Glove Puppets from Kerala - avrl 2011

Glove puppets from Kerala (southern India)

Tuesday 6 April the class of U.M.L. and L.M.S. went to see the Glove Puppets from Southern India at the TNBA.

The stage was occupied by 4 men, one was singing and the 3 others were playing with the puppets. A fifth Indian was playing a drum. At the front was placed an incense burner, because the first story was about a perfumed flower. The show was cut in three parts, the first story a pause and the second story. Before a story started an Indian man speaking in English explained the story and a French translator translated. This puppet company is the only one in all India to tell the traditional stories of Kerala.

The second story was about a fight between two kingdoms which happened after a game of dice. The losers were shamed when the king of the winners wanted to undress Princess Panchali. The god, Krishna, helped Panchali not to be shamed, and later, peace was restored when Bhima killed the king.

By Victoria Bismuth (LMS)

Comments from UMS:

“It was quite funny to see men singing and making music to accompany the show but I thought the drummer was very skilfull.” (Sam)

“The puppets looked liked dolls so it seemed a bit strange that grown men should be playing with them.” (Ryan)

“It was too noisy; I didn’t like the smell of the incense sticks. It all gave me a head-ache.” (Max)

“The puppeteers’ faces expressed the same feelings as the puppets were meant to have and the drumming accompanied the setting of the scene.” ( Martim)

“I liked the dancing movements of the puppets.” (Antoine)

“It was ridiculous.” (Tomer)

Ballet Balanchine 22 mars 2011

On 22nd of March 2011, Bordeaux International School with the Secondary class students went to “Grand Théâtre” to watch a performance of the ballet Balanchine.

The theatre itself, was quite impressive with elegant green seats. A number of balconies decorated in a golden colour gave us an impression of the 18^th century when the theatre was built .There was also a big fresco of angels on the ceiling which gave a warm feeling to the room. In the middle there was a large stage. It was simple with not many details only the background lit by the stage lights. A small orchestra was situated under the stage so you could only see the conductor standing and waving his baton above them.

The first performance ”Apolon” was danced to the Violin concerto of Igor Stravinsky. A highly skilled male dancer started the performance pretending to play the instrument followed by precise and elegant movements. As the music played on, three girl dancers started to appear on the stage, making smooth movements and shapes with their legs and arms. The amazing shape they made was when their hands were interwoven with each other, in a really complicated form but done flawlessly.

One girl was carrying a harp, the second one a mask and the third one something that looked like a letter or a book. It was really interesting because they were making a story while dancing. They were wearing white leotards with white tights.

“Les Tempéraments” I found more amusing. This time, the girls were wearing black leotards with white tights which looked more sophisticated and serious. Also, the choreography was more diverse and harder to do. I found it outstanding.

Silvana Saveljic (IGCSE Second language)

vie citoyenne européenne à BIS

Victor Brisson ( CM2/LMS1) a passé 3 jours à Bilbao en tant que délégué de BIS au Conseil Municipal des Enfants de Bordeaux. Voici son récit : 23/3/11 We had to be at the Cours d’Albret at 6h45. When we arrived in Bilbao, we went to the Mairie and we saw Bilbao’s Director of Education. We visited the Mairie. After lunch, we visited the exhibition of Shanghai. We saw an animation film in the dark and watched the little model city (in plastic) light up when that bit of the City was in the film. Unfortunately however, there was a power cut and we had to leave the exhibition early! After, we went to the hostel where we slept. 24/3/11 The next day we went to the office Building which organizes the Port of Bilbao. The lady in charge of the Port explained to us the history of the port and how it works. After, we went to the office of the Metro Bilbao and we even went into the driver’s cabin of one of the subway trains! For lunch, we ate “pinchos”: a typical lunch in Bilbao. Then we visited the old area of the city. We went to the Guggenheim and then we went to the French Institute to explain to the adults what the Conseil Municipal des Enfants is, and what we do in it. After that, we went to a restaurant with Spanish children and returned back to the hostel. 25/3/11 On the last day, we went to a school near Bilbao to explain to the children what the Conseil Municipal des Enfants is, and the class then explained to us what they did in their class. Finally, we returned to Bordeaux by bus! By Victor Brisson