In the Beginning

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• Windmill established this unique project in 2002. The aim was to explore what would create a memorable performance experience for very young children. To craft an engaging 'first' performance for children under 4 years of age, it was important to go into their space and observe them at play and interacting with artists. From 2002-3 Windmill coordinated visits of three artists (musician, dancer and visual artist) into three childcare centres. Undergraduate students from the School of Early Childhood, University of South Australia, documented the children's response to the artists. The observations informed and provided practical examples of how children at this young age respond to external stimuli. The role of the artists was to explore their craft, not to 'teach' dance, music or visual art. The text selected was well known children's author Mem Fox's picture book WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP? (Winner of the 2005 Children's Council Picture Book of the Year). The book deals with concepts and concrete objects and used rhyme and repetition, and in the second year of the project the artists were given specific concepts from the text to explore using sound, movement and images.
  
  
• The student's observations over this two-year period were collated and provided a basis for the development of the performance experience for the Director, Cate Fowler. What emerged were the beginnings of a genre of theatre that focussed not on a formal theatre setting but one that included the young audience in a safe and engaging setting, 'installation theatre'. Cate opted to work with a visual artist rather than a theatre designer to create the space in which the children were to be placed to view the performance.
  
  
• The final stage of the creative process was a two-week residence in a childcare centre with three performers, a musician/composer and the visual artist. Professor Wendy Schiller from the de Lissa Institute of Early Childhood and Family Studies (UniSA) provided the performers with an insight and knowledge into the various stages of development for children from 18 months to 4 years.

Windmill's production THE GREEN SHEEP, based on Mem Fox & Judy Horacek's book WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP? was first performed for the Come Out 2005 Festival.