As part of our New Scots Integration project, Porridge & Play Hubs, we invited Ghanaian dancer Adie Baako
to take us on a family art voyage in Bridgeton, Castlemilk & Cranhill. Read all about them below!

Porridge & Play Hubs is running throughout 2022 with this block being the 2nd of our exciting New Scots Integration Project!
Thank you to everyone who has partnered with us to provide such amazing experiences for our children & families, and to all our Storyplay Champions!

 A Very Special Family Art Voyage for Porridge & Play Cranhill! 

Thursday 19th May

‘That’s Adie teaching us to dance I was kind of dizzy thank you for teaching us to dance!’ – Bukumi

We got our dancing shoes on for our first Picnic & Play Cranhill!

What a welcome back it was – we had families old and new join us for a very special Session 1 of Block 2 and we all had a fantastic time.

Starting outside in the gardens of the Cranhill Development Trust we had a delicious picnic with fruit, bread, cheese, carrots, peppers, cucumbers AND we got to make our own smoothies & milkshakes out of all the ingredients we had. We had some very interesting combinations but they were all scrumptious!

Then we had the truly fantastic Adie teach us Kpanlogo, a classic Ghanian dance – it was so quick and so energetic and so so so much fun!

Everyone gave it a try from our littlest child right up to our biggest grown up and you all looked amazing. We even managed to get solos from each of the children and most of the adults. We loved seeing your personal favourite dance moves right along side the steps Adie was teaching us.

Funky Chicken Fact:

The KPANLOGO is a recreational dance of the Ga people which they created in the late ’50s/early ’60s in part to celebrate Ghana’s independence from the British. The movements are bold and radiate joy. The term “kpanlogo” can also refer to a type of drum – you can see us learning to drum Kpanlogo rhythms with Adie’s friend Thomas here).

While we were having our art gallery, Adie answered questions for us about dance, growing up in Ghana and anything else we wanted to know. We asked him when this sort of dance would be done. His answer? Anytime! Anywhere! Adie also told us how there was music everywhere when he was growing up. You would be on your way home from school and someone would start playing music so you would stop with your friends and dance and dance until you got so hungry you had to go home – if you didn’t get hungry you could be out for so long you might forget where you lived!

Do you remember a time you were playing with your friends and having so much fun that the time just flew by and all of a sudden it was time for dinner? 

Blog by Effie, Andre, Ruby, Rhianne & the Porridge & Play Cranhill Hub!!

Porridge & Play Bridgeton Boogie with Adie too!!

Friday 20th May

‘This has just been great, they love it, and it was so fun and different!’ – Colleen

Our Porridge & Play Bridgeton families loved the season with the extremely talented Adie! The day was very relaxed, and everyone seemed really at home. It was really lovely to see beaming smiles as we danced all together with Adie! It was great to come together to talk about our experiences and share what we did growing up with Adie too. And we got so many amazing dance moves from everyone.

‘I love dancing! My heart collapsed!’ – Afara

We met at Churchy and then opened up Jack’s Magic Map to go on an adventure! We saw a MASSIVE tree and sang Grandma Grandma on our way to Calton Heritage & Learning Centre. Suddenly we met a guard at the gate who challenged us before we entered for a glorious meal. Rayna made smoothies for everyone, handing them out while others had a go.  After eating and drinking, we warmed up our bodies and became Big as A Bear! Then the Funky Chicken came to show Adie what we are all about.

Adie taught us some incredible dance moves that we loved to learn together. Dressed in traditional dance wear, he got us all to line up so we could watch and learn. It was so freeing to all come together and dance. Dance lets us express ourselves in a healthy way. If you’re ever feeling stressed, or sad or even happy, dance lets you move your body and can help you express the emotions you are feeling.

Once we were finished dancing, we all sat in a circle to talk to Adie and get to know more about him and Ghana. Adie let us know what it was like growing up in Ghana and he also commented on how friendly Scotland is.We love that lots of you feel so welcome in Scotland and so does Adie!

