Get ready to watch a rocking performance by kids from Dharavi

Londonbased drummer Sam Agard instructs participants at a drumming workshop PicsSayyed Sameer AbediLate evening on Tuesday a classroom at Xaviers Institute of Engineering in Mahim explodes with drumbeats as 10 youngsters from Dharavi connect sticks and hands with multicoloured water barrels buckets and dhols Their eyes are on Sam Agard a drummer from London who uses gestures to instruct them to lower the decibels In the centre of the room British breakdancer Ed Stephen directs young boys and girls to match streetstyle moves to the beats As soon as Agard closes his fingers into a fist the group stops at once and a resounding silence echoesEd Stephen teaches a breakdance moveThats owing to the sign language the group has developed over the last three days since they began undertaking intensive fourhour workshops with the British artistes as part of the Dharavi Rocks Creative Exchange The weeklong workshops on drumming beatboxing and breakdancing will culminate in a twoday dance and music performance at The Mumbai Assembly in Bandra and Koli Maidan in Dharavi this weekendEmmanuelle de Decker GatecrashThe project is in collaboration with citybased nonprofit ACORN Foundation The Roundhouse mdash a performing arts and concert venue in London mdash and Gatecrash a consulting agency that curates independent artistes for Indian and international music festivalsLondon dreamsThe project thats supported by Arts Council England features 30 underprivileged youngsters from the age of 13 to 25 While some of the performers are part of Dharavi Rocks a music and dance project initiated by ACORN and blueFROG seven years ago most of the others are newbies selected via auditions by a panel of artistes including singer Suneeta Rao Weve done oneday workshops with the kids in the past but this is the first time theyre receiving intensive training from foreign artistes The idea is to offer serious musical education that will allow them to take up performing arts as a career shares Vinod Shetty founder of the nonprofitGatecrashs founder Emmanuelle de Decker who has put the project together adds The British artistes will also select four youngsters who will be invited to perform in London in November as part of On Mass project organised by the Roundhouse Its a collaboration of 200 kids from all over the world The organising team also plans to set up a professional structure around these young talents to support their longterm career plansMeet the Brit artistesHaving started drumming in 1987 Agard is part of Kinetika Bloco a UKbased performance group and plays brass and woodwind instruments steel pans and drums He says For this performance I want the kids to play drums in the Jazz style of 1920s So I showed them videos of the Charleston dance to understand the sounds I have arranged the junk drums in three sections depending on the sound they produce Meanwhile UKs first professional female beatboxer and threetime world champion Bellatrix neacutee Belle Ehresmann has been roped in to conduct beatboxing workshopsStephen who tutors the street circus collective at The Roundhouse adds We wont use any recorded music for the performance So I will choreograph the moves according to the music of drums and beatboxers Besides teaching them techniques we also want to inculcate qualities of leadership and teamwork through dance and music Thats the reason Agard has asked 13yearold Meet Ravaiya to lead the drumming groupSince its a creative exchange Decker has paired each British artiste with an Indian name While Bellatrix teaches with the help of Nagesh Reddy aka Sphere FX Stephen choreographs along with Sumeet Suvarna aka BBoy Ninja popular on Mumbais HipHop circuit Agard has been paired with 30yearold drummer Harsh Karangale At Saturdays performance also watch out for popular rapper Naezys guest setON February 4 7 pm AT The Mumbai Assembly 16 Veronica Road Bandra WON February 5 6 pm AT Koli Maidan Dharavi