Session 5: Gao and shange

by Gwethalyn

In the first part of session 5 we played a little bit of a game we have coined Pineapple Umbrella. It is really just a slight variation on our usual shape making exercises where we have added the element of calling out words when the participants are to change shapes, rather than just asking them to change. The participants are told to use the words however they like, they can react to the sound of the words only, or an impression the words give them, or try to create something from the idea the words give them. They find out very quickly they will not be able to actually embody the words in any way because we shout out phrases like “eraser midnight,” “frog tanline,” “achy treehouse,” and my personal favorite: “catastrophe boot strap.” At a certain point we ask them to remember the shapes that go with certain phrases and then if we callout that phrase again they must return to that shape. This year we had remembered shapes of “rainbow hammerhead” and “peanut butter lederhosen.” After leading this exercise, the amount of times I have said the word lederhosen in my life has gone up exponentially. When we add this new dimension of giving them something heard to think about as they reshape a funny thing seems to happen, they stop thinking so hard about the shape making and as a result their shapes become more spontaneous and wilder and therefore, more interesting and more interesting is our one driving goal. This is only the second year we have done this exercise, so I have not quite figured it out all the way yet, but there is definitely something worthwhile in it.

In the readings we read The Other Side by Chinese playwright Xingjian Gao. This is the one piece that appeared in last year’s reader as well. The play begins with an actor telling the performers and audience about how to play the game they are going to play in order to create their theater. The game involves exploring all of the relationships that can be defined between people with a piece of rope, at the end of this exploration the actor says “Now there is a river, not a rope in front of us. We must cross the river to get to the other side.” and the whole company begins to cross the river. The journey that begins with this crossing of a river involves a total loss of knowledge, a relearning of knowledge, a group homicide, a card game with someone who may or may not be the devil, an attempt to find religious solace, an attempt to recognize love, and ultimately the search for whatever that thing is, you know, the thing that you are looking for. As the play ends the company is wandering the stage, each in search of something. They begin to speak lines indicating they are engaged in the most mundane of daily activities: “I telephoned you many times,” “What a sweet kitten,” “Sweetheart, O, I forgot to change your nappy,” “You don’t need to explain. You don’t need to explain ever again,” “What are you doing tomorrow? Shall we have supper together?” and the music of the play fades until all that is left are “(The sounds of a baby crying, of vehicles starting up and driving off, bicycle bells, water gushing from the tap, and the distant wailing of an ambulance siren.) THE END.”

We also read Boogie Woogie Landscapes by ntozake shange. Shange’s theater is full of music and dance and language so rich in the poetry of colors it wraps the events that shape a life, both joyful and horrific, in a brilliant unflinching light that cannot be ignored. Boogie Woogie Landscapes revels in sound and dance and the release of the soul that goes into each as the main character, Layla, is surrounded by what are called her night life companions. These companions appear to her after she has returned home from the disco to her own room furnished with “the mirrors that we see ourselves in/comin in or goin out/ in our full regalia or in layers of our own sweat.” The companions speak to her and enact with her events from her life and Layla dances to try and come to terms with these events and where she has come to. At the end of the play, Layla speaks of her flaws, fears, obsessions, but also of the notion of losing these in the oblivion of music and sound.
“that you might find me/in the night/when i am flying.
i wanna tell you i cannot stop smoking kools/forget
the militia in panama/ all brown & bald in gestapo boots/
dontcha wanna be music/ & ease into the fog
dontcha wanna be like rain/a cosmic event/like sound . . .”

In the second part of our movement work we worked on an exercised inspired in part by The Other Side and in part by an exercise I had used in another project. In groups of three they silently explored all of the ways three people and a length of ribbon could interact. Once they had worked on this for awhile we gave them an arbitrary wrench in the works, any time the ribbon is touching the ground they can move as they wish, any time the ribbon is not touching the ground they must move in slow sustained movements with tension. It took a little while for each group to get the hang of it, I had to remind them to make their transitions precise, but once everyone had that down there was an energized silence as the groups all got down to some serious work. Each group explored different kinds of interactions and each group reached a place where they were really improvising in unity. Chad commented that each group was so riveting that he kept having to remind himself to stop watching each one so he could see what the other groups were doing. All of the spectators present were in total agreement; the work is getting truly compelling to watch.