On the final day of the annual NASUWT conference, BYMT brought together young people from their company with children and carers from Nipperbout creche, and NASUWT members to surprise attendees with a musical theatre flashmob. A short but captivating performance of the well-known pop anthem ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ was sung and danced by the group, serving as a melodic reminder of the importance of the arts in the lives of young people.

The idea was first pitched to BYMT at the start of the year by their long-term supporters NASUWT. After many weeks of planning, many emails sent and many minutes of the practicing the dance routine, the performance day came and it was a huge success!

As delegates were leaving their discussion panel on Saturday 4th April, they were surprised with a sudden outburst of music and singing from the middle of the foyer at the ICC.

Three bold young performers from BYMT started the song off, before they were joined at the first chorus by the children and carers from the Nipperbout creche. For the big finish, NASUWT staff members also ran in to join the performance for the last chorus.

The day before the performance, BYMT hosted a workshop with the Nipperbout young people and ‘Purple People’ to teach them the song lyrics and choreography. In just 1.5 hours the slightly shy group of young people had turned from apprehensively singing the tune to confidently singing along – no backing vocals required!

Leading the workshop was musical director Craig Randle (Learning and Participation Manager at Birmingham Hippodrome) and choreographer Melody Sinclair-Marsh (Credits include: Associate Choreographer for SIX The Musical).

The success of the flashmob demonstrates the amount of work BYMT workshops can accomplish even in a short amount of time, giving young people a sense of achievement and pride in themselves and what they can achieve. Seeing the joy on the faces of both the performers and the audience members during the flashmob is a clear reminder of the moments of magic the arts can provide.

We are grateful to NASUWT for allowing us to be a part of such an important event for teachers and the education sector. We hope that it helped illuminate the importance of arts provision in schools, which we are  proud to support through our Discover Music Theatre (DMT) Workshops for schools and community groups.

Watch the full performance video on Instagram, linked here.

Find out more about what we BYMT can do for your school or group here.