Blog: The Phoenix Project
Imagine it.
One morning you arrive at school, ready for a day of learning and playing with your friends. You skip into your classroom and there stands a warrior. Dark green outfit, red and yellow tartan sash. Wild hair. Black war paint across the cheekbones. Someone from a different time.
Surely not?
You start to analyse everything the warrior does, who they look at, how they move. You look at your teacher with questioning eyes. One of your classmates speaks above the nervous and excited chatter that seems to be rippling across the room.
“Who are you?
Why are you in our classroom?”
Silence...
A smile spreads across the warriors face. Your teacher ushers everyone to sit in their seats and you sit, eagerly waiting to know everything about this strange person who has appeared in your classroom on a Thursday morning.
The warrior moves to the front of the room, everyone’s eyes are glued to their every action. The warrior speaks...
“I am Roberta Bruce. Daughter of King Robert the Bruce. And something very strange has happened to me.”
Roberta Bruce tells you of the unusual morning she had. Feeding her horse in the year 1313 when suddenly POOF! She was standing on the road outside your school over 700 years in the future. The task is clear. You and your class need to go on an adventure with Roberta to help her return to her father, the King.
The Phoenix Project, launched during the Arts Across Learning Festival supported by Aberdeen City Council was a 12-week adventure which involved 4 classes and 120 children from Abbotswell and Dyce Primary School.
Roberta Bruce, a mysterious time-travelling warrior, appeared in Aberdeen one morning and needed the help of some brave and creative students to help her get back to the year 1313.
The narrative of these creative dance workshops was co-created with each class as the weeks progressed. 4 different timelines of Roberta and her brave warriors were developed as each class came up with their own thoughts and ideas on the best way to get Roberta home. Objects from Roberta’s past appearing every week in each School held clues to drive the story forward and initiated tasks to be undertaken. From scrolls to golden eggs to rune stones, these objects were discovered by the students and led to discussions and learning of The Boundary Stone Trail in Aberdeen and the history of King Robert the Bruce.
Even during lockdown, Roberta needed the help of her brave and inspiring warrior friends to finish their journey together. Through weekly creative videos to each school, the 120 children at home had an adventure they were still able to enjoy and experience. Each week providing a new opportunity to dance, create, design and build a narrative each class wanted to explore with Roberta Bruce
Shaper/Caper are happy to report that because of the creativity and bravery of each student involved in the Phoenix Project, Roberta Bruce made it back to the year 1313. She has been reunited with her horse and is happily travelling The Boundary Stone Trail with her father King Robert the Bruce.
A huge thank you to Aberdeen City Council for supporting this project.