I decided to keep track of how many ya-hohs our class needs to do XD (one for every day all the students in our class have been present)
There were two beforehand and...
- March 22, 2013
There were two beforehand and...
- March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
T'alchum & Commedia dell'Arte
((Student Leader-ing))
T'alchum
- Almost lost during Japanese occupation
- 1960s
- historians and practitioners
- revived 13-15 different kinds of masked dance (from different regions)
- Six Characteristics of Korean Folk Dance
- a spirital base of respect for nature and respect for freedom of expression
- embodiment of feelings of han (deep inner sentiment that is manifested as profound grief or sadness) and sinmyeong (artistic ecstasy or exhilaration that occurs at final dramatic moment when tears turn to laughter, darkness to light.)
- self-expression
- strongly improvisational
- satirizes daily life and wealth
- The Madang (yard/garden)
- used to be performed in everyone's back yards and the village
- nowadays becoming
- Audience Participation
- several hours; people come and go
- all ages and demographics
- characters speak directly to the audience
- questions
- conversations
- audience can call out or stand up
- sit down into the audience
- "Call and Response"
- Ceremony of the Mask
- most masks would be burned once used
- made out of anything; animal fur, gourd, etc.
- except Andong, where they made them out of wood and did not burn them
- symbolic relationship
- shape of the eyes
- the mouth
- the paint
- the curves
- the bumps
- the size
- etc.
- Mask Images
- bride; mouth closed; left eye up; right eye down
- bar maid; mouth open; happier
- More about the performance
- very free in time and space
- no narration
- viewers can jump in
- excellent device for satire
List from the White Board
- Mob psychology
- Revenge
- Loved
- Fire
- After Death
- Death
- Family
- Insanity
- Creation
- Forgiveness
- Moments of Life
- Fulfilling of Goals
- Words of Conformity
- Knowing too much
- Information Wars
- Things that are lost
- Forgotten
- Taken
- Gained
- Loved
- Culture Shock
- Language Barrier
- Cynicism
- Misunderstanding
- Isolationism
- Words of your own
- Lies
- Remember or forget
- Which is more valuable
- Dreams
- Internet's effect on myths/religion
- Sarcasm
- Cross-cultural societies
- Human needs
- Discovery of meaning of life/existence
- Importance of relationships
- Humor of life
- Impossibility of freedom
- Muse
- Sex
- Theories of Life
- Freedom from Organization
- Chaos
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
- Born on September 8th, 1910 in Le Vésinet, Yvelines
- French Actor
- Acted in nearly 50 movies
- Notable ones:
- Sous les Yeux d’occident
- L’Or dans la Montagne
- French Director
- Directed several films:
- As I Lay Dying
- Les Enfants du Paradis
- Mime Artist
- Portrayed Jean-Gaspard Deburau; Baptiste Debureau; 19th century mime
- Commedia del Arte
- Influenced by:
- Charles Dullin
- Artaud
- Theatre of Cruelty
- ‘Actors are athletes’; particularly relevant to mime
- Advisor
- Married actress Madeleine Renaud in 1940
- Established the Theatre Marigny
- Allowed student protesters use of his theatre in 1968
- Poor response from the government led him to lose his theatre
- Financial backing waned
- Died January 1st, 1994 of heart failure in Paris
- Buried in Cimetiere de Passy
“There is a geographical map of the being in the face. With a mask, you erase it, but at the same time you extend it to the whole body. The mask is a temporary subtraction of the geographical map of the being, but which allows it to be spread over the entire body. It’s enlargement, you see? You have a six-foot face.”
– Jean-Louis Barrault (pg. 57, Theatre of Movement and Gesture)
“In fact, it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example. To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one’s own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading. To be able to read!” – Jean-Louis Barrault (Reflections on the Theatre)
“When I wake up in the morning, I want to feel hungry for life. Desire is what drives me. When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn.” – Jean-Louis Barrault (Through Parisian eyes: Reflections on the Contemporary French Arts and Culture)
Works Cited:
Monday, March 11, 2013
Masks: Quotes
"There are three masks: the one we think we are, the one we really are, and the one we have in common." Jacques Le Coq
I find this quote fascinating because it's a topic I've thought of frequently. Humans bear many masks, and we wear one every day. Everyone can see the mask you wear, but you can't see the mask. What kind of mask do you wear? Does it match what you believe it is?
