How does one achieve greatness? What are the factors in becoming the best in what you do? What type of training is required to be considered above average in any area in life? While watching Farwell My Concubine all of these questions crossed my mind. My heart grieved when the orphans were beaten and tortured. They were physically reprimanded when something was wrong as well as when it was right. I am reminded of the line where the master teacher hits the student's hand and says that was right and the hit is so you can remember to do it like this all the time. This tedious, abusive regimen produced performers highly skilled and strengthened in their body and craft. At the same time, it created victims to the most hideous pain mentally and physically ever imaginable.
This made me take an intrapersonal look into theatre/dance programs in our country. Where can this type of passion and intensity be found? What programs are equivalent in developing strength in mulitple realms in a student life? It made me value my educational experience and in truth want more. Not in the sense of physical pain, but of intensity. Often times my fellow graduate students and I complain about work loads and responsibilities. The pressure, discomfort and set expectations are in place to strengthen our skills. I would greatly appreciate those same types of demand to be placed on us physically. During my best friend's MFA program, the school incorporated yoga training into there daily schedule. If our bodies are the instruments used to share the human experience on stage, we must train it as so.
That type of intensity and discipline creates a higher level of respect and admiration for the field and performers. I am not sure we are capable of ever fully understanding the depth of this type of training and how it relates to the performer's mental physche for years to follow. What I can say is my respect level heightened, my consciousness enlightened and my self awareness of how much work I have to do as an artist was made very clear.
I leave wondering if suffering is a componet to this level of perfection. Can this type of virtue and discipline be obtained without going through some type of purging? My question may never be answered.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Jackie, you ask some very interesting questions! Your last question struck me the most, "Can this type of virtue and discipline be obtained without going through some type of purging?" I would answer "no", that this work will always come with some type of pain. But I also feel that full commitment to anything, whether it be careers, relationships, religious traditions, diets; any new lifestyle changes comes with an immense amount of suffering. Being taken out of the comfort zone in order to better oneself always seems to take a rigorous path. Although we do not suffer the same way the children in "Farewell My Concubine" did, I do think our programs holds a certain amount of suffering. It is a kind of suffering that naturally comes with change and improvement. (Or at least I hope it can be called improvement.)I also think that we are connected through this kind of suffering. Actors, in my opinion, have an amount of empathy in observing the work of other actor's. For a silly example, while watching "Cast Away," I was very impressed with the skill of Tom Hanks in terms of acting, but also in his disciplines. As an actor myself, I had to notice how Hanks was able to drop his weight to fit the role. Of course, if I was getting paid good money, I might be more committed to that type of discipline.
Jackie T"
I definitely agree that were this group of students (as we are now) to try to attempt the training of Beijing Opera it would be a "disaster" (to quote an illustrious professor)
The difference is that were we truly to be a part of Beijing opera we would have started training as youth. From the American emphasis on freedom and individuality, sending young kids off to train for a career that they did not choose for themselves appears harsh.
However, the best training does start at a young age. Ask any olympian. Starting early and developing muscles and balance as the body grows allows the body to do phenomenal things.
I must admit that after watching these stories I am grateful my mom did not send me off to for this type of training.
Although, I wonder where I would be by now if she had.
I truly believe for a performance based MFA acting program there is a lot of physical classes are absent from this particular program!
Dance, not just movement, Singing, not just voice, Yoga along with the others would strengthen our core. We not all be musically inclined, but that training will make us better performers. Even some basic acting classes are missing. Improvisation, a core in building characters and scene study are all important and lacking in this program.
We get a good amount of the book/core curriculum but this program does lack many many other classes and programs.
Working with a full fledged company is another missing component.
When we are up against other graduates from stronger programs, where does that leave us? Hopefully we are determined enough to fight those deficiencies and knock them on their asses!
So we have to ask, where does this program stand on a global scale?
Post a Comment