Ritual-performance and criticism

 Performance day was upon us, and we were nowhere close to being ready. Well, we were, but a few key elements were missing. We decided to change the location of the ritual in the last minute (from a classic stage to a nearby garden) which didn't leave us time to even rehearse the whole piece. The ritual went exactly as planed but there were some slight changes of plans. We all went on our school uniforms and in the final Suzuki part, I played a short blues riff followed by 30 seconds of "Misirlou" by Dick Dale and the Del-tones. The criticisms of our final project were in my opinion, all caused by our attention to our individual scenes instead of looking at the whole picture. This is shown in the passage from part 2 to part 3 where we all stand up and go off-stage, only to return to the exact point where we were sitting. We also didn't take the space in consideration and it was only by the end of the performance that we realized that I could've used the whole school as stage. I didn't pay much attention to the audience interaction and I could've made an effort to make the audience feel more apart of the ritual. Other minor things didn't mostly because we didn't rehearse in the actual place where we were going to perform, for example the making of the tea. The story telling part could've had more context in our ritual, but overall it was a good piece with some nice elements. The Suzuki part was well performed and when we sang "With a little help from my friends" it created exactly the mood we wanted. In terms of the four perspectives of a ritual, all try to describe what the audience saw and not what we were trying to achieve:
Structures- Very peaceful environment, with the sound of a fountain in the background and a gentle breeze throughout the ritual; limited space in a small piece of the garden; individuals in school uniform carry out the ritual always in a understanding and peaceful mood.
 Functions- Integration ritual, two new elements being accepted into a tribe, creation of bonds and exchange of both physical and sentimental gifts.
 Processes- The aesthetics of the individuals, painting of the face and body, the sharing of the tea, the song about friendship, the collective dances and the overall collapse (to create the feeling "you fall I fall").
 Experiences- Sense of community, feeling of acceptance, alternative state while doing the final dance.

Ritual- creative process

After each student presented a project about an Indigenous ritual and culture, we were assigned to make our own ritual. The only requirement we had was that the ritual had to include elements concerning our relationship as a group. We split the ritual into six parts so that each person would contribute with something different to the ritual. When we discussed again how our ritual would look, we already had our general ideas set. Since there was two people in our class who didn't take Theatre before (being me one of those people), I suggested that the purpose of the ritual was to integrate and welcome two new elements to a community, with an indigenous tweak. They all agreed and then each person explained what they wanted to do with their part of the ritual:
 1st part- The two new elements arrive baring two gifts: tea and a guitar (which was later included). The new-comers are then painted by the others to physically symbolize their equality.
 2nd part- The tea is prepared and they all drink it.
 3rd part- A dance is performed.
 4th part- All gather around the fire and a story about friendship is told.
 5th part- The new-comer picks up the guitar and plays "With a little help from my friends" by The Beatles with the others.
 6th part (my part)- Short Suzuki performance around the tea and ritual ends with all the elements collapsing.

Ritual- brief intro and Aboriginal presentation

 Ritual, play and performance have a similar history, and often are mistaken for being the same thing. However, each of them has a different set of characteristics that makes them unique. Performance is probably the hardest one to define, since it is included both in play and performance. It can stylized/congruent to everyday behavior/ improvised... According to the Performance Studies Textbook, performance is "ritualized behavior conditioned and/or permeated by play". Play and ritual are similar in purposes, however its the duration that varies. In both cases, the objective is to change the audiences and/or the actors either permanently (in the case of rituals) or temporarily (in the case of play). Play also gives the audience a change to experience something out of the ordinary and that they wouldn't normally experience in their lives. Rituals can either be secular or sacred (non-religious and religious) and date back to 20 000-30 000 years ago. We were assigned to present a project about an indigenous culture and explain a ritual performed by them. I chose to talk about the Indigenous Australians and here are some key points of my presentation:

