As part of their training, the PGE1 students spent two days on a body expression course, a mixture of dance, martial arts and yoga, given by Polypous, a dance company based in Troyes.
The company stages interactive performances produced by collaborations between professionals and amateurs, dancers and musicians, choreographers and composers. The troupe is also involved in the local community through activities to raise awareness of dance, such as courses, team building modules or cultural trips.

During the seminar, the company gave the students tools to help them become more at ease with their bodies. Verbal language only represents 7% of communication; the other 93 percent is made up of non-verbal communication such as voice intonation and use of the body.

Over two days, the workshop was divided into 4 parts:

• 1st part: letting go, with meditation and yoga techniques
• 2nd part: learning to challenge yourself and challenge others using tools learned from martial arts, stuntwork and acro-yoga
• 3rd part: Building trust, letting loose with dance lifts, work based around touching, listening to others and learning how to work together
• 4th part: creating together. The students used all the disciplines they had discovered and learned over the two days to create a combination of moves and produce a wonderful performance, guided by Polypous, who took them even further in their creative approach.

All the students’ performances made up a small show of around 20 minutes, presented to the school’s administrative staff.

In addition to the tools related to the body, placing your voice, moving your hands within the space and holding yourself, this workshop encouraged good cohesion within the cohort, uniting the group and forming bonds between the students.

All the soft skills acquired during this module will help them present their projects on the course and sell themselves when applying for work placements and job interviews.

They definitely “had the time of their lives!” (A little nod to Dirty Dancing there)