Bringing something fun, playful and outrageous back to learning, Tract + Touch’s Wig Show is a participatory romp through voice and identity for children. The four quick 2-3 minute videos are a free resource and the perfect way to tap into some silliness and playfulness to enjoy from home, from school, during lockdowns and beyond.
Wig Show’s crazy vocal warm-up and workouts are an opportunity to exercise self-expression and creativity without any equipment, materials or preparation – they only require expression and every person’s particular uniqueness. The videos aim to inspire children to explore the link between movement and the creation of vocal sound; they provide an understanding of playful phonetics, voice use, and enhance movement coordination. You can be what you want to be. Dance it out, voice it out, work it out!
Producer Mary Paterson comments, When we performed Wig Show live to children, they loved playing around with their voices, their bodies and their identities. We may not be able to tour the show at the moment, but we really want kids to still be able to have that joyful experience. Everyone knows we have to workout our bodies at home, but what about the rest of us? Now, more than ever, kids deserve to have fun, explore who they can be, and let their imaginations run wild.
The Wig Show workouts videos have been adapted from Tract and Touch’s interactive show which had been due to go on tour before the pandemic. In its original form, Wig Show used no fewer than 56 wigs and encouraged audiences to try them on, juggle them, make rhythms and dance with them, make crazy vocal sound for them, and even ‘sing’ their voices. The gently, goofily activist show invited audiences to explore how identity doesn’t have to be fixed and how we can explore identity through our lifetimes, with a particular focus on opening up possibilities to move outside of the limits imposed by gender.
Wig Show is available for free now here
