A REFLECTION ON YEAR ONE OF STUDY
Maisy Crunden
BA WORLD PERFORMANCE
EA173- WORLD THEATRE STUDIES
Ramiro Silveira
This year has been one of realisations, connections and discovery. When I began in September, I was curious to find out what World Performance would really be like, and my journey over the past year has been both demanding and rewarding. I have learnt how to immerse myself in applying skills developed from World Studies into rehearsal, devising and performance, and I look forward to furthering this ability in the coming years. Over the year I focussed on overcoming issues of self-confidence; especially in movement. Looking at Joan Littlewood’s comment ‘If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new route’ (Littlewood, 2016: p.484), I was able to understand over time that if I do not utilise the freedom to experiment and accept the beauty of error, then I would not be able to fully absorb myself in my journey of creation and play.
Even though I feel that I am not yet fully in touch with my body, this year has really helped me to challenge myself in movement, exposing myself to the fear of being wrong. For example, I found the ‘Dance Yourself’ exercise in term one very challenging, as I had never danced in front of people, let alone on my own, and considered myself unable to dance. This was a big challenge for me as I felt vulnerable being watched by a new group of people. However, once I overcame the initial fear of the challenge, I was able to enjoy myself whilst dancing. By pushing myself to do something out of my comfort zone, I learnt that being vulnerable and fearful is not a bad thing, and it is part of the journey of growing in confidence and opening up, in order to shape my training and my creative process. Lecoq captivates the necessity for error and how it is ‘essential for enhancing for existence. Without error, there is no movement’ (Lecoq, 2013: p. 21). This idea opened my eyes and helped me to understand that I should not fear error, as it is needed within a developmental creative process and is a crucial part of the creation of performance.
African Dance and Capoeira were very valuable to my personal development, creating an awareness for the escape movement can create and exploring its value. The freedom of expression I found during these classes was incredibly beneficial. As well as engaging in mimetic learning as a large ensemble, we were able to enjoy the dance and its storytelling ability, whilst learning the importance of respect for different cultures. These are, I feel, crucial elements of the course and World Theatre Studies. It was inspiring to learn of Assayigah’s love of dance, his culture and his desire to share his work with us. It was also admiring
Figure I- Image from African Dance performance
to see the high value that this had to him. In African Dance, I learnt that things may not always be precise and perfect but when trying something new, persistence pays off. I found a greater appreciation of the ability to tell a story through dance, especially a form completely new to everyone. Jarrão’s dedication to Capoeira was also inspiring. Coming together to explore this physically intense martial art was very rewarding. I have learnt that connections are key in Capoeira. As well as the essential eye contact with your partner, the connection to the music and the community atmosphere are crucial to the excitement created in the Roda. It felt great to work as an ensemble in an art form we have only just begun to explore, and to conjure a community atmosphere and high levels of energy. The elements of movement and dance in World Theatre Studies have allowed me to transfer my confidence into the other movement classes, where I felt a greater self-assurance to explore
Figure II- Image from Capoeira session
and play with the energy and fluidity in my movements. My consciousness to the fact that movement is a powerful tool of connection and communication has become more apparent to me. I know I need to further evolve my ability to use impulses and stretch my boundaries, and this will continue to be a developmental process for me throughout my journey at East 15 and beyond.
The positive energy towards movement that I created in term one was nurtured further during the term of Playground Theatre, allowing me to fully immerse myself in the technique. This study of a new and different approach of exploration allowed me to develop characters and build relationships whilst developing a ‘playful state of being’ (Silveria, 2018). Brook tells how theatre is ‘challenging and unexpected. It is – ‘Play’’ (Brook, 2015: p. 1). Over this year I have been able to develop the self-assurance to play and be
Figures III and IV- Images from Playground Theatre
present in the creative process. I was worried about being a facilitator to the other group as I did not want to say the wrong things and ruin the class’ creation. The idea that every point zero is a new blank page is what makes the concept of playground so exciting to me as you are free to splash colour without knowing the final design. Playground Theatre allowed me to journey through a developmental creative process in which I could make practical connections and discoveries ‘built from individual physical interpretations’, rather than mirroring and repeating routines already set, in order to explore the wider possibilities of performance. (Silveria, 2017). The process of Playground in context to our second term acting scene helped me to connect its power as a rehearsal technique. We were able to develop a scene and aid the finding of relationship, intentions
Figure V – Image from Playground Theatre
and status through the freedom to immerse ourselves in the exploration and journey each playground session facilitated.
During the countries project in term one I focussed on Belgium and the Netherlands. I found it a very rewarding and engaging process to learn about my classmates’ cultures as they are so different to my own. As this project was self-devised, it was interesting to work within a group dynamic- learning to use our time wisely, be organised and have self-discipline. These are incredibly crucial factors in the path ahead of me, and getting used to using our time well and efficiently from early on in our training is very important. The downside to this project was our uncertainty on how to merge performance cultures from the two countries in a showcase, rather than focussing on one, as both are exciting and diverse. This meant a lot of perseverance was needed in order to focus our ideas into a structure that did not stereotype the countries and cultures. We also did not want to rush over important performative aspects, but instead celebrate the similarities and differences between this project really opened my eyes to the vast array of performance types across the world, and has left me really intrigued to learn more as the years continue.
