Some artists often struggle to find the truth of a character when performing. They want the audience to observe an authentic, open perspective of a human experience. Ethnography allows one to dive completely into another culture to illumnate the hearts of its beliefs. Providing material for the five senses heighten the audience's connection. When reading the article by Joni Jones, I vividly could imagine how each area may have been set up. Providing food, dance, colors, pictures , clothes sparks an interest and curiousity to those who had no prior knowledge,
While I believe artist who choose to perform these pieces may have a desire to present the information in its purest form, how often is it percieved that way? When interviewing my subject for my project in class, I asked her if she would like to come and be active in the presentation. She agreed to it and I thought it would be great for her to come so people could ask questions. I then remembered that a portion of the project had to be ELP work. I quickly changed the idea due to the fear she would not percieve my interpretation of her voice, mannerism and dialect as flattering. I was uneasy about the possibility of creating a caricature or painting a picture of her home that was undesirable, despite the fact that I was only using information that I had researched and recieved from her. This fear creates a whole new level of performance anxiety that does not have to be considered negative. On one hand it makes the artist do the homework to ensure the work is free from bias and is pure to the art of the culture. It leaves little room for one's own interpretation. You become a voice for a region of people who some of the audience members will never get to meet. This may be their first glimpse of life into this culture. It must be represented in a manner that is clear and respectful to its native inhabitants. I appreciate projects like this because it challenges me to step outside my own comfort zone. It makes you dig deep to truly embody the essence of someone who you may think you have no connection to. In that process, we find that we are all connected by something in one way or another.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Other/Post-Colonial Theory
It is said that many people hate what they do not understand. This statement became very clear while reading this assingment. History has shown us what whoever is in the majority with the most power often can and will dominate the minority. This goes beyond skin color and crosses into specific segments of individual's idiosyncrasies. My question is..does this form of thinking derive from our essence or is this a learned behavior? It is instinctual to fear what is different from you? Why do we so often define ourselves through others? Why do we give other's impressions so much weight? While working at a charter school, I was responsible for chracter education for fifth grade girls. I asked them to call out adjectives of how they felt the media depicted them. The class was all African American and things were called out like agressive, attitude, mean, over-sexual. The list did not contain one positive word to represent this group of girls. I watched how many of them justified the examples and argued why most of them were true. I believe in instances, those in the minority begin to birth those attributes and own them without uniting and proving to the opressing force that they are in fact more than the label.
Post-Colonial Theory
When I hear the phrase post-colonial theory, I conclude a set of ideas, assumptions or conclusions of the affect of colonization on a group of people. Theatre and performance pieces often merge or show the contradictions in the origin and contemporary lifestyle as it results from colonialism. When a group becomes aware of what it has become, what individual actions are replaced to restore history? Is it easier to assimilate into a new way of living? What mentally transpires to embrace and accept a new found culture? My knowledge of this topic is limited and I am highly interested in obtaining further research to gain a clearer and better understanding.
Post-Colonial Theory
When I hear the phrase post-colonial theory, I conclude a set of ideas, assumptions or conclusions of the affect of colonization on a group of people. Theatre and performance pieces often merge or show the contradictions in the origin and contemporary lifestyle as it results from colonialism. When a group becomes aware of what it has become, what individual actions are replaced to restore history? Is it easier to assimilate into a new way of living? What mentally transpires to embrace and accept a new found culture? My knowledge of this topic is limited and I am highly interested in obtaining further research to gain a clearer and better understanding.
The Reinvention of Theatrical Tradition
I 've heard many times that nothing in life is constant but change. Despite this fact, we often are resistant to change. Birthing any new concept is often opposed by the masses if it changes the order of how things were. I pondered these thoughts while reading this essay. Having a limited knowledge of Peter Brook's work hindered my comprehnesion of this piece. My initial response was Brook wanted to explore African theatre after colonialism. He wanted to see how indeginous practices intertwined with western influences created a new type of theatre. It seemed he was equally excited to expose the culture to a new realm of performance. He stated, "They'll be expecting a show. We must give them some real skill." Brook seemed intrigued by the collaboration of the nigerian artist taking the spiritual/mythical aspects in conjunction with everyday life and creating theatre.
Several questions arise from the above statement. The term "real skill" is subjective. Who dictates what's considered real in the field of intercultural performance? Will there ever be one universal criteria of what theatre should be? What sound facts do we have that states this practice has not been done before? Can one truly understand this type of theatre without understanding the cultural/spiritual belief of its people?
Several questions arise from the above statement. The term "real skill" is subjective. Who dictates what's considered real in the field of intercultural performance? Will there ever be one universal criteria of what theatre should be? What sound facts do we have that states this practice has not been done before? Can one truly understand this type of theatre without understanding the cultural/spiritual belief of its people?
Discipline in Your Mind, Body and Soul
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
What is Justice?
With what little I understand or can perceive as particularly “Chinese” about both Thunderstorm and Snow in Midsummer is the idea of justice manifesting in a balance being struck, and one’s actions coming back to effect life later. I may be completely off base with this but I think this particular content of the play is Chinese or at least Asian in its perspective.
In Snow in Midsummer Dou E is able to bring the balance of justice to the world through her righteous living and her “cursing,” so to speak, the world to prove her innocence. Conversely, Chou remains alive and that life has been irrevocably affected by the uncovering of his past injustice. He may mourn the assumed death of Lu Ma decades earlier and even try to fulfill a type of ancestral filial respect, but he harmed her in the most egregious way. Nothing short of the sacrifice of all his children can atone for this. Even losing his own life seems to not be enough to make amends.
This is one aspect of Thunderstorm that I found particularly fascinating. The adults who committed the transgressions (Lu, Fan, and Ma) were not killed, thus leaving the future generations to suffer from the elders’ sins. Instead the progeny of “sinners” (so to speak) are wiped away and the older generation is left with the tatters of a former way of life. I’m not certain at all if this is “Chinese” or just the playwright’s viewpoint on his world. Ma’s heart wrenching monologue wherein she laments that her “poor children, they didn’t know what they were doing” and “The guilt is here in my heart, and I should be the one to suffer for it” seems to tell the audience why the children are killed in the context of the play itself. Again, is this the playwright's worldview or cultural perspective?
Nonetheless, she certainly gets her wish. The parents will finish the remainder of their lives with the burden of so many destroyed lives. It seems to me to be a Western concept to end the story with the deaths of the older generation and the younger having to clean up the inherited mess. But, I’m not sure which play or movie planted this idea in my mind. Perhaps my conceiving that type of ending is a product of Western, “the sins of the father will be visited upon the son,” Judeo-Christian culture.
In Snow in Midsummer Dou E is able to bring the balance of justice to the world through her righteous living and her “cursing,” so to speak, the world to prove her innocence. Conversely, Chou remains alive and that life has been irrevocably affected by the uncovering of his past injustice. He may mourn the assumed death of Lu Ma decades earlier and even try to fulfill a type of ancestral filial respect, but he harmed her in the most egregious way. Nothing short of the sacrifice of all his children can atone for this. Even losing his own life seems to not be enough to make amends.
This is one aspect of Thunderstorm that I found particularly fascinating. The adults who committed the transgressions (Lu, Fan, and Ma) were not killed, thus leaving the future generations to suffer from the elders’ sins. Instead the progeny of “sinners” (so to speak) are wiped away and the older generation is left with the tatters of a former way of life. I’m not certain at all if this is “Chinese” or just the playwright’s viewpoint on his world. Ma’s heart wrenching monologue wherein she laments that her “poor children, they didn’t know what they were doing” and “The guilt is here in my heart, and I should be the one to suffer for it” seems to tell the audience why the children are killed in the context of the play itself. Again, is this the playwright's worldview or cultural perspective?
Nonetheless, she certainly gets her wish. The parents will finish the remainder of their lives with the burden of so many destroyed lives. It seems to me to be a Western concept to end the story with the deaths of the older generation and the younger having to clean up the inherited mess. But, I’m not sure which play or movie planted this idea in my mind. Perhaps my conceiving that type of ending is a product of Western, “the sins of the father will be visited upon the son,” Judeo-Christian culture.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Artist's Body
Juxtaposing The Worlds of Mei Lanfang with Farewell my Concubine illustrated what we do as artists. We take a human experience and recreate it in a different form to express something profound and important (the impact of- and power struggles in- human relationships, the state of our society, our personal responsibility in the face of life's trials, etc.). Mei Lanfang’s artistic performances certainly did this. Telling ancient tales he and the other actors portrayed them in a highly stylized fashion. No person truly carried his or her self in real life as Mei and the other actors presented themselves on stage. The use of gestures along with the very particular stage movements were all used to re-form the experience and find a profound moral for the people to take in.
Moreover, Mei Lanfang himself took the human experience of being a woman and reformed it into what was said to be a portrayal of “an ideal woman.” While this, as the point was made, is not cross-dressing in the Western sense it is still seems to this Westerner to be men telling women what ideals they should strive for. Nowhere in the documentary this cultural aspect discussed. I am curious if modern feminism or even Communism’s theoretical social equality has influenced how this ancient and formalized idealization is perceived.
While the training portrayed in Farewell my Concubine was extreme to say the least, it did show how the body is simply a toll for the performing artist. Physical discipline—as well as the mental discipline necessary to achieve that physical fluidity—is of the utmost importance for us as stage artists. Even in Western realism we must always be vigilant that our bodies serve the needs of the role. We may not be using the stylized and grand gestures of Chinese Opera but we need to be just as precise and specific.
