Victoria theatre group hosts sensory productions for youngest audiences
Victoria theatre group hosts sensory productions for youngest audiences
The Story Theatre Company is presenting Baby Theatre for young audiences ranging from newborns to two years of age.
A new form of theatre is in its infancy but growing in Victoria, although it has been captivating audiences in other parts of the world for years.
The Story Theatre Company is presenting Baby Theatre, which is the latest trend offering sensory theatre for young audiences ranging from newborns to two years of age.
The show is an opportunity for the very young to interact with different elements of music and sound during the performance, inviting them to touch and play their way through the experience.
“It’s a lot of dance and physical theatre and non-verbal type performance,” says Erica Petty, the artistic producer for the Story Theatre Company and creator of Baby Theatre locally.
“The kids, the way they get so captivated, really becomes a show in itself as well, so there’s a lot of improv, a lot of movement.”
Around eight years ago, Petty was becoming a mother herself and started to get curious about a worldwide trend in making theatre for both young audiences and people with disabilities, called Sensory Theatre.
“What I saw was that these makers were building an elaborate environment and allowing caregiv ctv news vancouver island ers and the very young to play within it, and the result was the ultimate form of collaboration between performer and audience," she says. "Work that’s co-created with youth has always been the type of work I’m drawn to making myself. I was immediately hooked."
In 2020, Petty co-created an original production for babies and toddlers at the Metro Studio and learned a lot about the spontaneous, improvisational nature of children exploring and playing.
In 2022, she started work on her second Baby Theatre show called “Sound Garden.”
This past month, the Story Theatre Company began hosting drop-in play groups at Dance Victoria to allow Petty to continue her collaboration with the community's youngest audience members and figure out what works for this unique age group.
“If they’re into it, they’re into it and if they’re not you can tell,” says Petty, “So I think that’s what’s exciting about working on a work-in-progress like this is just figuring out what works and what doesn’t.”
So far, the audience reviews have been great she says.
“Honestly, they are the most fascinating audience and I haven’t had a cry yet, so very happy babies….so far.”
Petty says families who attend the drop-in groups can expect a relaxing and artistic environment to play in, where the lights are dimmed and music is played, and where she will simultaneously perform, play, connect and model non-verbal communication.
Baby Theatre play groups run every second Wednesday from 11 a.m.-to noon at Dance Victoria at 2750 Quadra Street: Feb 8, Feb 22, Mar 8, and Mar 22.
Space is limited to 12 families and the program is first come, first served. It runs by donation at the door, pay-what-you-can, for children ages 0-2 and their caregivers.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
People who rely on transit to get around parts of the Fraser Valley are scrambling to find alternatives as workers with BC Transit walk the picket line.
Vancouver firefighters were called to the Downtown Eastside Sunday evening after a fire destroyed multiple tents in an encampment and spread to a building near Main and East Hastings streets.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
The University of Prince Edward Island Faculty Association says its staff has gone on strike after what it says are failed attempts to enter additional negotiations with the university's administration.
The student union president at Cape Breton University said food insecurity has become a concern for many students and the on-campus food bank cannot keep up with demand.
A community is in mourning after a 10-year-old girl was killed earlier this week when flames tore through her family’s camping trailer southeast of Brantford.
Waterloo regional police say they arrested nine people for impaired driving over the course of nine hours between 6:30 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and 3:30 a.m. on March 18.
Some residents of Saskatchewan's capital city have been vocal with their disapproval of Tourism Regina's latest rebrand, prompting an apology from the organization.
Police say they found the accused had been driving while under suspension and had an open liquor container in the vehicle, adding to the number of charges he faces.
A 46-year-old man has been taken to hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle crash on MR80 near Donaldson Crescent in Val Caron.
The Story Theatre Company is presenting Baby Theatre for young audiences ranging from newborns to two years of age.
