NICK Hall reviews Worldbeat Dreaming at Bingley Arts Centre.

The Big Hoo-Ha Company's debut production, Worldbeat Dreaming (a world music and pop opera) was staged last week at Bingley Arts Centre and was the culmination of three months of intensive work from a group of 24 young people aged between ten and 16 years from Otley and the surrounding area.

The group, guided by their dedicated, talented directors Chris Bartram, Richard Sabey and Frances Taylor, took part in a series of workshops exploring many different genres of music from all around the world and gradually created a brand new opera.

The plot saw two rappers (played with great skill and energy by Jenni and Lucy Lister) travelling the globe from an industrial wasteland through a tribal village, the world of club music, a Gamelan garden to an uplifting, carnival finale.

All the way they were guided by a Shamen who bestowed on them the missing ingredients to make perfect music.

However, the plot was almost incidental to the stunning feast of eclectic music, which was all written and performed by the young people themselves.

Each separate zone the rappers visited saw all the children swapping instruments, leaping effortlessly between musical styles, singing and dancing in a dazzling display of technical skill.

Standout performances included Clair Holt's haunting flute solo during the ambient piece, Louise Barrett and Olivia Vida's duet on the Gamelan song, Rowan Purvis and Tim Varley's stately improvisation on gongs, Nick Tobias and Oskar Gustafson's exhilarating cornet versus sax duel and Tim Wilkinson and Angela Eastwood's assured percussion work.

The production was also visually stunning - with Joe Kelley's superb lighting and David Collins and Larry Robey's slick, innovative and entirely complementary video back-projections (mostly filmed by the children themselves) all adding to the professional feel of the show.

Add to this the faultless sound engineering of Mark Shepherdson, the backstage organisation of Philip Clough and Karen Ellison and the poise and enviable intensity of the young performers - all in all a breath-taking collaboration.

This was an ambitious and unique project and clearly the product of true teamwork.

The only sad note was the lack of an appropriate space in Otley that had forced the group to look elsewhere for somewhere to stage the production - yet another reminder of how much Otley needs a dedicated, professional theatre space with a flexible booking policy.

Be that as it may, those who made the extra journey to Bingley were treated to a real extravaganza and a genuinely moving celebration of the talents and energy of these young people, and of music itself.

However, one of the most important things about the production was that during the preparation for this show, The Big Hoo Ha company seemingly effortlessly lived up to the ideals put forward in their mission statement; namely that art should be exciting, give you confidence and self-esteem, break down barriers and exclude no-one.

They believe that the process is as important as the end product. The fact that the end product in this case proved to be so entertaining and exciting for the audiences was simply a bonus.

A thoroughly well-deserved standing ovation goes to the wonderful cast of Abi Neve, Amelia Johnson, Amy Walker, Angela Eastwood, Charlotte Boulton, Clair Holt, Ellen Spencer, Florence Oxley, Isabel Marler, Jenni Lister, Joanne Elliott, Katie Chaplin, Louise Barrett, Lucy Lister, Michael Spencer, Nick Tobias, Olivia Vida, Oskar Gustafson, Rachel Krengel, Rebecca Nicholson, Rowan Purvis, Samuel Bennett, Tim Varley and Tim Wilkinson.