Drag & Lipsync workshop with Rhys’s Pieces

It’s time to be fabulous, fierce and fascinating!

Join celebrated drag artist Rhys’s Pieces for this free workshop and learn how to tell stories through lip sync and movement.

Rhys is the lead artist featured in OMOS – an exhibition at Dunoon Burgh Hall of a new moving image work that pays homage to untold Scottish Black History, and celebrates Black excellence and performance in Scotland

The art of drag involves subverting the expected and sharing stories in exciting ways. For this workshop you will be asked to bring with you a song that for you connects to a personal story, family story or local or wider history. You’ll learn tips and tricks about lip syncing (miming to songs) and movement, and hear more about Rhys’s practice and his performance in OMOS. Rhys is the lead artist on OMOS – an exhibition at Dunoon Burgh Hall gallery – and the artists in exhibition responded to heritage and stories to create their work.  By the end of the session you’ll know more about how you can use these creative skills to tell a story with your chosen song.

Get ready to move, lip sync and be absolutely fabulous!

Open to all genders and any age above 16. (Note that the workshop may include music with explicit lyrics. People under 16 can attend with parental permission)
No experience required. This workshop does not focus on costume, so wear whatever you are comfortable moving in.

Please bring to the workshop:
1) Headphones

2) A phone or other device that you can put music on

3) A song downloaded onto the phone/device

4) Comfortable shoes and clothing

About the workshop series
This workshop is part of OMOS, an exhibition at Dunoon Burgh Hall (25 March – 24 April 2022). OMOS pays homage to Scotland’s untold Black history, and celebrates Black performance in Scotland. Created collaboratively by a group of award-winning performers, OMOS is filmed in Puck’s Glen and Stirling Castle. Cabaret performer Rhys Hollis (also known as Rhys’s Pieces) leads an outstanding group of collaborators including opera singer Andrea Baker, dancer Divine Tasinda and pole artist Kheanna Walker to create this powerful film, filmed in Puck’s Glen and Stirling Castle.

Other OMOS workshops:

Friday 25th March

Gospel Workshop with Andrea Baker:  Gospel Workshop with Andrea Barker – Dunoon Burgh Hall

Saturday 26th March

Aligning Ourselves with our Own Personal Values Through Creativity: Aligning Ourselves with our Own Personal Values Through Creativity – Dunoon Burgh Hall

The series of workshops are an opportunity to meet the artists, and discover how histories and stories can be told, interpreted and reimagined through creative skills.

Rhys Hollis (also known as Rhys’s Pieces) is a cabaret performer and will be the lead artist directing the project, as well as being one of the performers in the film. Rhys Hollis is described as a one-person cabaret troupe; they are a performance artist dancer, rapper, lipsyncer, cabaret host, genderbending drag artist and burlesque act. They were crowned 2018’s LipSync 1000 Champion beating out over 100 other cabaret drag artists to take the prize. In 2019 they were awarded the title of best Variety Act by QX magazine. They are a member of the legendary LipSinkers group, and host cabaret nights across the UK. Instagram: @rhysspieces

Image: Rhys Hollis by Washington Gwande

OMOS is produced by Pollyanna and funded by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland and National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is also funded by People’s Postcode Trust. Partners include Historic Environment Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, Dunoon Burgh Hall, Royal Scottish Academy, Cultural Heritage and Arts Assembly Argyll & Isles (CHARTS), Argyll & Bute Council, the Fruitmarket, Scene Stirling and Transmission.