Isn’t it great when different cultures come together to show what’s important to them? It helps us see how big the world really is and how there are people just like us but also people different from us and that makes the world so much more fun!

Funky Chicken Fact:

Did you know there are over 50 languages in Ghana! The major ones are Akan, Ewe, Ga, Dagaare, and Dagbani. Out of these 50, only 11 are taught in schools today.

We were sad to see our Storyplay Champion Nicola leave us this week as she moves onto another job, but at Licketyspit we never really say goodbye, just see you later! Nicola will always be able to play our Storyplay games just like all of you!  Everyone loved their Storyplay Champion and showed how important Nicola is to them by signing a card and giving her flowers and a big hug.

There have been lots of friendships forming and at Porridge & Play Bridgeton we love helping one another and showing how much we care about each other! We all really showed how bonded the group has become. Come back any time, Nicola!

Thank you Adie for teaching us how Dance brings people together in the best kind of way!!

Blog by Andre, Rhianne, Ruby and the Porridge & Play Bridgeton Hub!!

Castlemilk learn all about Adie and his moves!!

Wednesday 15th June

‘The energy was very strong. Nice people with their family – they were very motivated. Great at following the moves’ – Adie

What a fantastic Family Art Voyage we had Dancing with Adie at Castlemilk Community Centre!

Our Storyplay Champion Michelle was marvellous as she led a wonderful Big As A Bear for the first time, getting our bodies all warmed up to dance our hearts out! The Funky Chicken wanted in on the action too, bringing a whole host of animal friends to dance the night away.

We were all very excited to learn some Ghanaian dance moves with Adie and enjoyed learning the routine bit by bit. Fiire was right at the front and picked up the moves super quickly and with style. Abu really loved dancing and asked lots of great questions and Anita wanted to know when Adie was coming back again! One of the best bits was when Adie asked us to freestyle in the middle of the group which was fabulous, as it gave everyone a chance to perform their favourite move and have a centre stage boogie with their family and friends. What a crew of good dancers we have at Castlemilk! So lovely to see everyone dancing with joy!

The food was delightful with lots of healthy fruit and some special pizza slices today as requested. Our Special Smoothie Station was very popular and Leon wanted to try all the flavours! We had strawberry & banana and blueberry & banana and a mix of all the fruits including apple and orange, all mixed in with orange juice. Lewis loved his strawberry and banana one and Leon came back for more! Fiire enjoyed creating hers and then drew all the fruits at the end in her picture.

Funky Chicken Fact:

In Ghana a Porridge-style mashed purees of cassava and manioc (Cassava is a nutty-flavored, starchy root vegetable or tuber and Manioc is a type of Cassava grown on a shrub, which is a type of plant) is served with most meals. Fufu is considered the national dish of Ghana. Fish and seafood is widely used in dishes

The gallery was full of inspiring new artists, with lots of pictures of Adie on stage, the lights and all of us dancing. Abu wanted to know if this dance was in another language – what a great question, Abu! Well, the style of dancing comes from Ghana, in West Africa, but the amazing  thing is, we were all able to dance a wonderful West African dance together in Castlemilk no matter which language any of us speak! What a wonderful afternoon!

Blog by Sarah, Taz, Andre, Ruby, Rhianne & the Castlemilk Porridge & Play Pals!!

Thanks to our Hub partners, funders and Picnic & Play partners!

Porridge & Play Hubs Castlemilk, Cranhill & Bridgeton is a New Scots Integration Project by Licketyspit, in collaboration with the Indigo Group, Cranhill Development Trust & Church House.

For Picnic & Play we have partnered with Castlemilk Park, Tollcross Park, The Hunterian Museum, The Science Centre, Glasgow Green, Glasgow Women’s Library, Forth & Clyde Canal Boat Society, the Riverside Museum, the Tallship, Balloch Castle Country Park and Dream Machine! We’d like to say a big THANK YOU to all our partners for helping us provide such an amazing programme for all our families.