Reflection on written and verbal forms of communication

    In preparation for our midterm exam, our class discussed the differences between written and verbal communication. The conversation highlighted some basic cultural differences, such as some cultures’ need for written confirmation versus others’ ability to rely on verbal confirmation for meetings and contracts. Towards the end of the discussion, we touched on how the two forms of communication affects the individual’s knowledge and relationship with the information. I was inspired to reflect upon this, as it was intriguing that the manner by which we encounter information can shape our experience.
    As a college student, textual and written communications are the most frequently used forms to measure knowledge. Information becomes objective through tests and exams, and often is forgotten after the examination or over time. Our temporary relationship with the material plays a direct role with our involvement in text-based communication, as accuracy and exactness are the main objectives. For example, look at the involvement of the author of a book and its reader. As the author, they experience a beginning and ending role in the book’s life. However, since they dictate this time period, they can re-write and edit the material until they create something that accurately expresses their message. In contrast, the reader has unlimited time with the book. They are able to read and re-read the book until they understand exactly what the author is trying to say. More often than not, relationship between the author and reader is anonymous outside the author’s words, and this contrasts the relationship of verbal communication.
    In many cultures of oral tradition, knowledge and information can exist for the communal good and become a form of intellectual property for the individuals. This structure creates the opportunity for active participation in how one interprets information, and places importance on the orator’s productivity to deliver a message. In comparison to a reader, the audience gets a single interaction with the speaker and their delivery. This experience encourages the audience to interpret the information as it affects them, and can only revisit it through their memory. Similarly, the orator has only one chance to communicate, and they forfeit the opportunity to edit their message after speaking. On the other hand, the performer and the audience do engage directly and thus the speaker can use different tools to project their ideas. For example, they can use physical movement, vocal inflection, change in volume or pitch, and even add in pauses or silences for dramatization. These instruments are arguably more effective in communicating information between parties; however, they limit the information’s distribution beyond these performances and lectures.
    As our generation sees more and more global interrelations between cultures, we might be able to experience more oral forms of communication in our travels. In the meantime, we must continue to depend on the written form’s more important attribute, continuous accessibility to its reader, as oral tradition is not as prominent in our culture.

Ravana, adharma, and hindu perceptions of good and evil

During my preparations for my midterm sharing, I decided to read into Ravana, the character that I had to impersonate for the dance. Of course, we know Ravana as the antagonist of the Hindu epic: The Ramayana. He was described as the king of Lanka, leader of the Rakshasa, and the person who kidnapped Sita, creating one of the main conflicts in The Ramayana.

Although we have all be led to antagonize Ravana, I was surprised to find that he was a devout follower of Shiva, the surpreme god. He also wrote the Ravana Sanhita, a book on Hindu Astrology. There are even Ravana Temples where he is worshipped! This struck me as a strange idea - that the wicked antagonist of a Hindu epic would be revered. However, I then thought back to Dharma, Ravana's actions, and its connection to Karma (humorously explained by The Simpsons below)

In short, it explains that actions, good or bad, do not necessarily determine the 'goodness' or 'evil-ness' of a person. Good and Bad are only labels placed on otherwise neutral actions (as viewed by the cosmos or supreme being). Ravana's actions, although viewed as evil by some, are not viewed as evil by another. This is similar to the case of Rama killing the Rakshashas. Sita states that what he is doing may be viewed as acting with Adharma. The Rakshashas have done nothing to Rama, and therefore his fighting them would be viewed as a wicked act. Likewise, Ravana's kidnap of Sita could be viewed as a slip from Dharma. He tried to 'do the right thing' by avenging his sister, but the act returned to him, resulting in his death.

Some Scholars have also rationalized Ravana's actions as an act of necessity. In their opinion, Ravana, being a brilliant man, would have knew that Rama was an Avatar of Lord Vishnu in human form. Therefore, they have rationalized that Ravana willingly provided a way for Vishnu to 'ascend' his humanity. Ravana "cultivated wanton wickeness, violence, and hatred" and invited Rama to kill him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravana#Arguments_in_favour_of_Ravana)
In this way, Ravana selflessly sacrifices himself for the good of Vishnu, and for the good of Karma.

Noh Theatre and iemoto

When we were reviewing Noh theatre, the idea of iemoto, and tributary payment surprised me. Iemoto, as Professor Aguas has already explained, is head of  certain schools of Japanese art. This not only pertains to Noh theatre, but also tea ceremonies, calligraphy, music, and martial arts. It is because of this iemoto system that  Noh theatre has survived: heavy regulation of the performances has ensured that tradition would always take precedence over newer works. Furthermore, what surprised me about iemoto was that it 'licenses' the arts: certifying approved individuals to pass on the school's teachings. These certificates are usually paid for: in Noh, a certificate to perform a play can reach 2 million yen.