Haha, it's something I've thought of for so long that I've actually gone and written a whole roleplay on it...
Monday, March 4, 2013
BTB: Mask Article
I am in so much agreement that actors must not have wandering eyes - it is amazing how much character can be expressed through the eyes alone.
I also loved the quote that an actor who wears a mask must still be expressive beneath it to bring the mask to life.
I loved the brief portion that touched upon the mask of paint - it reminded me of past concepts that I had forgotten. The article had previously spoken of how the face itself, the expressions of it, are a mask in itself. Combining these two ideas, I was reminded of a past documentary I watched about the cheetah - the characteristic tearlines that mark a cheetah's face are supposedly to exaggerate and emphasize the creature's expressions - snarls, stares, and all.
Similarly, Native Americans had used war paints to dramatize their expressions, used for performances and for battle alike.
Paint can either be the mask or it can accent and amplify the mask - I am actually quite grateful to this article for rekindling my past fascination with the art and meaning put behind 'masks', 'expressions', and 'paint'.
(Also, Kabuki - moving the eyes in different directions to emphasize different things is just... wow .__. fascinating)
I also loved the quote that an actor who wears a mask must still be expressive beneath it to bring the mask to life.
I loved the brief portion that touched upon the mask of paint - it reminded me of past concepts that I had forgotten. The article had previously spoken of how the face itself, the expressions of it, are a mask in itself. Combining these two ideas, I was reminded of a past documentary I watched about the cheetah - the characteristic tearlines that mark a cheetah's face are supposedly to exaggerate and emphasize the creature's expressions - snarls, stares, and all.
Similarly, Native Americans had used war paints to dramatize their expressions, used for performances and for battle alike.
Paint can either be the mask or it can accent and amplify the mask - I am actually quite grateful to this article for rekindling my past fascination with the art and meaning put behind 'masks', 'expressions', and 'paint'.
(Also, Kabuki - moving the eyes in different directions to emphasize different things is just... wow .__. fascinating)
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Masks (.__. touching an obsession)
A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology
The Secret Art of the Performer
by Eugenio Barba
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Obsession: Yuumei
Today, I have rediscovered an artist that had once been a huge inspiration to me. As I toiled with schoolwork and was challenged with demands of what I aspire to become in the future, I had somehow pushed her existence to the furthest recesses of my mind. By happenstance, I've rediscovered her to find that she has recently released a new piece of art, and I just hoped to share it.
Fisheye Placebo is a story about, in her own words, "information wars, hackers, and bad roommates" and this is striking to me because her inspiration comes from the world around her.
Her previous work and what led me to discover her is called Knite and what led me to love it was just... how much of the world it reflected? This is especially true because this young woman is Chinese, and she writes/draws about her home country and ties in her love for the environment (and another example here). Her fictional twists to situations in the real world are something that I hope to be able to do myself someday.
That, and well, her art is absolutely beautiful in my humble opinion.
Wenqing Yan, also known as Yuumei, is a young woman who has had a difficult past, and it just makes me admire her all the more. This is one of her most famous pieces, and her pieces are just so meaningful - some people reject her style because she embraces the technological era (which leads me to this link, which should apply to all forms of art (writing, theatre, etc.) not just visual art) but I think her work is astounding, always. She was also met with harsh opposition from her divorced parents, who had 'hoped' for her to become a doctor or a lawyer, but she has decided to follow her dreams and... well, her own comic explains her situation better than I can.
She isn't very well known and might never be, but personally I think her amazing. As an aspiring writer, myself, I find her plots compelling and her story ideas absolutely captivating. Her characters, from design to personality, are wonderful and each driven by their own motivations.
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