unlocked their imaginations.

"We saw rolls of brown paper and tape come to life as students learned how to bring expression to them by the use of movement, breath and good team work. We are all very excited to see the show now which should be brilliant"

South London Careers Hub, delivered by the South London Partnership, is part of a national network of Careers Hubs across England. 

The Hub's aim is to improve links between businesses and schools and colleges to give young people insights into the world of work and highlight the breadth of opportunities available in the job market, to enable them to make the right choice about their next steps and to help young people progress into good work.

The workshops ended with a careers panel which gave students an opportunity to hear about the careers journeys of each of the professionals working in the creative industries and ask questions about their jobs and experiences.

South London Careers Hub, delivered by the South London Partnership, is part of a national network of Careers Hubs across England. (Credit Discover Twickenham BID)

Fahim Qureshi, Programmer at Richmond Arts Services joined the panel to talk about the upcoming Arts & Ideas Festival and said: "Thanks for providing the opportunity to pass on my experiences to the future generations of creatives and producers."

Safina Ahmed Operational Lead for the South London Careers Hub said: "I certainly learnt that there is lot more to puppetry than what meets the eye! Students sharing comments, on their way out said that they felt inspired and loved the session."

There was great feedback from students. One said: "I want to work in the industry so it was useful and fun; I have learnt different jobs in the industry, I enjoyed puppeteering", including those inspired to pass on some of their new skills,."

Eko and the Out of the Deep Blue performance will be on York street on 1st July, bringing the magic of Puppetry right into the centre of Twickenham and provides a focal point for A Taste of Twickenham, which is an arts and food trail happening around the whole town on that day.

You can meet Eko on the day at 11:30am, 2pm & 4:30pm including a half an hour promenade around the local streets leading to a static performance back on York Street. Best of all it is all free to attend.

Find out more at https://discovertwickenham.co.uk/whats-on/