How can such a system preserve a way of life, a cultural art, for so long? From what I researched about iemoto, the key is a hierarchal system not unlike the role of the members of a family. As a result, iemoto mirrors the societal norms of Japanese culture.

Like iemoto, the Japanese family, or kazoku, is based on a line of desent - linking the family members by the idea of genealogy. With this, all family members are expected to play their role to perpetuate the family: maintaining it and continuing it as an institution.

However, iemoto is not without its flaws. As a system relying completely on genealogy, it has been described as nepotistic and undemocratic - with the family members having complete control over what is done. A more (in my opinion) westernized alternative to iemoto has emerged, during the Meiji Restoration, which created a democratic presidential system. However, the implications of straying off the iemoto is a topic for another day.

After reading this, I feel as though Liz Tait's question - "Why aren't there women in Noh theatre?" becomes easier to understand. In my own rationalization, the reason that women aren't prevalent in Noh theatre is that are expected to fulfill their own familial duty. For example, if women in a certain family have been learning the art of tea ceremonies for centuries, breaking from that tradition to learn Noh would jeopardize the preservation of the tea ceremony (that is not to say the daughter has ever wanted to perform Noh, or the son has ever wanted to perform the tea ceremony). Yes, the rejection of women in Noh theatre may have been borne out of misogynist roots, but its current state is rather the result of iemoto, and kazoku.

Midterm Performances

Now that I have had time to sit down and blog and reflect on our midterm performances I just wanted to say what a great job everyone did!  I know that we had a long talk about how much our individual assessments would be worth and we came to the conclusion that they were only participation.  But looking at how much I put down that I would pay to see these performances and what I rated everyone as I think that we really should have had it count toward everyone else's grades!  I really liked how everyone had different ideas as to what their performances were about.  Some did scenes from the Ramayana, some made up their own stories, and some made their performances more modern day related.  I admired everyone's creativity when it came to those ideas and then relaying those ideas in the form of a dance.  As always, anything having to do with reaching for the creativity in me is somewhat challenging!  I kept joking to guru that he was talking to two business oriented people.  Lizzy and I are both in the business school and I know I can't speak for her but I know for myself I am a very practical and matter of fact kind of person.  I have never been the one to come up with creative ideas or possess any artistic ability whatsoever.  But that is why I like to take these classes.  The GER 6 classes help to bring out that creative ability and make you think outside the box.  And I think that that is something that everyone should be taught and be allowed to develop at some point in their lives.

Discussing how much our individual assessment should be worth is another story I think.  People brought up different ideas and reasonings as to why we should go with their idea.  I always like to see both sides of an argument before jumping to a conclusion so first off I think it is very productive to talk these decisions out.  However, I personally didn't understand why some people did not want to have our opinions count towards everyone else's grades.  I thought it meant that it showed some sort of distrusting of each other.  We are a community, a banjar, and we are supposed to be there for one another.  From watching people rehearse during class and hearing their ideas for their performances you could tell that everyone was putting in a large amount of effort and consideration into what they wanted to convey through their dance.  And I think that as a viewer and critic I have a great respect for that.  Spending the time and energy to come up with these dances is honestly enough to make me want to give people higher scores in the first place.  I would not trash anyone or want to blatantly tell someone that their performance was bad because like I said we are a community and we are supposed to be their for one another.  And I would hope that everyone else feels the same way.  And I could see that most did.  That is why they also wanted to have our individual ratings count towards their grades.  Because they knew that we would simply praise them for their individual creativity and exploration through dance.  And I also think that is what guru was trying to tell us as well.  

Rama: Hardly the 'Perfect Man'

I know I have a tendency to make faces whenever I hear that Rama is the ‘perfect man’, but I feel like I haven’t had a chance to explain my reasons for not agreeing with this sentiment. So what better way than to post it to the blog? Perhaps when The Ramayana was written, Rama was the perfect man, but in today’s society (mainly western society), I believe Rama would be considered a misogynist. I say mainly western society because I know in other parts of the world baby girls are still being murdered because they’re seen as lesser than a man and women are still treated worse than animals.  But in terms of the liberated female and women’s rights, Rama clearly has a thing or two to learn.

