Lab Life: The Firebird Lab’s Stepping Stones

You’re invited to…Lab Life: The Firebird Lab’s Stepping Stones

Design and make steppingstones that express you and your family’s interpretations of the classical music masterpiece The Firebird. This Lab Life aims to explore emotions, find different ways of sharing them and develop empathy for others. You will take part in activities and games with expert facilitators.

What can I expect at Lab Life: The Firebird Lab’s Stepping Stones?

There will be a range of activities to get you listening to music, interpreting it, building, playing and making. All of it will contribute to an installation by BitterSuite, our 2019 Cultural Residents. The activities are run by classical composer Steph Singer and dancer and facilitator Linzy Na Nakorn from BitterSuite.

Activities you can try out:

• Imaginative listening and musical storytelling
  Tell a story inspired by The Firebird and share it with your family. Listen to the music, feel it and let it take you on a journey of imagination. Then as a family, share the stories you have imagined, by describing the worlds, characters, stories and ideas that the music inspired.
• Add to the empathy wall
  Classical music is known to inspire ideas and emotions. You’ll be asked to think about what emotions you hear and how that relates to others. Build an emotional vocabulary with your children, that you can use during the workshop and long after. Add your ideas to the growing words wall.
• Sensory Pictionary
  How do you express emotions if you can’t use words? Join our movement experts and use touch, sound and sensory props to share what emotions you are feeling.
• Textural emotions sensory bar
  How do emotions feel? What textures can you use to describe them? At the sensory bar designer Freyja Sewell will help you select textures and materials to build an individual stepping stone – one for every member of the family. You will use all the work and imaginative games from the day to inspire you to design and make a ‘stepping stone’.
• Performance: Step on the stepping stones!
  Put your stepping stone on the floor and then as a family walk on each stepping stone in turn. As you step on each member’s stepping stone you’ll be encouraged to share what you feel.

When is Lab Life: The Firebird Lab’s Stepping Stones?
There are two session on Sunday 9 June. The morning session is from 10:00am – 12:30pm and the afternoon session is 1:30pm – 4:00pm. Please arrive at the start of your session to get the most from these activities.

Who is Lab Life: The Firebird Lab’s Stepping Stones for and how much does it cost?
These sessions are suitable for children aged 5-12 years old and their parents/carers. Tickets for this event cost £5 for both children and adults. The event is held at the Imagination Lab, The Workshop, 26 Lambeth High Street.

About The Firebird Lab
Each year, the Institute of Imagination runs a cultural residency and this year’s theme is empathy. BitterSuite’s project, The Firebird Lab, is this year’s residency and responds to the theme by exploring Stravinsky’s classical music piece The Firebird through multi-sensory workshops. The project aims to boost the ability to understand the feelings of others, by sharing and exploring different responses to the same piece of music. The multi-sensory approach is a fun, experiential way to try out expressing emotions in different ways. The residency will take place between April to July 2019 at the Imagination Lab. There will be a series of workshops for children, families, schools and adults to contribute to The Firebird Lab. To see other workshops int he series, visit the what’s on page.

The Cultural Residency is kindly supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Arts Council England and the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust.