Monday, December 25, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Photos of First Performance
Rachael here, with apologies for taking so long to get photos up of the first on-campus performance. Information for anyone reading this blog who is not here with us, a brief description: These photos were taken at a first work-in-progress performance on December 21st, on site here at Christ College campus on the last day of classes for students. The first performance reportedly had over a thousand students as audience. You will see photos of a street play performed by our CSA friends, dealing with issues of local relevance such as harassment. Then you will see photos of two different pieces put together collaboratively by both Indian and Canadian students, with instruction from Yasmine. These two pieces departed from the story of Adam and Eve to deal with some relevant women's issues.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,
Rachael
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,
Rachael
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
A moment
I just want to remember:
Finding ourselves at an after-party of sorts. Running to our rooms to snazzy up a little, after eight hours of intense physical work, coming down ten minutes later, looking spectacular. Eating the food, watching the colours, the clothing, the smiles, a bright night.
Excluding ourselves, eating on the stairs, plates on our laps and hushed giggles. One of thosemoments you don't foresee for yourself, what is a rector, anyway?
As the guests leave, their shiny red plastic chairs in lonely circles, the staff gets a bit rowdy, speakers are pushed together, music is played. Dancing begins, the men are moving, laughing, playing. At the first opportunity, three girls and a boy hop into the fray, dancing and laughing. The song is over. The dancing is over, as abruptly as it began.
There is mention that it is because women were dancing with men. Whoops.
- M
Finding ourselves at an after-party of sorts. Running to our rooms to snazzy up a little, after eight hours of intense physical work, coming down ten minutes later, looking spectacular. Eating the food, watching the colours, the clothing, the smiles, a bright night.
Excluding ourselves, eating on the stairs, plates on our laps and hushed giggles. One of thosemoments you don't foresee for yourself, what is a rector, anyway?
As the guests leave, their shiny red plastic chairs in lonely circles, the staff gets a bit rowdy, speakers are pushed together, music is played. Dancing begins, the men are moving, laughing, playing. At the first opportunity, three girls and a boy hop into the fray, dancing and laughing. The song is over. The dancing is over, as abruptly as it began.
There is mention that it is because women were dancing with men. Whoops.
- M
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Polina's thoughts on YASMINE
Yasmine: she is tall and beautiful, intoxicatingly feminine and overpoweringly strong. She starts each session with a five-minute meditation around a small flickering flame, “to summon the divine creative energy with in you.” She says just enough to know you do not breathe, smile, fidget, or mumble unless it is inexcusably justified and intersplices her poignant dialogue with small Spanish phrases such as “Mas or menus” and “chelo.” She works us hard. Crunches and legs kicks, half splits and standing tree poses. “Your body is your tool, sculpt it, nurture it, take care of it, otherwise, how will you be able to communicate anything at all?” “We are dealing with the topic of women,” she softly explains, “so we will tell the story of Adam and Eve, wordlessly. Sculpt your bodies and transform your voices.” She teaches us acrobatics on a concrete floor, no mats, no spotters. “You must stand on his shoulders,” she commands. She hands us a large cloth to be maneuvered, woven and reinterpreted through out, splits us into two groups and leaves us to work collectively. If she doesn’t like something, she chimes in unapologetically. She is constantly asking for more; one step further, one layer deeper, one dance step more complicated. And then I watched the other group’s piece; I was so moved, re-reminded of the power of images, collective creation, our bodies as abodes for spiritual energy and the ingenuity of an incredible teacher.
I have committed to major social faux phas in the last week:
1. In the middle of reciting my poem for Mr. Ashouk, I stumbled over my words and accidentally burst out with, “Fuck!” Mr. Ashouk slowly and gently put his arm around my shoulder, and softly said, “Madame, please remember that you are in India and that you are at an Indian college.”
2. Loudly cheering “Woooooo!” after a performance from the back row of the auditorium, prompting all of the rows in front to turn around and stare.
I have committed to major social faux phas in the last week:
1. In the middle of reciting my poem for Mr. Ashouk, I stumbled over my words and accidentally burst out with, “Fuck!” Mr. Ashouk slowly and gently put his arm around my shoulder, and softly said, “Madame, please remember that you are in India and that you are at an Indian college.”
2. Loudly cheering “Woooooo!” after a performance from the back row of the auditorium, prompting all of the rows in front to turn around and stare.
Meghan thinks... some ramblings on group work
I had forgotten how hard it is to work in a group, with no one leader. Creating collectively is a challenge, always, everyone must have space for their ideas, and their ideas must be respected. We keep saying "the Canadians work like this and the Indians work like that". I don't think that is necessarily the case.
Most of the Canadians participating are trained in theatre and development and have been working with the same groups of people for a few years now. We develop systems of working together, of building ideas onto the ideas of others and quickly giving it all a shot to be thrown onto its feet.
From what I understand, the Indians participating are used to very efficiently creating through scripts, through getting all the ideas out and agreeing on some sort of path before they get it on their feet. (Correct me if I'm wrong, CSA!).
Both are efficient methods.
I realize during this that I hate to talk talk talk. It needs to be done, of course, a path needs to be chosen. When no one was listening properly, no one was hearing properly (Stephanie pointed out the difference between entendre and ecouter, and I feel that), no one was happy and that never really got fixed, despite a product that I feel we should be quite proud of. I found myself acting unprofessionally, needing to walk over to my bag to grab my water, to take a few deep breaths and just be removed.
I had forgotten about this challenge. I don't have a solution, I know the best things happened when we stopped talking and tried something, whether it worked or not, whether we expected it to work or not. We were the most alive in this project when we were moving and creating, not putting up our hands and waiting for our turn to throw an idea into an unsafe pot of ideas.
A new challenge. A good one. A hard one.
The products were beautiful, by the way.
Most of the Canadians participating are trained in theatre and development and have been working with the same groups of people for a few years now. We develop systems of working together, of building ideas onto the ideas of others and quickly giving it all a shot to be thrown onto its feet.
From what I understand, the Indians participating are used to very efficiently creating through scripts, through getting all the ideas out and agreeing on some sort of path before they get it on their feet. (Correct me if I'm wrong, CSA!).
Both are efficient methods.
I realize during this that I hate to talk talk talk. It needs to be done, of course, a path needs to be chosen. When no one was listening properly, no one was hearing properly (Stephanie pointed out the difference between entendre and ecouter, and I feel that), no one was happy and that never really got fixed, despite a product that I feel we should be quite proud of. I found myself acting unprofessionally, needing to walk over to my bag to grab my water, to take a few deep breaths and just be removed.
I had forgotten about this challenge. I don't have a solution, I know the best things happened when we stopped talking and tried something, whether it worked or not, whether we expected it to work or not. We were the most alive in this project when we were moving and creating, not putting up our hands and waiting for our turn to throw an idea into an unsafe pot of ideas.
A new challenge. A good one. A hard one.
The products were beautiful, by the way.
All Shook Up
I find myself here on the twelfth day, craving something or anything familiar. Even as I was sitting in a mall drinking coffee and watching Elvis sing "Jail House Rock", I still wasn't satisfied. In fact, I wasn't even close to being satisfied. In the same breath, I can't imagine being anywhere but here. I can't place myself back home in Montreal because I know that when I do in fact fly 'home' to Montreal I will be an entirely new person. This experience in India has shifted things in me. There have been the obvious changes, like global and political awareness, but what has thrown me off the most, is the shifting of things deep to my core. Who would have thought that at 25 I could have already been set in my ways? I'm learning more about how to work with large groups of people and negotiate boundaries than I am about dealing with 'culture shock' because to be honest, there has been very little 'shock'. For every cultural difference that I've noticed, there have been 20 similarities. I knew that coming here I would probably return home a slightly different version of who I was, but I never would have guessed where these profound changes would take place.
The whole world in the palm of your hands...
We will cross the seas
and we will come to you
and when we come
do not make soft beds for us
do not raise monuments for us
do not worry about our comforts
for we have come to be one with you
just allow us to walk a little with you
let us learn, just a little
so we may take a sapling
from you
and plant it in our distant land
tomorrow may there be bright red fruits
from that tree
tomorrow may new voices sing under their branches
tomorrow may we rest our wearied limbs under it's shade
tomorrow...
and we will come to you
and when we come
do not make soft beds for us
do not raise monuments for us
do not worry about our comforts
for we have come to be one with you
just allow us to walk a little with you
let us learn, just a little
so we may take a sapling
from you
and plant it in our distant land
tomorrow may there be bright red fruits
from that tree
tomorrow may new voices sing under their branches
tomorrow may we rest our wearied limbs under it's shade
tomorrow...
When I look at this project what strikes me most is not the fact that this is a theatre project or that it is even about street theatre...all that pales in comparison to the fact that this is a project guided by a vision. It is about the inherent goodness in mankind. Ted and his team and all the people who worked in Canada to make this a reality need to be commended for this vision. It is ultimately about doing good to the community. And that thought makes me feel good about playing a role in their vision.
I admire the courage, dedication, passion and sincerity that have brought them to my land.
At the end of the day, our lives are but a collection of stories. Years later when I look back at my stories, this is one story I want to place right on top of the heap.
- Rajesh.P.I, Theatre Trainer and traveller
Monday, December 18, 2006
Tuesday, December 19th... Noush... What Exactly is Poverty?
The Indian slums are not what you'd think they'd be.
I'm not sure what I expected but they weren't what I thought they'd be.
All the joy and celebration actually, didn't surprise me- I'd been forewarned.
But my surprise came at my own feeling of envy.
Nowhere in the whole world had I ever seen something so ironically close to paradise,
this little lane off the main street in the city...
The pumping well
The sewage ditch
The tiny chickens and tinier chicks
The sleepy dogs,
The check-to-make-sure-if-they're-still-breathing dogs,
Where are all the cats?
The goats
The tiniest staircase in the world:
I'm not sure what I expected but they weren't what I thought they'd be.
All the joy and celebration actually, didn't surprise me- I'd been forewarned.
But my surprise came at my own feeling of envy.
Nowhere in the whole world had I ever seen something so ironically close to paradise,
this little lane off the main street in the city...
The pumping well
The sewage ditch
The tiny chickens and tinier chicks
The sleepy dogs,
The check-to-make-sure-if-they're-still-breathing dogs,
Where are all the cats?
The goats
The tiniest staircase in the world:
Take off your shoes before you come in.
Gandhi Quotes, hobgoblins and Jassy ramblins'
"Gandhi believed that constant growth is the law of life and therefore he was not preoccupied with the thought of consistency. He endorsed what Emerson said: 'Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." The aim of Gandhi was to lift man bith spiritually and socially to new levels of experience."
" The imbalances which exist in the world of today are connected with the loss of balance in the human heart."
I like the word 'hobgoblin' and i don't think it is used enough.
So this trip to India has been breaking apart the consistency of my being and making me expell some foolish hobgoblins from my head. Others have been commenting on western guilt in their blog entries, and it is something that has been surfacing for me as well. Guilt is a plague and i have definately been dragged down by it- feeling as though i am not worthy of the life i have, in contrast to how little others have...I have struggled with finding a voice or taking a stance in the world of postmodern broo-haha, because i often flip flop from one side of the coin to the other, and am left in this neutral grey zone where i don't know how to act. I am working through this though, and realising as Caroline mentioned that guilt is not pro-active, it is an excuse to hang out in the passivity of greyness. The discussion of human rights is difficult because it encompasses so much, and a lot of it is connected to issues that seem larger than life. I find it hard to shake the thought that around 2% of the world's population are in posession of the majority of economic wealth and control...the greed and destruction of life on this planet is a human rights abuse. I know that change takes place at a slow rate and you need to start on a small and local scale. One part of my mental processing has been trying to dispell some of my overly-romantic and idealistic notions, and to think more realistically about what is possible. There is so much to learn and just as you think things make sense they get flipped on their side or upside down all over again...I am a sponge, i am the walrus, i am humbled, i am the hairy hobgoblin.
" The imbalances which exist in the world of today are connected with the loss of balance in the human heart."
I like the word 'hobgoblin' and i don't think it is used enough.
So this trip to India has been breaking apart the consistency of my being and making me expell some foolish hobgoblins from my head. Others have been commenting on western guilt in their blog entries, and it is something that has been surfacing for me as well. Guilt is a plague and i have definately been dragged down by it- feeling as though i am not worthy of the life i have, in contrast to how little others have...I have struggled with finding a voice or taking a stance in the world of postmodern broo-haha, because i often flip flop from one side of the coin to the other, and am left in this neutral grey zone where i don't know how to act. I am working through this though, and realising as Caroline mentioned that guilt is not pro-active, it is an excuse to hang out in the passivity of greyness. The discussion of human rights is difficult because it encompasses so much, and a lot of it is connected to issues that seem larger than life. I find it hard to shake the thought that around 2% of the world's population are in posession of the majority of economic wealth and control...the greed and destruction of life on this planet is a human rights abuse. I know that change takes place at a slow rate and you need to start on a small and local scale. One part of my mental processing has been trying to dispell some of my overly-romantic and idealistic notions, and to think more realistically about what is possible. There is so much to learn and just as you think things make sense they get flipped on their side or upside down all over again...I am a sponge, i am the walrus, i am humbled, i am the hairy hobgoblin.
A journey.....
Hi, Vandana here. First off all i wanted to say, awesome blog and awesome articles, really made me think a lot as to what should I write? To begin with I really love the whole team (very honestly). Its been fun filled 10 days and we learned a lot too. Right from the Human Rights documentaries, to Mr.Ashok's workshop and now to Mrs. Jasmine (sorry if i got the name wrong), every single movement in this workshop has been thought provoking.
The whole workshop by Mr.Ashok especially has made me think, think and think and I still dont know why? Its not that I didnt like the process but dont know why I didnt have 100% acceptance also. May be bacause of the way the street theatre team has worked in the past or may be....i dont know what, but then.... it still makes my head go round and round and round. When I shared this to rajesh Sir, he had told me just dont think so much and build structures around your head, leave it and let it just take its own time and by the end you will understand it.....honestly sir, i'm waiting to understand the whole process!! The whole new idea of expressing through body without that much focus on one's voice and face that too in street theatre....is making me...hmmmm... i'm not getting the word but I hope you understood. But all this thinking and doubts has made me think about myself... am I too rigid to accept a new methodology???
I think I should stop thinking which would be beneficial both for me and for the one's reading this post (coz the article is getting looonger). Its just that I think I need some more time to absorb all these experiences as I have the youngest mind and brain!!!!
Jokes apart, I think till now, the experience has been so beautiful and wonderful that I'm still thinking as to what to write. Anyways....Its been wonderful being with you all and sharing those learning as well fun moments!!!! And i promise.... I'll surely try to stop thinking this much!!!!
The whole workshop by Mr.Ashok especially has made me think, think and think and I still dont know why? Its not that I didnt like the process but dont know why I didnt have 100% acceptance also. May be bacause of the way the street theatre team has worked in the past or may be....i dont know what, but then.... it still makes my head go round and round and round. When I shared this to rajesh Sir, he had told me just dont think so much and build structures around your head, leave it and let it just take its own time and by the end you will understand it.....honestly sir, i'm waiting to understand the whole process!! The whole new idea of expressing through body without that much focus on one's voice and face that too in street theatre....is making me...hmmmm... i'm not getting the word but I hope you understood. But all this thinking and doubts has made me think about myself... am I too rigid to accept a new methodology???
I think I should stop thinking which would be beneficial both for me and for the one's reading this post (coz the article is getting looonger). Its just that I think I need some more time to absorb all these experiences as I have the youngest mind and brain!!!!
Jokes apart, I think till now, the experience has been so beautiful and wonderful that I'm still thinking as to what to write. Anyways....Its been wonderful being with you all and sharing those learning as well fun moments!!!! And i promise.... I'll surely try to stop thinking this much!!!!
Rachael explains the photos
Hi Folks,
Sorry I am new to this blogging business, so I uploaded these photos with no explanation. Now here it is...
You will see our wonderful friends from the Centre for Social Action in the group shot. There is a wideview shot of Mr.Ashok leading the workshop on our first or second day.
Then we see Mr. Ashok checking out the drumming skills of Canadian student Sean and CSA student Suleika in two separate pictures.
Enjoy,
Rachael VF
Sorry I am new to this blogging business, so I uploaded these photos with no explanation. Now here it is...
You will see our wonderful friends from the Centre for Social Action in the group shot. There is a wideview shot of Mr.Ashok leading the workshop on our first or second day.
Then we see Mr. Ashok checking out the drumming skills of Canadian student Sean and CSA student Suleika in two separate pictures.
Enjoy,
Rachael VF
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Meghan thinks...
She's fed up with feeling guilt about where she comes from. Carolyn has made several good points surrounding these feelings on this trip.
The workshops have been such wonderful re-introduction to moving. To moving my body again, after a semester of very little. He was an amazing facilitator, from whom I have learned a great deal about technique, excitement and discipline.
I'm still processing thoughts around our visit to the slums and another day in the busy market.
She's fed up with feeling guilt about where she comes from. Carolyn has made several good points surrounding these feelings on this trip.
The workshops have been such wonderful re-introduction to moving. To moving my body again, after a semester of very little. He was an amazing facilitator, from whom I have learned a great deal about technique, excitement and discipline.
I'm still processing thoughts around our visit to the slums and another day in the busy market.
my tummy hurts
HELLO
India...wow....I think somehow that inarticulates can describe my experience here better than I can with words...In Real English! For starters...I have not been sick. Thank goodess's. My tummy has served me well, although I do often experience a lot of stomach cramping, like right now, and it hurts. The food is wonderful, but I do miss my regular staples of home like, baby carrots with hummus, BBQ chicken, Cesar salad, and oatmeal chocolate chip muffins! Strange, I know, but true. It hasn't even been that long, what's wrong with me?!
In any case, on to other matters...I think my favorite part of India so far is talking to people on the street about Canada, shaking hands and taking photos with them, especially the children. I have never been looked at like I am celebrity before, so I find myself being quite self-conscious when I go anywhere. The "silent stares" coming from every direction are something that I have never experienced before, and it's very surreal. However, it has made me proud and yet humble about where I come from. Despite the fact that I have grown up in a capitalist society, where much of the economic profits of many business are directly related to robbing the less fortunate of their basic human rights...I am still proud when I tell people...Canada! Yes I am, and that's OK (how's that for a little self affirmation!) This western self-guilt that has come up in many conversations while on this trip is something that I won't give into. That being said, it is extremely important to notice, and be constantly aware of all of these issues, their effects on developing countries, as well as the people directly involved. But to blame yourself, only gets you down. A depressed attitude is not a proactive attitude and I often feel that self-guilt is a way to an excuse to not do anything to make our situation on this world any better than it is. If I can approach this areas with a positive attitude about myself (which, yes, is easier said than done) then I can be of better service to the world. This is going to sound really cheesy...but a friend told me best yesterday when she said, smile and the people of the world will smile back. I have so much to learn here and I am sure that even after returning home at the end of this month I will still be feeling the effects of this experience, and reflecting. I expect that many realizations will probably come after, or long after this trip as it is terribly difficult to assimilate everything all at once. I don't know where I will end up at the end...it should prove to be an exciting place.
I'm not going to talk anymore....after a while I stop making logical sense and my mind starts twirling around in space....more to come
Carolyn
India...wow....I think somehow that inarticulates can describe my experience here better than I can with words...In Real English! For starters...I have not been sick. Thank goodess's. My tummy has served me well, although I do often experience a lot of stomach cramping, like right now, and it hurts. The food is wonderful, but I do miss my regular staples of home like, baby carrots with hummus, BBQ chicken, Cesar salad, and oatmeal chocolate chip muffins! Strange, I know, but true. It hasn't even been that long, what's wrong with me?!
In any case, on to other matters...I think my favorite part of India so far is talking to people on the street about Canada, shaking hands and taking photos with them, especially the children. I have never been looked at like I am celebrity before, so I find myself being quite self-conscious when I go anywhere. The "silent stares" coming from every direction are something that I have never experienced before, and it's very surreal. However, it has made me proud and yet humble about where I come from. Despite the fact that I have grown up in a capitalist society, where much of the economic profits of many business are directly related to robbing the less fortunate of their basic human rights...I am still proud when I tell people...Canada! Yes I am, and that's OK (how's that for a little self affirmation!) This western self-guilt that has come up in many conversations while on this trip is something that I won't give into. That being said, it is extremely important to notice, and be constantly aware of all of these issues, their effects on developing countries, as well as the people directly involved. But to blame yourself, only gets you down. A depressed attitude is not a proactive attitude and I often feel that self-guilt is a way to an excuse to not do anything to make our situation on this world any better than it is. If I can approach this areas with a positive attitude about myself (which, yes, is easier said than done) then I can be of better service to the world. This is going to sound really cheesy...but a friend told me best yesterday when she said, smile and the people of the world will smile back. I have so much to learn here and I am sure that even after returning home at the end of this month I will still be feeling the effects of this experience, and reflecting. I expect that many realizations will probably come after, or long after this trip as it is terribly difficult to assimilate everything all at once. I don't know where I will end up at the end...it should prove to be an exciting place.
I'm not going to talk anymore....after a while I stop making logical sense and my mind starts twirling around in space....more to come
Carolyn
Monday, December 18th, 2006... Noush... The Intrigues of Toilet Seats
So things have been interesting working with the CSA students.
We all clicked immediately, I think, when we met, and there's been no shady politics, which is refreshing. Everyone I've met at this college, from the moment that Swati and Vendana picked me up from the airport, has been so incredibly friendly and so wholeheartedly welcoming, that I have a strange desire to wear salwar khameez's more often and sneak into their Dexter's science labs, and take 3 majors and commit my life to idlies and honda scooters.
Aside from experiencing theatre and human rights under a whole new tubelight, I've also been learning to play the desk, how to remark at large livestock in local Kannada dialect, and memorized the seven sacred rivers of India. Pretty groovy. The Canadians, in turn, have shared a folksong about Nova Scotia and I, at least, have sufficiently bitched about Montreal winters. So there's some great weaving going on (but not in the dirty way).
Thankfully, all is not Brady Bunch; I sense a ripple (that, by the way, is one of the only times I have confidently used a semi-colon), without which I might have just chucked up from all the saccharinne and gone back home. Turns out that the CSA gangsters have previously experienced a non-TJ approach to theatre (yeah, I know, they try to write a play without touching each other and pretending they are drawing an invisible drawing on the ceiling with a very long paintbrush attached to their head- What's Up with THAT?) So Mr. Ashok, our first guru, requested us to explore emotions and scenarios using our entire bodies, without emphasising facial expression or words. I'm thinking dance, Noh theatre, human puppetry- stuff that gets me pretty juicy, basically. But for sure, the organic process is a weird one and I completely understand their reservations (also we all get kinda stinky running around so maybe that's why they are uncomfortable touching us).
Anyway, a long story long, there are moments that I find myself jumping up, and defending this process and the product it manifests: theatre that uses the whole body, theatre that works with movement and gestures and sort of artsy-fartsy tableaux. Theatre that, I believe, can communicate beyond language (mainly because it doesn't use words). Theatre that challenges the notion that gestures are culture specific. Theatre that, I believe, taps into a collectively human unconscious to reveal innate expressions.
I think my older reservations with the abstract was always that: you can look at an abstract form and see so much. You can interpret it anyway you want. So then what defines what is art, I thought, if you could literally see meaning in a toilet seat? What creates response is sometimes lack of response ie, if we were moved and touched by everything and anything around us, then really, we would never be touched at all. If something communicates everything, then really it communicates nothing.
It took me a long time to appreciate that a successful abstract expression does not express infinitely. As a receiver in the process of any communication, you are free to interpret the given message in any way you choose. However, there are existing limits within the content of the message, and if you are an open receiver, you will clue into these limits and thus be guided to the intended meaning. People often look at an abstract form and become intimidated by its apparent lack of guidance. Its scary to rely on your own senses- what if you don't 'get' it? This fear is what impedes the communication, I think, for it blinds us. In searching for the "correct answer", we miss the point. The point is that the exchange between the object and viewer is indeed individual. You get exactly what you take when you surrender your senses. But the successful expression will not give anything and everything, unless as a viewer you impose that.
So going back to this endless debate between theatre that focuses on the spoken word, on facial expression and naturalistic movement and theatre that uses voice and words in their sonic form, and the body as a moving sculpture. Truly, neither wins. Ideally, they co-exist in the actor. But personally, I am in love with the latter. I am intellectually stimulated by the former and viscerally by the latter. It fascinates me how movement-based or sensory theatre as I am now going to call it, really crosses cultural boundaries. I am moved by BharthaNatyam as I am by some weird freakshow hippie thing going on in some hole-in-wall black box in the plateau. To look at an object, any physical thing, and notice for the first time its silhouette and the way its inherent space interacts with its surrounding space, to notice the light on it instead of its colour, to appreciate the 4-dimensionality of it- to experience words as sounds and feel sounds as rhythm- I suddenly take nothing for granted and am freakin' astounded by the material world and feel sudden transcendance. Whoa, Man. Seriously, something in my gut somersaults and sends a rush of happy juice to my silenced brain and then my eyes leak. Now, that's engaging.
I was talking to (and probably by some point, talking at) Carolyn the other night till way too late, and props to her for staying awake, about my whole cosmic belief system. This summer I spent way too much geek-time studying String theory and Jung's ideas about Synchronicity... and I'm all about the idea that there exists a pattern in the cosmos. *Nerd voice* Jusht shthinking aboutsh fractals makesh me quiver witsh glee. I swear this is connected to what I've been bumbling about. See, I think that an idea that works with what we immediately intellectually understand and can logically analyse communicates. But our consciousness is a fairly restricted playing field. We work with what we know and we know what are working with. At some point, however, we start to repeat ourselves. Ideas that remain in the consciousness get stale. And art that stays in the consious realm, from a creative standpoint, follows this same bleakness. As humans, I believe that we are unconsciously active constantly- and indeed the consciousness is affected beyond our control. But its still like trying to get a high off coca-cola when you are sitting in a Columbian drug lord's basement. You're already down there, so you might as well tap into the good stuff.
This is a lot of what Concordia has taught me. If anything, its taught me the virtue of trusting your instinct, to trust the intuitive impulse. I believe that much of the touchy-feely- pretending-to-pick-cotton-candy-and-it-eat-it-off-your-body technique thats practised, works to release and open the body and mind- to prepare the body and mind for the intuitive impulse. This intuition, fueled by what we cannot immediately intellectualize, has the potential to create forms and make connections that lie beyond the boundaries of the consciousness. And as humans, I believe we are all equipped with the same ocean of possibility in our selves. Thus, (the 'thus' that's gone around the mulberry bush a few times) by working with this bizarre-seeming technique that we are practising with Ashok, I believe we are tapping into a source that can communicate to others by bypassing the head and heading straight for the gut, the solar plexus, and the place of the body that physically, scientifically, spiritually and mythically is the center of our being.
So I wish I could articulate this on the spot when indulging in a hearty debate with one of the CSA street theatre students (the CSASTS cats I guess) but I'm usually too doped up by all the sugar from the copious coffees we're fed, so instead my voice goes shrill and I say something like "mneh mneh mneh mneh." Instead, I lay awake at night thinking, "damn, why didn't I say thattheunconsciousnesscontainsabsoluteknowledgeandbyactinglikemonkeyswegetclosertogodand
jungsaidsomethingaboutagroupbeingdefinedastheexcitedpointsinafieldandwecouldtapintotheideas
thatarethoseveryexcitedpoints,archetypes,archetypes... and I realise it's better that I'm not so quick-witted: I'd certainly have no friends if they realised what a huge geek I am.
We all clicked immediately, I think, when we met, and there's been no shady politics, which is refreshing. Everyone I've met at this college, from the moment that Swati and Vendana picked me up from the airport, has been so incredibly friendly and so wholeheartedly welcoming, that I have a strange desire to wear salwar khameez's more often and sneak into their Dexter's science labs, and take 3 majors and commit my life to idlies and honda scooters.
