The Bloekomboom Project is a community project that combines drawing and dance in workshops for children aged 6 to 12. It is facilitated by Henk Serfontein (artist) and Hannah Loewenthal (dancer) and was initiated as an investigation of the connections between their respective creative practices. 

The workshops were developed in collaboration with a child psychologist and were initially conducted with a group of children from the Andrew Murray Children’s Home at the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington. The project is well suited to include children with special needs. This includes children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The facilitators share an interest in the transformative power of the drawing and dance processes, and the advantages it has for children with special needs.

This interdisciplinary process normally commences with movement exercises around the child’s own body to encourage an awareness of the self, and self-expression. The natural environment and the child’s immediate surroundings are usually explored as themes within a safe and supportive space.

Some of the collective drawings from these workshops will be exhibited during the festival. A series of photographs illustrating the process of the workshops gives the viewer a glimpse into the magic of this transformative process.