The Erasmus+ programme is an international educational initiative aimed at promoting student and youth exchanges between European countries. One of the ways this program was implemented was through Erasmus+ ‘Youth Music Exchange’, to which the organization and implementation were contributed by Magdalena Baltokaitė, a 3rd-year student of the Musical Theatre Studies programme.
Young people from Romania, Turkey, Luxembourg and Poland spent ten days in Luxembourg, focusing on the common goal of creating and recording a song and preparing a theatrical performance – the Manifesto. Magdalena planned the programme in such a way that in the first days the participants would reveal their abilities as much as possible, free their bodies and voices. For this, she used theatrical and improvisational exercises, elements of contemporary dance, and voice acting techniques – all of which she learned while studying at the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies.
Magdalena says that serious work began in the second part event, when she created a song with the participants – its text, melody, harmony, arrangement, etc., and worked on a theatrical performance – the Manifesto. With other participants, the student performed exercises for breathing, ear training, theatrical improvisation, used elements of physical theatre, explored acting and the creation of etudes without words, and then discussed the importance of text in acting, performed improvisational exercises for cleaning the text on stage.
In the second part of the camp they completed the recording of the song in the studio, where each of the 20 participants performed a certain part and tested themselves in the real world of musicians and in the presentation of the Manifesto. In this Manifesto they explored the themes of social inequality, life values, attitude and listening.
Magdalena claims that this was her first such intense experience, which irreversibly changed her on all levels – as a performer, director, teacher and student. Now she feels confident that she is going along the path that was meant for her, which is not easy, but very interesting and meaningful. This programme also became a great opportunity to create international art projects, as Magdalena received an offer to collaborate and has already officially become a partner of the Luxembourg Erasmus+ association.