Aside from experiencing theatre and human rights under a whole new tubelight, I've also been learning to play the desk, how to remark at large livestock in local Kannada dialect, and memorized the seven sacred rivers of India. Pretty groovy. The Canadians, in turn, have shared a folksong about Nova Scotia and I, at least, have sufficiently bitched about Montreal winters. So there's some great weaving going on (but not in the dirty way).
Thankfully, all is not Brady Bunch; I sense a ripple (that, by the way, is one of the only times I have confidently used a semi-colon), without which I might have just chucked up from all the saccharinne and gone back home. Turns out that the CSA gangsters have previously experienced a non-TJ approach to theatre (yeah, I know, they try to write a play without touching each other and pretending they are drawing an invisible drawing on the ceiling with a very long paintbrush attached to their head- What's Up with THAT?) So Mr. Ashok, our first guru, requested us to explore emotions and scenarios using our entire bodies, without emphasising facial expression or words. I'm thinking dance, Noh theatre, human puppetry- stuff that gets me pretty juicy, basically. But for sure, the organic process is a weird one and I completely understand their reservations (also we all get kinda stinky running around so maybe that's why they are uncomfortable touching us).
Anyway, a long story long, there are moments that I find myself jumping up, and defending this process and the product it manifests: theatre that uses the whole body, theatre that works with movement and gestures and sort of artsy-fartsy tableaux. Theatre that, I believe, can communicate beyond language (mainly because it doesn't use words). Theatre that challenges the notion that gestures are culture specific. Theatre that, I believe, taps into a collectively human unconscious to reveal innate expressions.
I think my older reservations with the abstract was always that: you can look at an abstract form and see so much. You can interpret it anyway you want. So then what defines what is art, I thought, if you could literally see meaning in a toilet seat? What creates response is sometimes lack of response ie, if we were moved and touched by everything and anything around us, then really, we would never be touched at all. If something communicates everything, then really it communicates nothing.
It took me a long time to appreciate that a successful abstract expression does not express infinitely. As a receiver in the process of any communication, you are free to interpret the given message in any way you choose. However, there are existing limits within the content of the message, and if you are an open receiver, you will clue into these limits and thus be guided to the intended meaning. People often look at an abstract form and become intimidated by its apparent lack of guidance. Its scary to rely on your own senses- what if you don't 'get' it? This fear is what impedes the communication, I think, for it blinds us. In searching for the "correct answer", we miss the point. The point is that the exchange between the object and viewer is indeed individual. You get exactly what you take when you surrender your senses. But the successful expression will not give anything and everything, unless as a viewer you impose that.
So going back to this endless debate between theatre that focuses on the spoken word, on facial expression and naturalistic movement and theatre that uses voice and words in their sonic form, and the body as a moving sculpture. Truly, neither wins. Ideally, they co-exist in the actor. But personally, I am in love with the latter. I am intellectually stimulated by the former and viscerally by the latter. It fascinates me how movement-based or sensory theatre as I am now going to call it, really crosses cultural boundaries. I am moved by BharthaNatyam as I am by some weird freakshow hippie thing going on in some hole-in-wall black box in the plateau. To look at an object, any physical thing, and notice for the first time its silhouette and the way its inherent space interacts with its surrounding space, to notice the light on it instead of its colour, to appreciate the 4-dimensionality of it- to experience words as sounds and feel sounds as rhythm- I suddenly take nothing for granted and am freakin' astounded by the material world and feel sudden transcendance. Whoa, Man. Seriously, something in my gut somersaults and sends a rush of happy juice to my silenced brain and then my eyes leak. Now, that's engaging.
I was talking to (and probably by some point, talking at) Carolyn the other night till way too late, and props to her for staying awake, about my whole cosmic belief system. This summer I spent way too much geek-time studying String theory and Jung's ideas about Synchronicity... and I'm all about the idea that there exists a pattern in the cosmos. *Nerd voice* Jusht shthinking aboutsh fractals makesh me quiver witsh glee. I swear this is connected to what I've been bumbling about. See, I think that an idea that works with what we immediately intellectually understand and can logically analyse communicates. But our consciousness is a fairly restricted playing field. We work with what we know and we know what are working with. At some point, however, we start to repeat ourselves. Ideas that remain in the consciousness get stale. And art that stays in the consious realm, from a creative standpoint, follows this same bleakness. As humans, I believe that we are unconsciously active constantly- and indeed the consciousness is affected beyond our control. But its still like trying to get a high off coca-cola when you are sitting in a Columbian drug lord's basement. You're already down there, so you might as well tap into the good stuff.
This is a lot of what Concordia has taught me. If anything, its taught me the virtue of trusting your instinct, to trust the intuitive impulse. I believe that much of the touchy-feely- pretending-to-pick-cotton-candy-and-it-eat-it-off-your-body technique thats practised, works to release and open the body and mind- to prepare the body and mind for the intuitive impulse. This intuition, fueled by what we cannot immediately intellectualize, has the potential to create forms and make connections that lie beyond the boundaries of the consciousness. And as humans, I believe we are all equipped with the same ocean of possibility in our selves. Thus, (the 'thus' that's gone around the mulberry bush a few times) by working with this bizarre-seeming technique that we are practising with Ashok, I believe we are tapping into a source that can communicate to others by bypassing the head and heading straight for the gut, the solar plexus, and the place of the body that physically, scientifically, spiritually and mythically is the center of our being.
So I wish I could articulate this on the spot when indulging in a hearty debate with one of the CSA street theatre students (the CSASTS cats I guess) but I'm usually too doped up by all the sugar from the copious coffees we're fed, so instead my voice goes shrill and I say something like "mneh mneh mneh mneh." Instead, I lay awake at night thinking, "damn, why didn't I say thattheunconsciousnesscontainsabsoluteknowledgeandbyactinglikemonkeyswegetclosertogodand
jungsaidsomethingaboutagroupbeingdefinedastheexcitedpointsinafieldandwecouldtapintotheideas
thatarethoseveryexcitedpoints,archetypes,archetypes... and I realise it's better that I'm not so quick-witted: I'd certainly have no friends if they realised what a huge geek I am.
The Slumbs, Sarah's Thoughts
Les petites filles sont maigres et leurs sourires prend toute leurs figures. Elles veulent qu"on les prenne en photo, leurs petites tresses et leur rubans debordant du cadre. LEs enfants sont si beaux, je suis heureuse de les entendre rire et de prendre leurs petites mains d'oiseaux dans mes mains. Je croyais qu'apres avoir assez lu, assez entendu, assez ressenti la pauvrete et les inegalites, je me sentirais finalement assez coupable pour agir, sortir de moi-meme et hurler. Un bareme, une limite. Enlever ma chemise et la mettre sur leur petits corps, manger du riz et finalement, faire partie de l'autre camp, celui des non-coupables. Mais l'action n'est pas la. Il n'y a pas de limite.
L'action est dans ma propre liberte de chaque moment d'etre la, de sourire, d'agir. Le sentiment de culpabilite renforce l'idee de l"Autre- le fosse devient infranchissable, et je ne peux pas profiter des petites filles qui rient parce que je me sens coupable. Je reste dans moi-meme, je n'ai aucune foi, aucune humilite. Je suis la source de tout les problemes, je suis mechantes, je suis plus que tous les efforts du monde entier qui se demerde autrement.
Je me contente de me sentir mal. Je ne fais pas confiance, je ne suis pas la, je me cache dans ma tete.
Monsieur Achok nous fait danser, nous fait chanter. Il fait chaud dans la piece du troisieme etage- le soleil orange se couche dans la brume de diesel. J'ai confiance que j'aime bouger, que j'aime chanter, et que j'ai un coeur eponge, qui peut raconter et transmettre, qui peut raconter avec l'amour de raconter et l'oreille de la curiosite, de la compassion.
Je serai un clown dans la rue et je raconterai ce qui en moi a change lorsque l'autre est entre dans mon coeur. Et je prendrai le droit et j'aurai confiance en moi, car je serai souriante et heureuse.
L'action est dans ma propre liberte de chaque moment d'etre la, de sourire, d'agir. Le sentiment de culpabilite renforce l'idee de l"Autre- le fosse devient infranchissable, et je ne peux pas profiter des petites filles qui rient parce que je me sens coupable. Je reste dans moi-meme, je n'ai aucune foi, aucune humilite. Je suis la source de tout les problemes, je suis mechantes, je suis plus que tous les efforts du monde entier qui se demerde autrement.
Je me contente de me sentir mal. Je ne fais pas confiance, je ne suis pas la, je me cache dans ma tete.
Monsieur Achok nous fait danser, nous fait chanter. Il fait chaud dans la piece du troisieme etage- le soleil orange se couche dans la brume de diesel. J'ai confiance que j'aime bouger, que j'aime chanter, et que j'ai un coeur eponge, qui peut raconter et transmettre, qui peut raconter avec l'amour de raconter et l'oreille de la curiosite, de la compassion.
Je serai un clown dans la rue et je raconterai ce qui en moi a change lorsque l'autre est entre dans mon coeur. Et je prendrai le droit et j'aurai confiance en moi, car je serai souriante et heureuse.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Some silly headwork!
Someone once asked me, “Why do we need movies or music videos to stir up the spirit of patriotism in us? I think it’s so fake, it only creates temporary feelings.” In a way I used to think she is right; why do we need a Rang De Basanti to come and pave the way for youth activism? Why should movies like Page 3 and hazaron khwaishen aisi remind us about corruption in media and government? The three days during which we viewed an extraordinary collection of documentaries from all over the world,which were screened for us at the International Human Rights Film Festival, answered my questions. The documentary we saw yesterday, the last one in the series, was about migrants from Bangladesh, ‘My Migrant Soul’. This movie I must tell you, actually left at least half of us in the group sobbing pretty hard. I felt like I was facing a different wall now, I felt like I was in the groove of some sort, maybe I felt like I could feel what a human right violation was. But in the words of Rajesh Sir ‘I was in a high, I got swept away. It was a contamination.’ ‘ooohhh, those unforgiving words! Sir, but it wasn’t as if I wanted to catch the next flight to Bangladesh and start social work there’, I thought to myself when he was talking to us about how we can attain maximum benefits from this workshop by being ‘rooted’. ‘But why?’ my mind asked, ‘Why is it that we can’t express our emotions and discuss what has touched us all in a way that it rightfully should have, I mean this is a workshop on Human Rights in Street Theatre, it’s not like we are going to all just start weeping loudly at once, with a pile of wet tissues on our sides and act immature.’
But I think, knowing my thick head and dense mind, I needed time, space and peace to think about what sir said and I didn’t make the mistake of converting these thoughts into words, even though I was desperate for answers.
I realized that realization itself is a slow process, one possibly can’t understand the reason why we need religion, state, people, family, laws, ideologies and other elements in life at one go, even though we might experience all of them everyday. Every single person should go through this slow and beautiful process of gaining information and realizing for oneself why we need the information, how should it impact us and what should one do with this information. Ask yourself the questions. It’s easy to sleep over the information and it’s also easy to ‘be swept away’.
The movies don’t aim at transforming every single human being walking out after the movie, into some big, well-known future torch bearer of social work. Instead they aim at changing your mental set-up dramatically by making you experience the magical journey of gaining as well as handling information. After one lets the realization process proceed at its natural pace, after one can identify what the realization process has brought to him, one can then seek ways of using the information. It’s like at the end of journey each one will discover something; maybe an ocean, a mountain, a room, a song, a wall or a reflection.
But none of them will put you in front of the right viewfinder if one does not try to contextualize, find reflections in ones own life.
Apart from making you a strong and mature person, this will also bring you unexpected, surprising and inspirational gifts. 'Don't try and find out what the gift will be', as Raesh sir says. It can be anything in the world, but Raesh sir also says 'that one needs to possess the art of identifying the gift, dont wait for a box neatly wrapped up with paper and ribbon!'
But then why all this on Human Rights when all our effots don't lead to action? well it all depends upon how one defines action or the satisfaction one gains from the action. We all need to start small, proably teach others what we learnt, talk about it to others, start with helping yourself after you recognise those reflections, start with helping the people you know, and then maybe think of catching that flight to Bangladesh!
ultimately I really like the fact that this realisation process will never end...actually iI dont want it to end!
But I think, knowing my thick head and dense mind, I needed time, space and peace to think about what sir said and I didn’t make the mistake of converting these thoughts into words, even though I was desperate for answers.
I realized that realization itself is a slow process, one possibly can’t understand the reason why we need religion, state, people, family, laws, ideologies and other elements in life at one go, even though we might experience all of them everyday. Every single person should go through this slow and beautiful process of gaining information and realizing for oneself why we need the information, how should it impact us and what should one do with this information. Ask yourself the questions. It’s easy to sleep over the information and it’s also easy to ‘be swept away’.
The movies don’t aim at transforming every single human being walking out after the movie, into some big, well-known future torch bearer of social work. Instead they aim at changing your mental set-up dramatically by making you experience the magical journey of gaining as well as handling information. After one lets the realization process proceed at its natural pace, after one can identify what the realization process has brought to him, one can then seek ways of using the information. It’s like at the end of journey each one will discover something; maybe an ocean, a mountain, a room, a song, a wall or a reflection.
But none of them will put you in front of the right viewfinder if one does not try to contextualize, find reflections in ones own life.
Apart from making you a strong and mature person, this will also bring you unexpected, surprising and inspirational gifts. 'Don't try and find out what the gift will be', as Raesh sir says. It can be anything in the world, but Raesh sir also says 'that one needs to possess the art of identifying the gift, dont wait for a box neatly wrapped up with paper and ribbon!'
But then why all this on Human Rights when all our effots don't lead to action? well it all depends upon how one defines action or the satisfaction one gains from the action. We all need to start small, proably teach others what we learnt, talk about it to others, start with helping yourself after you recognise those reflections, start with helping the people you know, and then maybe think of catching that flight to Bangladesh!
ultimately I really like the fact that this realisation process will never end...actually iI dont want it to end!
Interlinking Rivers...Water is a Common Right
Photographs from the Interlinking Rivers conference at Christ College in Bangalore to address flooding, drought, and lack of access to clean water. (please enlarge for photo credit)
" The song of the river ends not at her banks but in those who have loved her" Buffalo Joe
40% of India's population,especially in rural areas, do not have access to drinkable water!
When one could dig a well 30ft. into the ground and find a wellspring~ Now one has to drill over 300ft and the water that rises is stale and saturated with chemicals.
India has been considering interlinking its magestic rivers. However, serious factors need to be considered including the ecological impact of altering the River's path. 
" The song of the river ends not at her banks but in those who have loved her" Buffalo Joe
Thursday, December 14th, 2006 Excerpts from Noush's Journal and conversations with really smart people like her mom
I believe, I firmly believe:
It Is the Individual's Duty Not to be an Asshole.
Rest assured, there is no room for assholes in my Utopia.
If I Ruled the World (a work in progress):
Cars would only be for weekends
We could all bike to work
We would use horses for transport
We would all have gardens and porches
Smoking would become a communal, social activity again
People would take pride in the trades
We could cook our lunches at work
.........................................................................................................................................................................
There's been a bull in my china-shop-brain. Pieces of porcelain thought try to glue together to make sense again. Where once was a cup that could hold an idea is now an origami that resembles the shape of shame. I've gotten tiny cuts from handling these pieces of new understanding, and my fingers are tired out now. So I think I'll just let this mess remain.
Whoa man, that rhymes. I think I'm basically trying to say: those films last week hit home. I'm left with a lot of questions:
I saw people who would put their lives on the line, to fight for what they believed was right. I'm an over-analyser: for every conclusion I arrive at, I know that there's a flip-side of the coin (mostly because my mom keeps telling me there is and I believe her because MY MOM IS ALWAYS RIGHT, goddamit) ... what that means is that I am hardly ever so convicted of an idea to fight for it. Because I can always understand the opposition's point of view. Makes for a pretty lame protestor: Blah, Blah, So-and-So, You are Evil, You must Go but wait, you do give a lot of people jobs and stuff and if you left then people be unemployed and that's not good, so maybe you should just stop being so evil, please? Pretty please?
So what would I fight for? Is there any fight worth dying for? Or is life too short to waste on conflict? Yet, what is my life worth to exist within boundaries? What if the time comes to choose: what will I choose? To merely breathe, or to live feeling the driving force behind every breath?
Ah, to be or not to be, that is the question. To be free or to die, is a better question. I think Mel Gibson was dead wrong (as usual) when he said, "They can take our lives, but they can never take our... FREEEEEDOOOMMMMM" indeed they can. They can take your life, or your freedom or your freedom and leave you to take your own life.
I don't know what I would choose. My mom said that I wouldn't have to decide in advance, that I would respond instinctively at the appropriate time. I'd sure has hell feel more like a hero to be willing to fight for what I believe. But at the same time (flipside:) I somehow don't believe that if someone is pushing, you should push back. If someone is pushing, I think you should stand back quickly, let them fall over from their own momentum and then walk on top of them and do a little jig. I think I'm going to read up more on Gandhi's reactions to violence, because that dude had it going on. Maybe the whole world can march in a non-violent protest again the WTO, IMF, Pepsi-Cola and the other evil-doers of neoliberalism global colonialism ismMcisms. On that note, I'm going to go smoke a marlboro and drink some 7up and kick a homeless person if I can find one.
It Is the Individual's Duty Not to be an Asshole.
Rest assured, there is no room for assholes in my Utopia.
If I Ruled the World (a work in progress):
Cars would only be for weekends
We could all bike to work
We would use horses for transport
We would all have gardens and porches
Smoking would become a communal, social activity again
People would take pride in the trades
We could cook our lunches at work
.........................................................................................................................................................................
There's been a bull in my china-shop-brain. Pieces of porcelain thought try to glue together to make sense again. Where once was a cup that could hold an idea is now an origami that resembles the shape of shame. I've gotten tiny cuts from handling these pieces of new understanding, and my fingers are tired out now. So I think I'll just let this mess remain.
Whoa man, that rhymes. I think I'm basically trying to say: those films last week hit home. I'm left with a lot of questions:
I saw people who would put their lives on the line, to fight for what they believed was right. I'm an over-analyser: for every conclusion I arrive at, I know that there's a flip-side of the coin (mostly because my mom keeps telling me there is and I believe her because MY MOM IS ALWAYS RIGHT, goddamit) ... what that means is that I am hardly ever so convicted of an idea to fight for it. Because I can always understand the opposition's point of view. Makes for a pretty lame protestor: Blah, Blah, So-and-So, You are Evil, You must Go but wait, you do give a lot of people jobs and stuff and if you left then people be unemployed and that's not good, so maybe you should just stop being so evil, please? Pretty please?
So what would I fight for? Is there any fight worth dying for? Or is life too short to waste on conflict? Yet, what is my life worth to exist within boundaries? What if the time comes to choose: what will I choose? To merely breathe, or to live feeling the driving force behind every breath?
Ah, to be or not to be, that is the question. To be free or to die, is a better question. I think Mel Gibson was dead wrong (as usual) when he said, "They can take our lives, but they can never take our... FREEEEEDOOOMMMMM" indeed they can. They can take your life, or your freedom or your freedom and leave you to take your own life.
I don't know what I would choose. My mom said that I wouldn't have to decide in advance, that I would respond instinctively at the appropriate time. I'd sure has hell feel more like a hero to be willing to fight for what I believe. But at the same time (flipside:) I somehow don't believe that if someone is pushing, you should push back. If someone is pushing, I think you should stand back quickly, let them fall over from their own momentum and then walk on top of them and do a little jig. I think I'm going to read up more on Gandhi's reactions to violence, because that dude had it going on. Maybe the whole world can march in a non-violent protest again the WTO, IMF, Pepsi-Cola and the other evil-doers of neoliberalism global colonialism ismMcisms. On that note, I'm going to go smoke a marlboro and drink some 7up and kick a homeless person if I can find one.
ON THE GRASSY KNOLL
Here are pics from our first performance: A collage of images representing various human rights issues of concern to our group. We had just emerged from viewing "the TAKE" addressing alternative governance and local economic development in Argentina and "My Migrant Experience", which was compiled from the post-humous tapes and letters of a Bangladeshi man who was a migrant labourer in Malaysia. We reflected on the stories and multiple realities at play in our local and global environment while maintaining these images for a half hour in the hot sun!
An example of collective committment...
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Meghan thinks...
After a rather large discussion, we have just begun to touch on what it means to have and feel part of a culture. As a Canadian, upper-middle class, white girl who is on the way to being educated, I worry rather regularly about who am I to enter another's culture and what it means to consider these questions at all.
I am happy to continue the exploration of this question, of our roles as "artists" here and in Canada, of Bangalore itself, and everything on the way.
I'm overwhelmed, grateful, and happy.
I am happy to continue the exploration of this question, of our roles as "artists" here and in Canada, of Bangalore itself, and everything on the way.
I'm overwhelmed, grateful, and happy.
Questions and Notes- Sarah
Art allows me to demilitarize my imagination - Nisha
Criticism
-I am always in a space of criticism- it sticks to me, to my eyes to my ears. Self-criticism is the worst, and has led over the years to an extreme self-doubt.
-THis self-doubt is strangely connected with a twisted self-valorization of being educated enough to know that I am guilty. Guilty of what? Of participating in savage neoliberalism.
-Behind self-criticism, I can rationally justify non-action. I am tired of being rational, yet I cannot find the way to my heart. I do not feel anything while passing the beggar, on St-Catherine or in the streets of Bangalore. I do not feel anything but the sadness of not feeling. I am guilty of that, and very angry.
"My humanity is feeling we are all voices of the same poverty." Jorge LUis Borges
Learning how to feel comfortable in your discomfort is a place of creativity. -Rachael Van Fossen
Self hatred is the opposite of faith.
" I have commited the worst crime against humanity : I have allowed myself to be unhappy." Jorge LUis Borges.
Being politically correct is the biggest fleau of our Canadian minds- everything is not relative and rare are the things on which I truly do not have an opinion, a stance, whether that opinion be judgemental, informed or emotionally felt. Only if I express my opinion can I truly engage in dialogue, and only in dialogue is there a place for transformation and knowledge. I must engage myself.
Now what is my community?
-How do I extend myself to realities that I don't know. The reality of HOchelaga Maisonneuve, let alone the reality of Parc-Extension immigrants is foreign to me- how do I connect? I reject the idea of global citizenship- bullshit. I have to find a way to connect somewhere in my heart before I can pretend to be concerned by the whole wild world.
-Being white and educated give me an access to a multitude of realities in which I know the rules of performance. My identity is truly mobile and multiple - now how can I connect with a community? Should I create them with people sharing same urgencies and needs? What are my urgencies? Why do we always wait for urgency to act?
-What part does the artist take in a community? Is the artist a facilitator or a subjective and responsive voice?
-Dialogues start with introspection. Now how much of that introspection is free from our conditionned self? WHere is the end of introspection?
Human rights
- There is a vicious circle around human rights that I cannot clearly articulate as of yet.
Human rights are a Western concept that are rooted in the notion of ownership and individualism. When you own something, you are not a part of it anymore.
- Some privileges are given to "developping countries" ( What does it mean to be developped? Is there such a thing? Is the concept rooted in a belief in evolution?) if they meet UN charter of Human Rights objectives. Now in order to obtain these privileges on a national scope, the countries can only industrialize their economies to meet the demands of the savage neoliberalist economy. The achievement of human rights depends on money. Neoliberalism does not care for Human Rights. What are the alternative of economical models?
- India has embraced the western idea of rights- everything is reduced to rights. ( G. Cootney)
-Global economy does not proove to have a "trickle down" effect - the poor are getting poorer. But worst, they are loosing the ability to be critical of the systems of the neo-liberal economy. This is made possible through publicity, the main weapon of our economical system. I also am a victim of it.
- The "developping countries" have received knowledge as a pre-fabricated "package". How can we rethink knowledge? Is there anything such as essential knowledge? Is knowledge not always fabricated? Is there a worth in going back to ancestral and cultural ways of knowing- is that more reflective of our identity than our hybrid modern state?
Sarah's first impressions
J'avais oublie le plaisir de descendre ailleurs, le plaisir de s'abandonner finalement, de laisser tomber le temps, le rythme des pas, et de sourire dans l'humidite de la nuit. QUe les jours soient emerveillants et que je garde le coeur ouvert. - arrivee a l'aeroport de Bangalore, 4h du matin
L'odeur du diesel, les yeux noirs des hommes qui regardent, les cheveux noirs des petites ecolieres, tresses en nattes brillantes et ornees de rubans, les montagnes de poudres magiques roses oranges jaunes pour le point sacre sur le front et la decoration des parvis, etre tres blanche dans les yeux des enfants, etre tres blanche avec la nervosite et en meme temps, les yeux qui avalent.- city market, vendredi 2h.
Je suis blanche, eduquee et riche- je suis priviligiee. Et cela ne changera pas- j'aurai toujours le choix. vendredi soir
L'odeur du diesel, les yeux noirs des hommes qui regardent, les cheveux noirs des petites ecolieres, tresses en nattes brillantes et ornees de rubans, les montagnes de poudres magiques roses oranges jaunes pour le point sacre sur le front et la decoration des parvis, etre tres blanche dans les yeux des enfants, etre tres blanche avec la nervosite et en meme temps, les yeux qui avalent.- city market, vendredi 2h.
Je suis blanche, eduquee et riche- je suis priviligiee. Et cela ne changera pas- j'aurai toujours le choix. vendredi soir
First impressions of Bangalore by Jasmine Scarf
Thick humid air with a cool breeze mixed in-between, 4am-exhausted, lots of noise, lush green trees, bright colours,warm welcome at the airport, smell of diesel,large billboard advertisements, excited by glimpses of the city lit by street lamps- through the bus window...
First day at the market: Overwhelming, rickshaw ride- scary, cars honking in their own morse code language,whizzing, winding,halting. It is nearby impossible to cross the street here.
Market place:many textures, rich, vibrant layers,beauty,full of life, new stimuli, women sitting on the sidewalk with blankets displaying various fruits and veggies arranged into neat piles ready for purchase, stray dogs, two cows eating garbage in an alleyway, cow sleeping on a meridian in between lanes of speeding traffic, delicious smells of incense, smells of urine, crowded srteets, bodies/bikes/vehicles squeezing through, under a tunnel stood an ancient looking temple,people sleeping on the ground, juxtaposition of old and new, traditional and modern...intricately intertwined. Eyes: bright, curious, staring, smiling, oggling, suspicious, hopeful, wary, wondering, wandering...
So grateful to be here!
First day at the market: Overwhelming, rickshaw ride- scary, cars honking in their own morse code language,whizzing, winding,halting. It is nearby impossible to cross the street here.
Market place:many textures, rich, vibrant layers,beauty,full of life, new stimuli, women sitting on the sidewalk with blankets displaying various fruits and veggies arranged into neat piles ready for purchase, stray dogs, two cows eating garbage in an alleyway, cow sleeping on a meridian in between lanes of speeding traffic, delicious smells of incense, smells of urine, crowded srteets, bodies/bikes/vehicles squeezing through, under a tunnel stood an ancient looking temple,people sleeping on the ground, juxtaposition of old and new, traditional and modern...intricately intertwined. Eyes: bright, curious, staring, smiling, oggling, suspicious, hopeful, wary, wondering, wandering...
So grateful to be here!
Monday, December 11, 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
Thought provoking, critical films to help us conceptualize the terrain of Human Rights Advocacy... and the role of ART in the struggle for political, economic, social and cultural dignity.
Check these out:
Hooch and Hamlet
Once nomads, the Chhara now live in an urban ghetto on the edge of a large industrial city in western India. The British labeled them a "criminal tribe" and today they are still guilty until proven innocent. Nobody will hire them. To survive, some sell illegal liquor while others engage in petty thievery. But now a group of young people are using theater to fight back against a century of prejudice and oppression. (Available for free download!)