                My main issue with Rama’s treatment of Sita is the moment when he’s reunited. One would think that after all of the trouble he went to in order to save her, he’d be overjoyed to have her back. But this is not the case. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. He turns her away! He tells her that he can’t take her back because she has been living with another man for so long and may be unchaste. Well, here’s the thing. If she was unchaste, it was because Ravana raped her; he did kidnap her against her will and he is a monster. It’s very obvious that Sita loves Rama, so why would she choose to cheat on him? Therefore, Rama is saying that he won’t take her back because she might have been raped. In our culture, we know that rape is never the victim’s fault and that victims should be treated with love, respect, and caring.  Turning them away is the last thing anyone should do.

                Rama’s second mistake is when he listens to the community’s opinion of Sita’s moral character. Again, if she was impure, it was a result of rape. Instead of standing up for her innocence (which should be unnecessary anyway) and swaying the people’s opinion, he bows to them and sends her away for real this time. And Sita, the ever loving and faithful wife, agrees to leave. I have a feeling she was probably sick of the rumors and just wanted to get away.

                Unfortunately, in today’s world there are still places where a woman’s chastity is more important than her well being. Our final show for the year, Ruined, shows us this very world where victims of rape are cast out of their community because they are “damaged” or “ruined”. And the man who would do that to his wife is hardly the “perfect man”.

I wish that I was going to be here next year, because I would have loved to have been a part of the creation of The Sitayana, considering how strongly I feel about her side of the story.

Midterm Sharing

The thing that struck me most about the midterm sharing performances was the range of material and stories that people drew from for their piece. I thought that everyone would choose a story from The Ramayana or The Mahabharata, when in reality, only 3 groups did. Most of the pieces were inspired by original stories that each group wrote themselves, and the amount of imagination in the class really impressed me. While everyone may not be a theater major,  it's obvious that everyone has a creative streak!

My favorite piece was the group who told the story of the ancient king who dreamed of dancing nymphs and who, upon waking,  wanted to preserve his dream: thus many types of Indonesian dance were born. The Yue and Cynthia danced with an ethereal grace that would be expected of such mythical beings and the time and effort that went into the rehearsal process was obvious. I was also surprised to see a group use masks; I felt that this choice added another level to Rachel, Tatiana, and Jasmine’s piece and demonstrated their knowledge of the forms of dance drama. It was also a very fun and colorful story which I thoroughly enjoyed. Bruno’s solo impressed me because of his choice of a style of dance that we didn’t really touch on in class. He did a wonderful job with his interpretation of Ravana, and props to Cynthia for just jumping in. Lizzie and Stephanie’s inclusion of the banjar in their piece was also a bold choice that represented the importance of community which we’ve been talking about since day one of class. Abigail and Spence chose to do a Balinese dance drama interpretation of a scene from The Wizard of Oz which I really enjoyed because of the level of character commitment that each of them showed.  Jordan and Rachel and Fatima and Daisy were two other groups who decided to perform an original story that they wrote themselves. However, the style of each was different. Jordan and Rachel chose contemporary music and really focused on the mudras that would create the rasas they wanted for their piece. Fatima and Daisy used the banjar as their music and Fatima narrated the story for us so that we knew what each of them was feeling. Daniela and Tyler told a story from the Ramayana, but used contemporary music.  And Alyssa and Sarah focused on the male and female qualities of dance and the differences of the two.

I think we had a great set of pieces that worked really well together and as a result, we created our own dance showcase. I look forward to seeing what this class does for the final sharing!

Pride

During Dr. Palmer’s portion of the lecture, our discussion on patronage caught my interest.   In a sense, to gain dominance as a theatre troop or theatre form, royal patronage was a necessity.   Because the deities backed royalty, theatre, therefore, needed the support of the royalty.  What fascinated my about our discussion was the nature used to receive patronage.  The familiar air of modern culture where politicians campaign for government positions, let alone, the normalcy of campaigning for anything, is something I did not except to encounter in such an ancient art form.  Because the theater is so old, I have this ignorance that biases me into thinking it is pure and untouched by pressures modern society faces and imposes today.  The motif of campaigns that was so immediately and obviously connectable with processes today was shocking, but something that made Noh Theatre time travel to the modern day.

This leaves me to wonder if there is anything that can really be pure.  Can something be untainted by politics and selfishness?  The portrayal of Asian culture in general, especially ancient, throughout this class has painted an almost virgin light over the geographic area.  Performance is not for tourists or entertainment as it is in western society but for the continuance of oral tradition, religion and worship of the divine.  This discussion really cracked the casing of purity I created around Asian culture.  Troops compete to show that their performance is the most holy and invites the most deities.  It becomes a game of hyper-nationalism as well, attempting to prove that the respective performance is the most “wo”- more Japanese than the others.  Royals see the need to have a troop and theatre form that show off the pride of the country and endorse who they are. 