Figure VI- Image from Thai
Marionette performance
Developing from the term one self-devised project, the Thai Marionette project in term two was one that also needed much persistence. It was fun to work as an independent group again, and to bring the class as much of a true representation of the art of Thai Marionette puppetry as we could. As the final performance needed to combine storytelling, movement and music, this project was a big, yet enjoyable challenge as we needed to perform in a style completely alien to us. For me, one of the most challenging elements of this was manipulating the puppet and making it look as much like the traditional Thai puppets as we could get, and to control it in order to make it come to life. I would have liked to have had more time to research, and the resources to make the puppet in order to help with its creation, as puppetry was a completely new genre to us all. By combining Thai Marionette with a Tennessee Williams scene, I was able to see clearly how we can relate and connect World Studies to the ‘western world’ in order to explore both art forms from a new perspective.
I really enjoyed the time spent exploring Kecak’s interconnection of music and dance to tell stories. I was able to apply rhythmic skills learnt from music classes in order to challenge myself with the polyrhythmic core of the performance. I found it interesting to learn about its historic and spiritual roots, which are apparent in a variety of non-western theatre, and the focus that is placed on the ‘artistic and aesthetic qualities’ (Stepputat, 2012: p. 66) of Kecak. I found it challenging to stick to my own part and rhythm whilst swapping out to help with the ‘pung’ to keep the chorus in time. I learnt how everyone is crucial to the performance, and think it would be incredible to Cak in a larger ensemble, as traditionally performed. Everyone has their own part to play, and different shades of the human voice are layered upon one another which creates a strong ensemble (Anis Md Nor and Stepputat, 2017: p. 31). Being alert and connected is crucial in Kecak as you have to follow the leader and engage with the ensemble. I also thought it was interesting to see the connection between Balinese culture and the Ramayana, originating in India, showing how two different concepts can come together to create a
Figure VII- Image from Kecak performance
new dance-drama form. I would have loved to have spent longer working on, and learning about Kecak in order to develop my skills and understanding further as I feel like we were only able to touch the surface of the form with the time that we had.
The practise of Navarasa with Rama was insightful, as I was able to connect with it as an alternative to the common Western technique of emotional memory. I now feel I can use it as a different, more immediate process of assessing key skills and emotions in my work. As we explored the different nine emotions, I developed and felt a greater ability to connect with the practise over the short time that we studied Navarasa. I originally struggled with not relating the emotions to personal events and the classes were rather overwhelming, especially when concentrating on Karuna (sorrow), and Raudra (anger). However, I learnt how to focus more on the necessity of being able to separate myself from the practise. I learnt that I needed to look at the practise as a developmental process of building emotion, rather than an immediate ability. As I continue to utilise and practise this method, I will endeavour to be able to switch from each emotion at a quicker pace. It was interesting to translate the intentions behind the stylistic features for each emotion into core elements and feelings to utilise in performance and rehearsal.
Throughout the year, the process of researching practitioners and reading a variety of plays has helped me to develop a basic understanding for the roots of theatre, delving into the many styles practitioners establish in their work and that authors write in. I want to continue to do both as I pursue my performance journey. The knowledge I have gained has created invaluable insights and understanding, and I will continue to nurture this interest as I progress. I was able to enhance my creative thinking as I learnt about practitioners such as Abramovic and Peeping Tom. The process of learning about practitioners has given me a taste as to what theatre can be, as I was not familiar with a lot of performance art or dance drama before this year. Here, Brook’s ideas seem a valuable and useful consideration as to what he acknowledges theatre to be, which opened my eyes to new perceptions of theatre: ‘I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged’ (Brook, 1968: p. 7). This has helped me to discover that theatre is for everyone, allowing me to relate with world theatre and form connections between the practitioners and their inspirations. The reading of scripts has also helped me to broaden my knowledge of plays and has inspired me to continue reading more so I can explore the wealth of material available to me.
To conclude, I have really enjoyed my first year of training and the challenges and rewards that have come with it. World Theatre Studies has increased my confidence greatly, and I have found it very beneficial to learn to come together as an ensemble, having really enjoyed Kecak and African Dance classes. I wish that there was time to delve deeper into certain elements of this year, especially the puppetry for our Thai project and when learning about World Theatre forms in lectures (e.g. Katakali). I feel like we were given the useful tools for the presentation, but I would have loved to have been able to focus more on the specific forms in lectures. I intend to further develop my skills of ensemble work, communication and exploration of different styles as I continue my journey in World Performance, finding new and exciting connections.