PEACE, LOVE, UNITY 
and having FUN 
is Hip Hop… 

We ran PLUF as a two-week workshop for rangatahi (young people) in Orongomai (Upper Hutt) over the January 2020 holidays.

Using movement and spoken word, PLUF gave youth space to help strengthen their relationship with themselves. An in-depth experience to gain familiarity with themselves through sharing their thoughts and emotions. To connect how we think, how we feel, to how we act.

What if we were given the choice to recreate our entire self, can we see who or what we want to become in the near future?

The kaupapa of PLUF is to guide rangatahi to decipher our unique way to experience and share Peace, Love, Unity, and Fun.

We will explore the benefits of ‘Recreation’ : re-designing ourselves to reflect what we have experienced and come from. PLUF is a space where we deepen our knowledge of ourselves.

We hope to re-write individual self-expression by creating an environment where we can safely unravel ourselves. Making space to be vulnerable, through building a supportive group culture that searches and listens together without prejudice – respecting each others unique current value systems.

We will slowly start to train and develop the connection between body (feelings/physical experiences) with our mind (thoughts/verbal translation) using movement/dance and spoken word/poetry. Every tool we have is offered, not forced. Of course, gentle challenging within new environments is necessary for growth, and all of our team are sensitive and aware of what might need to be adapted to specific situations.

Once this connection is made of mind and body, we will start to develop the skills on how to articulate and talk about things that we are internally experiencing. This performance work will be focused on having fun, and collecting resources from which to cultivate our individual creative voices to find our authentic self.

After challenging our previous and current selves in order to protect our future. We will open up our progress by sharing this journey with family and friends at a showing. Not only will we redefine our perceptions of ourselves but look at re-writing narratives that other people have placed on rangatahi and hip hop culture.

TEAM

Both from Upper Hutt, artists Connor Masseurs and Rose Kirkup want to use PLUF as a way to give back to their community. Ten years apart, they are both passionate about youth work having consistently wrapped it into their arts’ practice.

Connor Masseurs aka Ooshcon is a Hip Hop / contemporary choreographer & performer based in Aotearoa. A graduate of NZSD, he has already taken his work around the world.

Rose Kirkup is a writer, performance designer, facilitator and co-founder of Everybody Cool Live Here.

Jahra Wasasala is a multi-disciplinary artist working as a contemporary dancer, poet, and choreographer.

Community
If you’d like to be kept up to date with the work we do you can sign-up to regular updates here or get in touch to see how you can be involved, or contribute.

Support

So far we’ve received funding from Creative New Zealand. Additional funding will enable us to wrap around more support, and continue to remove barriers for young people to participate.

Down the Line
Following the workshops, we will brainstorm alongside participants’ possible ways in developing the work or individual artists.

We see this stage of PLUF at Upper Hutt as possibly the first stop our on a journey down the #huttline.

If you, your community or business are keen to jump on board and support this mahi, then reach out via: nic@everybodycoollivehere.com