Divas - CANVAS - Intro

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WEEKLY BLOGS FOR THE DIVAS MEDIA GROUP PROGRAM

Oct 14th, 2016
Session 1: Introduction to spoken words

The Regent Park Focus weekly Divas Media Group Program resumed on Friday 14th October, 2016. The Divas were back to having an exciting experience as usual. In this season of the Divas Media Program, the Regent Park Focus has a different plan for the Divas. We have lots of games, fun and exciting activities for the Divas to make their learning experience worth their while. The season started with a ‘spoken word’ series which would go on for a couple of weeks. The spoken word serious would be facilitated by two female professional spoken word artists. In the first class of the spoken word series, the Divas were excited about the art as some of most of them had never written a poem or performed the art before. The Divas were introduced to the art of spoken word, played games, got to know each other, watched videos on spoken word performances and eventually got a chance to create and perform their own spoken word. They all described their experience at the end of the day as exciting.

Oct 21st, 2016
Session 2: Pink hats... Examining Gender norms and Girlhood

This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas were involved in examining gender norms and girlhood. Through forum theatre and spoken word videos, the Divas analyze media representations of gender and femininity. This activity helped them gain a deeper understanding of the gender binary and learn about a range of gender identities, including gender-fluid and trans-identities.

At the end of the session, the Divas composed their first poem that challenges labels and addresses the themes of girlhood and femininity. It was an exciting session for the Divas.

Oct 28th, 2016

Sessions 3: “Maybe she’s born with it”: Deconstructing Media Representations of Body & Gender - Focused On BODY IMAGE This week at the Regent Park Focus Divas Media Group Program, the Divas were introduced to the concept of the media representation of the body and gender as a social construct.
The Divas used images from magazines and social media to challenge societal expectations; emphasizing the ways in which race, religion and ability are commonly represented.

This activity helped the Divas to deconstruct the social concept of “beauty” and representation of the “body”. The Divas also watched spoken words videos about body image. These videos gave the Divas new ideas about their bodies and these ideas were then used to create poems about what their body would say if it could speak.
 

By: Ruth Onogu

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