___________________________
The Rock Star and the Mullah
Angus McQueen and Ruhi Hamid
A public ban on music has gradually taken effect in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, after a radical alliance of right-wing religious parties swept to power in local elections last year.
Music and film stores have closed, musicians have been harassed and vigilantes routinely tear down posters and torch tapes, decrying them as "un-Islamic". But in the town of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, an encounter with a bus-load of Pashtuns shows Ahmad how the masses are still in thrall to music. Ahmad is mobbed by men who ask for his autograph and then start singing the tune with which his band hit the big time - "Jazba Junoon".
"They want to listen to music themselves, they just don't want us to have it "
Man in Peshawar
____________________
Venezuela Bolivariana
People and the Struggle in the
Fourth World War
76 minutes long. English Subtitles (NTSC) version
A documentary by Venezuelan film maker Marcelo Andrade which examines the Venezuelan Revolution as connected to the worldwide movement against capitalist globalization.
This documentary successfully contextualizes the recent historical roots of the Bolivarian Revolution, thanks to its incredible grassroots and networking power, how it transcends the national frontiers of Venezuela and contributes with concrete alternatives in the fight against neoliberal capitalism. Covering the period from the 1989 "Caracazo" to the April 2002 coup against Chavez and beyond.
This is a must-see film.
________________________
REBEL MUSIC AMERICAS
From Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande the Americas are in turmoil, and in the midst of the social and political movements rocking the region are some amazing rebel musicians. Four of them take centre stage in the feature-length documentary film Rebel Music Americas (Musiques rebelles Americas) directed by Marie Boti and Malcolm Guy and produced by Lucie Pageau. Theirs is the music of the other America, the America of the South - popular, dynamic, rebellious and often… "anti-American". It's the rhythms and voices of displaced communities in Columbia, of "los piqueteros" blocking access to a refinery in Buenos Aires, of indigenous Mexicans hunted down at the US border, of peasants staging vast land occupations in Brazil.
________________________
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
A Film by Petr Lom
This is the first film to document the custom of bride kidnapping, an ancient marriage tradition in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia.
________________________
Check these out:
Hooch and Hamlet
Once nomads, the Chhara now live in an urban ghetto on the edge of a large industrial city in western India. The British labeled them a "criminal tribe" and today they are still guilty until proven innocent. Nobody will hire them. To survive, some sell illegal liquor while others engage in petty thievery. But now a group of young people are using theater to fight back against a century of prejudice and oppression. (Available for free download!)
___________________________
The Rock Star and the Mullah
Angus McQueen and Ruhi Hamid
A public ban on music has gradually taken effect in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, after a radical alliance of right-wing religious parties swept to power in local elections last year.
Music and film stores have closed, musicians have been harassed and vigilantes routinely tear down posters and torch tapes, decrying them as "un-Islamic". But in the town of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, an encounter with a bus-load of Pashtuns shows Ahmad how the masses are still in thrall to music. Ahmad is mobbed by men who ask for his autograph and then start singing the tune with which his band hit the big time - "Jazba Junoon".
"They want to listen to music themselves, they just don't want us to have it "
Man in Peshawar
____________________
Venezuela Bolivariana
People and the Struggle in the
Fourth World War
76 minutes long. English Subtitles (NTSC) version
A documentary by Venezuelan film maker Marcelo Andrade which examines the Venezuelan Revolution as connected to the worldwide movement against capitalist globalization.
This documentary successfully contextualizes the recent historical roots of the Bolivarian Revolution, thanks to its incredible grassroots and networking power, how it transcends the national frontiers of Venezuela and contributes with concrete alternatives in the fight against neoliberal capitalism. Covering the period from the 1989 "Caracazo" to the April 2002 coup against Chavez and beyond.
This is a must-see film.
________________________
REBEL MUSIC AMERICAS
From Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande the Americas are in turmoil, and in the midst of the social and political movements rocking the region are some amazing rebel musicians. Four of them take centre stage in the feature-length documentary film Rebel Music Americas (Musiques rebelles Americas) directed by Marie Boti and Malcolm Guy and produced by Lucie Pageau. Theirs is the music of the other America, the America of the South - popular, dynamic, rebellious and often… "anti-American". It's the rhythms and voices of displaced communities in Columbia, of "los piqueteros" blocking access to a refinery in Buenos Aires, of indigenous Mexicans hunted down at the US border, of peasants staging vast land occupations in Brazil.
________________________
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
A Film by Petr Lom
This is the first film to document the custom of bride kidnapping, an ancient marriage tradition in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia.
________________________
PLAYBACK THEATRE at CHRIST COLLEGE
Playback Theatre is an interactive form of community theatre in which audience members tell their stories relating to a particular theme and a group of people trained in the playback form, play these stories back. Playback theatre draws on personal experiences to illuminate social concerns and themes and to draw together the weave and weft of our community fabric.
On Dec 10th, Nisha, Andrea ( from Montreal playback) and Eric (from Seattle Playback) were invited to perform with Christ College Playback Theatre Troup for International Human Rights Awareness Day.
ARRIVING IN BANGALORE
Immediate Impressions
warm welcome
long wait for luggage
they waited till 4 am to pick us up...
Yoga in the early morning...(yeah, that lasted long)
Traffic...birds,prayers,children...
Coffee and Idlies in the market..
Traffic...birds,prayers,children...
Coffee and Idlies in the market..
BIOGRAPHIES
The Indian Team: biographies coming soon...
The Canadian Team
Anoushka Anand
Anoushka Anand is in her final year at Con U, specialising in Design for the Theatre, and minoring in Film Animation. Her past credits include designing the set for Geordie's To Kill a Mockingbird (2006), lights for Concordia's Motel Chronicles (2005), and costume for Concordia's Blood and Ice (2005). She also assisted New-York based lighting designer Linnaea Tillet, for the unconventional design at the CCA exhibit Senses and the City (2005-2006).
Andrea Thring
I will be graduating from the Theatre and Development program this year very excited about the possibilities and newfound knowledge I have gained from my experiences in the last two years. I am anxious to see what wisdom and enlightenment will be waiting for me in India. It will definitely be an eye-opening experience with regards to my dreams of bringing together communities through theatre and the arts. I can’t wait!
Sean Frey
I am finishing my final year in Concordia's Theatre and Development program and am excited about embarking on a journey to India to explore alternative approaches to activism, gain other perspectives on human rights issues and to learn how to work amongst a myriad of perspectives. I am particularly interested in community development, communicating through the arts and exploration through play.
Maude Farah
I am a third year law student at Université de Montréal. I am graduating this year and will be pursuing Bar school to become a lawyer. I have travelled through South East Asia and India in the past. India has been an incredible cultural experience for me and I developed a strong interest in human rights. This project is giving me the opportunity to travel in India again and to expand my knowledge of human rights introducing an art component and a culturally different point of view. I am looking forward to participate in this project in order to help target and overcome different social issues that the Park Extension community are facing using the skills I have learned in India.
I am a third year law student at Université de Montréal. I am graduating this year and will be pursuing Bar school to become a lawyer. I have travelled through South East Asia and India in the past. India has been an incredible cultural experience for me and I developed a strong interest in human rights. This project is giving me the opportunity to travel in India again and to expand my knowledge of human rights introducing an art component and a culturally different point of view. I am looking forward to participate in this project in order to help target and overcome different social issues that the Park Extension community are facing using the skills I have learned in India.
Stephanie
Meghan Deere
I'm a fourth year Theatre and Development student. I'm excited for the Rights Here! project for so many reasons, a few being: -to explore my own relationship with travel & study -to increase my awareness of human rights issues and experiment with art as a form of awareness and discussion -to work with this group of people with very different backgrounds.
Carolyn Howard
I don’t know exactly what to expect from India, as I am certain to feel completely culture shocked, but nevertheless I enter into this project hoping that it will transform my attitudes about having chosen the arts as a form of study and practice. I would like to be able to expand my knowledge surrounding the relationship between human rights advocacy and the theatre. I am also interested in challenging my ideas about traditional genres of theatre by learning a new form and applying it to our work in park extension in the spring. It should prove to be one exciting, mind-altering experience and I just can’t wait!
I'm a fourth year Theatre and Development student. I'm excited for the Rights Here! project for so many reasons, a few being: -to explore my own relationship with travel & study -to increase my awareness of human rights issues and experiment with art as a form of awareness and discussion -to work with this group of people with very different backgrounds.
Carolyn Howard
I don’t know exactly what to expect from India, as I am certain to feel completely culture shocked, but nevertheless I enter into this project hoping that it will transform my attitudes about having chosen the arts as a form of study and practice. I would like to be able to expand my knowledge surrounding the relationship between human rights advocacy and the theatre. I am also interested in challenging my ideas about traditional genres of theatre by learning a new form and applying it to our work in park extension in the spring. It should prove to be one exciting, mind-altering experience and I just can’t wait!
Maya Dhawan
My name is Maya Dhawan and I am a local actor of French and EastIndian descent. I graduated from theatre studies at the University ofOttawa in 2003 and have been working in the arts ever since. Some of my personal goals for the Right's Here! project are:- to explore a new form of theatre and performance and it's role in Indian society- to get to know the Montreal community better- to gain more knowledge, hands-on experience, and insight into therealm of human rights activism
Polina Smith
It's my second year in the theater and development program and I fell asleep last night thinking this education has been one of the biggest blessings of my life; a holistic appropach to understanding ourselves, our community and our art. Through theater I seek ritual, communal gatherings and safe havens of spirituality that are devoid of exclusionary walls. To continue this exploration in a country with a rich ancient history of theater and ritual and divinity is more than I ever could have dreamed.
