Sunderland Today : It's black magic

LIGHT-FOOTED pupils from a Sunderland school became shadows of their former selves to take part in a new art film. 

Youngsters from Portland School in Chapel Garth, Sunderland dressed in black from head to toe and performed a series of dancing, walking, and running movements for the film. 

Twleve members of the Equals Youth Theatre, which is based at Portland School, transformed into unrecognisable shadows with balaclavas and dark clothing to take part in an arts project.  

The talented pupils, aged between 11 and 19, had to be in black to enable them to shown as shadows in the completed film. 

A balloon suspended the projectors while filming the youngsters - the same technique which was used in Afghanistan by the Americans to target enemy troops before bombing them. 

Their performance took place at dusk at the Groves site in Pallion _ a deserted former cranes warehouse. 

The dancers were watched by artist David Cotterrell, who is making a film recording, which will be beamed around Sunderland, on arc sites, later this month. 

Equals Youth Theatre leader Rowena Gilchrist said: "Our teenagers were really excited to be part of this project and had great fun running around and dancing in such an extraordinary setting. They thought it was a very strange experience but quite cool. We are all looking forward to seeing the end result." 

The arts project, which is being commissioned by Sunderland arc, is the brainchild of Hobo, an arts collective which is using computer technology to show large-scale video projections. 

Lisa Hodge

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