Students got practice in all sorts of new skills yesterday as Insight Masterclasses came to St Hugh’s. With one classroom a hive of coding activity, as students experimented on Micro:bit, in the Elizabeth Wordsworth Tea Room on the other side of the college, students were channelling all sorts of different animals as they explored new modes of movement and expression in the Improvisation masterclass.

With hoodies standing in for the limber, swinging limbs of a monkey, and Nike sliders allowing hands to experience travel on all fours, students pranced, cantered and carefully stepped around the space, imagining and improvising for moments of inter-species interaction. As the session progressed, students moved on to more verbal activity, as they acted scenes on the spot, with only the challenging and rather zany prompts from their friends and fellows to guide them.

Activities continued well into the evening, as students engaged in a stage combat workshop after dinner. Equipped with wooden swords, students swung and swiped at their classmates under the tutelage of a seasoned professional―some imagined themselves a Jack Sparrow fending off the East India Company, whilst others got into the Arya Stark water-dance mode. Students then saw the evening out with some tie-dying―we look forward to seeing the resulting wavey garms around campus!