Sarah Chenevert Beaudoin
Graduating TDEV student, with no formal idea of what in the big big world will tempt me next, I am dreaming of India, street theater, the Magdalene Islands, Eastern Europe and a little niche to further my readings on everything from Queer Theory and Design to Sustainable Community Development and Political Activism. Mostly dreaming of a way to keep marveling at what inspiring people do for our little planet.
Jasmin Scarf
My name is Jasmine Scarf and I am a fourth year Theatre and Development student at Concordia. Originally from Vancouver, I have transplanted myself in Montreal to study and soak up many of the great things this city has to offer. Some of my personal goals for the Right's Here! project are: - to learn how street theatre is used as a tool for social organization and community activism in India - to learn more about the history of human rights, and the issues that exist in Canada and India in regards to human rights abuses - to put into practice some of the ideas and techniques acquired in India when working with youth in Park extension this spring - to develop a greater understanding of how social change and community growth can take place
Rahul Varma, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Artistic Director and Dramaturge
Rahul Varma immigrated to Canada from India in 1976 and co-founded Teesri Duniya Theatre in 1981. He has been the company’s Artistic Director since 1986. He has written over 10 plays in both Hindi and English. His critically acclaimed play Counter Offence has been translated into both French (L’affaire Farhadi), and Italian (Il caso Farhadi). His most recent play, Bhopal has been translated into Hindi (Zehreeli Hawa), and French. More information on Rahul Varma can be found at the
Edward Little, Rights Here! Project Artistic Director and Teesri Associate Artistic Director
Edward (Ted) Little is also Editor in Chief of alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Concordia University where he coordinates the department¹s specialization in Theatre and Development. He holds a BFA (acting and directing) from the University of Victoria, an MA (Canadian Drama) from the University of Guelph, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His areas of specialization include Community-based and Popular Theatre, and he has directed and served as consultant on numerous large and small-scale projects across Canada. His list of publications includes articles, reviews, and chapters in Canadian Theatre Review, alt.theatre, Modern Drama, Theatre Research in Canada, Contemporary Issues in Canadian Drama, and The Theatre of Form and the Production of Meaning. His recent publications include “Towards a Poetics of Popular Theatre: Directing and Authorship in Community-based Work” in Directing and Authorship in Western Drama (Ottawa: Legas, 2006).
Rachael Van Fossen, Rights Here! Creative/Staging Director and Playwright
Rachael Van Fossen was the founding artistic director of Common Weal, a company acknowledged as a Canadian leader in community-based arts. Among other awards, Rachael’s work developing and directing community plays in Saskatchewan in the 1990’s garnered a national race unity award for bridges built between First Nations peoples and people of European descent. She has frequently acted as a consultant for similar projects across Canada, and has traveled to England, Ireland, France, Greece and Australia to lead workshops and/or speak about her work in community-engaged and often intercultural theatre. In her four years as Artistic Director of Black Theatre Workshop (2001-2005) she successfully integrated community arts programming into the life of this Montreal professional theatre company.
Mireille Deschênes, Rights Here! Project Leader
Mireille Deschênes is a principal and senior lawyer at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Ms Deschênes specializes in employment, social security and discrimination law. From 1993 to 1998, Ms Deschênes was a member of the Québec Human Rights Tribunal, a specialized tribunal belonging to a broader forum of institutions aimed at ensuring the effective respect of human rights nationally, regionally and internationally. Ms Deschênes is a frequent author and speaker on social security and human rights law. She has published a number of articles in academic journals in the field of social security and human rights. She serves as an executive member of the Equality Committee of the Québec division of the Canadian Bar Association, which is devoted to the promotion of equality and the elimination of discrimination.
Dipti Gupta, Rights Here! Videographer
Dipti Gupta, is currently a teacher in the department of Cinema-Video-Communication at Dawson College, Montreal. Dipti is also a part-time faculty member of the Communications Department at Concordia University. She teaches courses on writing for the media and gender constructs in the media. Dipti Gupta has worked in the field of documentary filmmaking holding diverse positions both in India and in Canada. She has directed short documentaries on social and political issues in these two countries. She is currently the President of Teesri Duniya Theatre – a Montreal-based professional theatre company. She has worked actively in the past as a board member of the McGill Child Care Center, Playwrights Workshop of Montreal and acted as the graduate representative at the McGill Center for Research and Teaching on Women at McGill University. Having a strong background in documentary filmmaking and theatre practices, she strives to connect theory and practice through her work in academia and socially relevant work through the mediums of theatre and film.
Nisha Sajnani, Community Outreach Coordinator in the Park Ex neighbourhood
Nisha Sajnani is the artistic director of Creative Alternatives in Montreal, and holds a Masters Degree in Drama Therapy from Concordia University. Her creative practice involves autobiographical performance with culturally diverse community groups including Montreal’s South Asian Women’s Community Centre. As an actor, Nisha has worked extensively on social issues relating to South Asian children in collaboration with the South Asian Women's Community Centre, Teesri Duniya Theatre, and community groups in the Park Extension district of Montreal.
Jaswant Gunder, Rights Here! cultural and community health consultant
Jaswant Guzder, M.D., is a specialist in Child and Transcultural Psychiatry. She is head of Child Psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital, an Associate Professor at McGill University, a psychoanalyst and a painter. She is on the Board of Teesri Duniya Theatre.
The RIGHTS HERE! Project
A project conceived in collaboration between Teesri Duniya Theatre, members of the Equality Committe of the Quebec Division of the Canadian Bar Association, the Park Extension Youth Organization (PEYO), the Theatre and Development program at Concordia University, and the Centre for Social Action in Bangalore, India.
“People learn from their own narratives to conceptualize human rights and work towards their fulfillment. Only then can we become agents of change.” ---- Shulamith Koenig, a world leader in Human Rights Education as a community-based movement.
Rights Here! the most recent project in the “Untold Stories” series of community-engaged theatrical productions from Teesri Duniya Theatre, focuses on youth, cultural diversity, and Human Rights education and activism. The project brings together professional and emerging artists, law students and lawyers, educators and students studying theatre for social change, social service organizations and youth participants from the Park Extension area of Montreal. With 40% of its population made up of communities of color from South Asian, African and Middle Eastern descent, “Park Ex” is one of our city’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods, and home to a large number of new Canadians.
Rights Here! will take place in two interdependent phases: Phase 1: (In India) The emerging and professional artists on our creative team, including Indo-Canadian actors, as well as the law and theatre students, will undertake three weeks of hands-on training in Indian street theatre provided by the Centre for Social Action in Bangalore, India. In total 15 members of our project will partake in this training.
Phase 2: (in Montreal) Through a subsequent creative investigation into the local Park Ex reality, the project will address, in aesthetic form and in collaboration with the youth from Park Ex, questions of local human rights realizations and violations in a comparative international context: the ideals vs. the realities of universal human rights. A show will be created and presented to the public as well tour to traditional as well as non-traditional settings in various communities. As a form of creative interculturalism, the Rights Here! project takes an intersectorial approach to mobilizing partnership resources from arts and social service funders, universities, individuals, foundations, and the private sector. The project brings together artists, young people, and local community organizations to create an aesthetically and emotionally powerful performance designed to assist young people, their parents, and their community to understand human rights as a living and empowering experience, rather than a set of legal instruments and norms: a culture to which they can have access and insert their presence and their voices.
“People learn from their own narratives to conceptualize human rights and work towards their fulfillment. Only then can we become agents of change.” ---- Shulamith Koenig, a world leader in Human Rights Education as a community-based movement.
Rights Here! the most recent project in the “Untold Stories” series of community-engaged theatrical productions from Teesri Duniya Theatre, focuses on youth, cultural diversity, and Human Rights education and activism. The project brings together professional and emerging artists, law students and lawyers, educators and students studying theatre for social change, social service organizations and youth participants from the Park Extension area of Montreal. With 40% of its population made up of communities of color from South Asian, African and Middle Eastern descent, “Park Ex” is one of our city’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods, and home to a large number of new Canadians.
Rights Here! will take place in two interdependent phases: Phase 1: (In India) The emerging and professional artists on our creative team, including Indo-Canadian actors, as well as the law and theatre students, will undertake three weeks of hands-on training in Indian street theatre provided by the Centre for Social Action in Bangalore, India. In total 15 members of our project will partake in this training.
Phase 2: (in Montreal) Through a subsequent creative investigation into the local Park Ex reality, the project will address, in aesthetic form and in collaboration with the youth from Park Ex, questions of local human rights realizations and violations in a comparative international context: the ideals vs. the realities of universal human rights. A show will be created and presented to the public as well tour to traditional as well as non-traditional settings in various communities. As a form of creative interculturalism, the Rights Here! project takes an intersectorial approach to mobilizing partnership resources from arts and social service funders, universities, individuals, foundations, and the private sector. The project brings together artists, young people, and local community organizations to create an aesthetically and emotionally powerful performance designed to assist young people, their parents, and their community to understand human rights as a living and empowering experience, rather than a set of legal instruments and norms: a culture to which they can have access and insert their presence and their voices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)