One step up: Children learn to dance and act at a summer camp organised by Kilkari Bihar Bal Bhavan in Patna. Pictures by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Hema Kumari wants to act as Dolly as well as Geet, like her favourite Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor portrayed these roles on screen in Omkara and Jab We Met, respectively.

So, the Class VI student of Aghor Prakash Shishu Sadan, Patna, has joined a theatre workshop organised by Kilkari Bihar Bal Bhavan — a wing of the state education department — on its Saidpur campus.

Hema, along with 36 other children bitten by the acting bug, is learning script writing and picking up acting skills, voice modulation, facial expression and body language from theatre artiste Vinod Kumar Sharma at the workshop.

“I have taken part in a number of theatre workshops before this but this one is special because here I am getting a chance to learn acting from a senior actor,” said Hema.

Sharma, who has acted in films like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Delhi 6, is also the founder member of theatre group Khilona, which produces plays for children.

He has employed a number of innovative exercises to teach theatrical skills to children at the Kilkari workshop.

At the workshop, Sharma gives the children a story idea and allows them to use their imagination to come up with a script and compose lyrics for songs for the play.

“The children have to come up with the climax of the play as well,” said Sharma.

“I feel teaching them this way will help to bring out their creativity. If I give them a ready script and ask them to learn the dialogues, it would not teach them anything.”

Besides acting, children are learning dance and semi-classical music at this workshop.

Abhishek Manish and Raza, two city-based dancers who have choreographed Bhojpuri film actors Pawan Singh and Nirahua, are teaching students Salsa, Jazz, Bhangra and Lavani to the children.

Manish said: “The children in the workshop are very talented. Even if we (the trainers) get tired after teaching them for a few hours, the children never get tired during the rehearsals. They are very enthusiastic.”

“I learn classical dance but I am also interested in western forms. This workshop gave me the perfect opportunity to cultivate my interest,” said Srishti Anand, a Class IV student of St Xavier’s High School who is taking part in the workshop.

Photography and fashion designing classes at the summer camp are also a great hit.

Four National Institute of Technology, Delhi, alumni are teaching the children the tricks of the fashion trade.

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, student Abhishek Choubey is instructing the participants about how to capture brilliant images through a camera.

Learning new skills is not the only fun at the workshops. Participants can also join in a number of games.

“One interesting game that we organised for the children at the summer camp this year was tarbuj khao partiyogita, where the participants had to eat watermelons in a given time. It was great fun,” said Anita Thakur, the programme officer of Kilkari Bihar Bal Bhavan, Patna.

The workshop that started on May 31 will draw to a close on June 20.