 The Indigenous Australians (commonly know as "Aboriginals") were the first inhabitants of the Australian continent, and migrated from India 50 000 years ago. The term "aboriginal" comes from latin, derived from ab (from) and origino (origin, beginning) meaning "the earliest known". There are more than 250 aboriginal dialects, but only 15 are officially recognized. The Aboriginals are the fathers of the didgeridoo, a wind instrument developed 1500 years. It has a very wide range of notes and it is used in the communication with the Gods and in festivities. One of the most important rituals of the aboriginal culture is the initiation of boys into manhood. The boys, usually aged around 12-16 years old, are taken from their mothers by the men and painted in red ochre. The mothers then perform a mourning dance since their children will be lost and returning as men. The men teach and perform dances and songs to the boys concerning the passage to adulthood from childhood and these may not be observed by women and children. The boys are taken into a sacred bush were they are kept in seclusion for a number of days and then return to the general camp were they can only be visited my men. There, they jump over small fires and are sometimes tossed in the air to make them strong. When the men decide the boys are ready for the ultimate passage, they are painted in white ochre and have to show their mothers they are now men by performing a series of kangaroo hoops. They are shown the "witi" dances (which can be seen by women and children) and are then circumcised to physically mark their manhood.

Suzuki Intro

 Tadashi Suzuki was born June 20 1939 in Shizuoka, Japan. He is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (based in Toga Village, located in the mountains of Toyama prefecture) and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. The method’s primary concerns include: the structure of a theatre group, the creation and use of theatrical space, and the overcoming of cultural and national barriers in the interest of creating work that is truly universal. The Suzuki method was designed to centre de body through the use of the feet, through a series of exercises to through the body off centre.  The exercises used in this method are made to recalibrate the way the actor moves. It involves a greater thought about how to use the body, not only in a physical way but also in an emotional way.

“There are two impulses in theatre: to be frivolous or to make rules.”-Suzuki

Tadashi Suzuki’s production of CLYTEMNESTRA, 1991.

 Controlling breath, enhancing focus and reflecting struggles into movements are the basis of Suzuki’s training.  It also helps to focus the energy when perfectly still. The practice of this method is known to be very physically demanding, since must of the body must be contracted. Actors can benefit from this method in many ways. Showing emotion in movements and not only in language, for example, is very useful to increase the character’s credibility and the interest of the public. Plus, being able to channel energy and emphasis by standing still can be very helpful in dialogues and in making fidgety acting students understand that one can make a stance not moving the body at all. Controlling breathing and focusing on specific

The SITI Company is an ensemble-based theatre company whose three ongoing components are the creation of new work, the training of young theater artists, and a commitment to international collaboration.

Originally the "Saratoga International Theater Institute," SITI was founded in 1992 by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki redefine and revitalize contemporary theatre in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration.

Anne Mnouchkine is a French stage director (born 19309) and founded the Théâtre du Soleil in 1964. She is the active Chair of Artistic Creation at the college de France and has her most famous works include “Molière” and “La Nuit Miraculeuse”. Mnouchkine is regularly ranked as one of the world's most influential directors and the only female winner of the international Ibsen award. 

Why Theatre?

 Ever since I was a little boy, I was quite certain of what I wanted to do in the future: make films. However, I only became a fanatic of the 7^th art when I turned thirteen. Even though by that time it was a habit of mine to go to the movies every week, I was still uncertain about what made a great movie. It was at that time that my father, realizing my interest on this subject, opened the doors for me that would later lead me to take Theatre HL in the IB (introducing me the great directors, writers and books). I spent a rather long time watching the classics (Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca…) but it was only until I watched Pulp Fiction that I started to pay a closer attention to the script and performances of a film (which meant I had to watch the classics all over again). Tarantino was also responsible for my fascination for dialogues, which lead me to start reading plays and start analyzing the meaning of words. A couple of years later, after reading as many books, plays and watching as many movies I could, I started to become jealous of the people on stage and on screen. Even though I knew I wanted to make films, I had this urge to know if I too could perform in a credible way. I started memorizing poems and book lines by heart and performing them to my family to get some feedback.  They obviously couldn’t criticize me in a negative way in order not to offend me, so I didn’t really have a reliable “judge”. However I decided to figure that out when I had a conversation with someone, and that conversation was the second main event that made take Theatre HL. I was in a café with my father, when all of a sudden Nicolau Breyner (one of the greatest Portuguese actors alive) walked in. I had just seen the best Portuguese movie in the last 50 years (“Os Imortais”) and since he starred in that movie, my anxiety was evident. What I didn’t know was that my father knew him and he pushed me to chat with him. I started by saying that I loved his work and wanted to be a film director when I grew up. Hearing this, he said “But are you a good or a bad actor?” I became speechless. How could I know? I went with my honest opinion at that time and said no. “You need to figure that out, because you’re either a good actor or a bad actor”. Therefore, in a quest to find the answer to that question, here I am taking Theatre HL.