Also, I understand and appreciate Mei Lafnag’s family being unhappy with the portrayal of homosexuality in Farewell my Concubine. Still, a human experience was recreated in a different form to express something quite profound. We can debate what the main thrust of the story was. But, for me, one important idea is that we as artists are always a part of our society no matter how we strive to stand away from it and only present our art solely as aesthetic offerings.
Moreover, Mei Lanfang himself took the human experience of being a woman and reformed it into what was said to be a portrayal of “an ideal woman.” While this, as the point was made, is not cross-dressing in the Western sense it is still seems to this Westerner to be men telling women what ideals they should strive for. Nowhere in the documentary this cultural aspect discussed. I am curious if modern feminism or even Communism’s theoretical social equality has influenced how this ancient and formalized idealization is perceived.
While the training portrayed in Farewell my Concubine was extreme to say the least, it did show how the body is simply a toll for the performing artist. Physical discipline—as well as the mental discipline necessary to achieve that physical fluidity—is of the utmost importance for us as stage artists. Even in Western realism we must always be vigilant that our bodies serve the needs of the role. We may not be using the stylized and grand gestures of Chinese Opera but we need to be just as precise and specific.
Also, I understand and appreciate Mei Lafnag’s family being unhappy with the portrayal of homosexuality in Farewell my Concubine. Still, a human experience was recreated in a different form to express something quite profound. We can debate what the main thrust of the story was. But, for me, one important idea is that we as artists are always a part of our society no matter how we strive to stand away from it and only present our art solely as aesthetic offerings.
Follow the Pioneers
If we are to construct for ourselves some type of clear, viable and performable method of approaching theatre in a global context, we finally have a touchstone in Sun and Fei’s essay. Here are at least theoretical tenets to gauge our efforts by. We can then decide to sharpen, alter, or flat out reject whatever specific acting and stages technique we might be attempting.
“[F]luidity in scenic structure, almost unlimited stage presentation of time and space,” a bare stage without suggestive scenery, set changes manifested by the actors’ bodies and dialogue, and striving to “concentrate on poetic and universal images” and other principles in the essay can serve as a blueprint for how we can proceed with this intercultural and transcultural theatre experiment.
Despite my optimism for and belief in the inevitability of this intercultural necessity, I am still tormented by the question of whether can we truly mix cultures in a theatrical setting without misunderstanding or mis-presenting a symbiotic meaning accidentally. We are all still operating from our own Western-oriented theatrical training. Even those of us with an understanding of Afrocentrism in theatre are still conditioned in such a way that, in order to attempt this endeavor, we need to reach beyond how we have been are being trained into what we know next to nothing about—physically or psychically.
I’m not at all convinced that any one of us can do this without direct personal communion with artists from the other culture(s) we are trying to merge. I refer you all to www.batdorf.org. Erica Batdorf is a Toronto theatre artist. Her recent project, “One Pure Longing: Tahirih’s Search” was composed with the guidance as director and through the collaborative input of the ensemble. The troupe was compromised of Christian, Muslim, atheist, Baha’i and First Nation (indigenous) people. It was a long process but when I spoke with her in December, Ms. Batdorf seemed to think it was well worth the struggles and trepidation of open, honest dialogue between artists.
“[F]luidity in scenic structure, almost unlimited stage presentation of time and space,” a bare stage without suggestive scenery, set changes manifested by the actors’ bodies and dialogue, and striving to “concentrate on poetic and universal images” and other principles in the essay can serve as a blueprint for how we can proceed with this intercultural and transcultural theatre experiment.
Despite my optimism for and belief in the inevitability of this intercultural necessity, I am still tormented by the question of whether can we truly mix cultures in a theatrical setting without misunderstanding or mis-presenting a symbiotic meaning accidentally. We are all still operating from our own Western-oriented theatrical training. Even those of us with an understanding of Afrocentrism in theatre are still conditioned in such a way that, in order to attempt this endeavor, we need to reach beyond how we have been are being trained into what we know next to nothing about—physically or psychically.
I’m not at all convinced that any one of us can do this without direct personal communion with artists from the other culture(s) we are trying to merge. I refer you all to www.batdorf.org. Erica Batdorf is a Toronto theatre artist. Her recent project, “One Pure Longing: Tahirih’s Search” was composed with the guidance as director and through the collaborative input of the ensemble. The troupe was compromised of Christian, Muslim, atheist, Baha’i and First Nation (indigenous) people. It was a long process but when I spoke with her in December, Ms. Batdorf seemed to think it was well worth the struggles and trepidation of open, honest dialogue between artists.
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