Killer moves

How did dancer Rob Tannion persuade a bunch of unruly kids to perform in his new show? By making it look just like a video game. Lyndsey Winship reports
Children trying out motion capture suits
Street fighters ... children try out motion capture suits for Stunt Dancing

Everyone knows that computer games are a major cause of teenage inactivity - but for dancer Rob Tannion, they might just be the solution to it, too. He has spent the past two months turning a class of inner-London comprehensive-school teenagers into high-kicking, fist-throwing, air-slicing martial arts heroes to prove it.

Well, that's the idea, at least. It's the end of a school day in early March, and the students gathered in the vast, gleaming-new gym of the Lilian Baylis school in Vauxhall, south London, don't seem to be particularly well-disciplined. They are larking about, hiding behind the curtains, throwing out insults - or else sitting by the sidelines, disengaged, hoodies up, fiddling with their trainers. Tannion stands at the centre of the melee, plotting to use that restlessness to create something spectacular - specifically, a "stunt dance" show to be performed at London's Royal Festival Hall.

Lean, muscular and scruffy, Tannion is not your conventional idea of a male dancer, which is why he is the perfect person to excite these kids about movement. A founder member of DV8, he is now one half of the dance/physical theatre company Stan Won't Dance, artists in residence at the South Bank Centre. Alongside performance, Tannion has long been involved in education workshops, and it was while running a project with dancers and skateboarders in Nottingham that he got the idea for stunt dancing. "What was interesting was that when the kids were skateboarding or dancing they were fine, but as soon as they stopped they were on their Gameboys," he says. "You really couldn't pull them away."

As an ex-gamer himself, Tannion understood the addictive draw, and it sparked an idea: a way of combining a passion for computer games and his own experience in martial arts in a way that might entice kids away from their PS2s. Stunt dancing is a combination of martial arts, stage fighting and dance moves; for this performance, that is being enhanced by some nifty hi-techery. As well as creating sequences inspired by the gravity-defying moves of fast-fighting video games like Tekken, the project uses motion-capture technology to put the dancers' own bodies on screen, transforming their real-life moves into those of animated heroes.

For Tannion and the Royal Festival Hall's dance education officer, Rachel Harris, the project is something of a grand vision. It climaxes this Saturday at the Royal Festival Hall with a whole day of movement and martial-arts workshops and demonstrations, including the performance from the Lilian Baylis students. But for the kids it's more like a bit of fun, a break from the monotony of the classroom.

When Tannion first went to the school to talk about the project and find some volunteers, he came up against a wall of attitude. "There was teeth-sucking," he remembers. And Harris recalls that even the staff were discouraging: "Teachers warned me, 'They'll find it really hard, they'll struggle to learn.' Well, they will if that's the message you're giving them." With a bit of coaxing, 15 boys and girls came forward to take part - although their motives perhaps weren't always to the good. One boy says he got involved so that "if someone comes to fight me, I can beat them up".

The project started with weekly workshops at the school. At the first session, it was surprising what the kids find difficult: looking each other in the eye, for example. They are happier when flying on to crash mats, hoisting each other in the air or swiping a leg over their partner's head.

When things threaten to get unruly, Tannion unexpectedly throws a kick just millimetres from a student's chin, which gets everyone's attention. But while they are impressed by his flashy moves, putting in the practice to be able to perform them is another matter. "At first it was good, but then it starts getting hard, your body's tired and you can't sit down or nothing, your legs are tired and they just keep pushing you," complains 15-year-old Siobhan.

Seven weeks on, the students have just entered an intensive week's rehearsal for Saturday's show. They haven't undergone a Hollywood-style transformation, but there has definitely been some impressive progress. Gathered in a rehearsal room at the Royal Festival Hall, half the group are learning stick work: they grip long poles, taller than they are, and mark out a drill of stabbing motions before noisily slamming their sticks to the floor. You could have someone's eye out - if you're doing it right.

The students only offer a shrug of tacit agreement when quizzed on whether they are enjoying themselves, but Tannion thinks they are rising to the challenge. "Some of the kids really have done an about-face in attitude. It feels like they are starting to take responsibility for how they work, coming up with suggestions, trusting me." And students who have been deemed "a nightmare" by other teachers seem to be getting on far better with this physical challenge than they do with, say, their history homework.

One student who is thriving is 15-year-old Tien. Smoothly negotiating the stick moves with stealthy menace, he looks to have the makings of a martial arts master. "I love it," he grins. "Before I was shy, but now..." He gets up and starts demonstrating his new moves. His favourite is slow-motion fighting.

With just a few days to perfect these moves, there are still students shirking at the back, or too busy putting on lipgloss/fidgeting with T-shirts/dissing their neighbours to give the rehearsal their full concentration. When they return from afternoon break and take 10 minutes just to get into a straight line, Tannion has to bring out the inevitable panic-inducing pep talk. "We've got four days, this is only the first song and we haven't got halfway through it," he shouts, instilling just enough fear to keep the group quiet.

It's been a rewarding process, but the real test will be at the performance - and, not surprisingly, Tannion says: "I want them to look really fantastic." Will they get it up to scratch in time? "Yeah," says Jade, 14, before adding: "If we can get our act together."

· Take Action: Stunt Dancing is at the Royal Festival Hall Ballroom, London SE1, on Saturday. Box office: 0870 401 8181.

Latest reviews

Today in pictures

  • sports peronality 2012

    BBC Sports Personality of the Year – in pictures

  • Martin Parr's M Video Christmas party photograph

    Dinner, dusk and dancing Russians: my best winter shot


    Monkey adopts kitten – in pictures