An article I read for a class last semester, “Patriotism as a Menace to Liberty”, blames nationalist qualities of countries for the fighting and wars in the world.  Again, this ruptured the purity surrounding the culture because of political pride.  Royals and troops allow politics and selfishness to touch these sacred art forms and it all seems to stem from pride.  Whether that pride is of the country, troop or individuals, the sin taints theatre.  As many have philosophized that pride is a part of human nature, it does make sense that it is impossible to withhold it from even the most pure- a truly disturbing realization.  

Trees

            Today when we were talking about Kagura I began thinking about the concept of a tree representing a person.  In Kagura the Sakaki branch seems to be the essence of the performance in the earliest Japanese theatre.  It is what sticks out to me the most, not only because it is a defining component of the theatre form but because I can parallel it to what I am personally familiar with.  In my knowledge of western society, a way to honor those who have died is to plant a tree or bench or some semi-permanent object in their name.  It was this connection that really allowed me to grasp the extreme significance of the Sakaki branch.

            In Kagura the branch is an intermediary, portal type-object that allows deities to be housed on earth, within the tree the branch was taken from.  After the deity has been summoned in Achime no-waza, the Torimono songs and messages to the deities, complete the summoning of the divinities and establish the particular Sakaki tree as sacred.  Because trees have extremely long lifespans they are a semi-permanent mark on the planet.  This quality allows the essence of the deity to live forever through the tree’s embodiment.  Similarly, in western society, dedicating a tree or planting one for a late loved one acts as an intermediary of their spirit and the earth.  With the planting of the tree, the loved one will forever be a part of the earth and their legacy will live on even though they are not physically on earth.  The tree serves to embody what cannot physically be present and its sense of permanence serves as an eternal memory. 

This relation to Kagura really emblazoned the significance of the Sakaki branch to me and helped me to recognize the amazing extent to which these trees are now sacred.  Furthermore, Kagura really made me realize how important these trees of dedication must be to families who planted them when the rest of western society does not honor such trees in the same light.  It also got me thinking about the origins of customs similar to this.  Did they originate in Kagura?  I am really curious as to where the relation of spirits, trees and earth began because after this class I have really felt the connection a tree has the ability to establish. 

Reflection on everyone's performances

            In my personal opinion, I think everyone in our Banjar did a fantastic job on their mid-term performances this week. I found it interesting to see all the different directions everyone took their performances in when we all had the same assignment and previous experience in the medium. It really served as a testimony to the individuality and creativity of each member of our class as well as the wide possibilities of the Asian Theatre genre.

            I appreciated the fact that about half of the class performed pieces which were more traditional; using classical Asian storylines; while the other half used more modern day scripts. The groups that did the classic tales all had interesting interpretations upon them and really did their best to make the piece their own. For instance, three of the stories employed the character of Sita, yet each time she was portrayed in a way that stayed true to her description while still allowing the performer to put their own spin on their re-telling. I particularly enjoyed the use of the Banjar Stephanie and Lizzie as the ground under which Sita was buried; that was an innovative use of resources that I would not have even considered! In terms of the groups who did more modern day presentations, I think each of them, my group included, was able to successfully apply the past to the present without losing any of the artistry associated with Asian performance. For instance Daniela and Tyler pulled this off in their “How to Love” dance by sticking to the stereotypical male and female dance styles to convey the characters.

            Another example of the different interpretations which our class applied to this assignment was in the fact that though a number of presentations portrayed a stereotypical “monkey” character, each of their versions possessed unique elements. For instance, Spence employed great facial expressions when characterizing the monkey; it really helped develop his character beyond his monkey-like movements. Jasmine used a mask when portraying her monkey character which, much like Spence’s version, allowed a better conception of her character. Each of the incarnations of the monkey character also employed a different aspect of that stereotype’s personality. Spence was curious of Dorthey, then violent, while Jasmine was more curious and playful, and Abhay portrayed the traditional monkey god 

Our Mid-term Performance

            When planning what form we wanted our performance to take, my partner Alyssa and I thought it would be interesting to take our newfound skills in the performance of Asian-style dance and apply it to a medium with which we were far more familiar. We thought this would allow us to draw connections between what we are learning in class and our own daily lives. We decided upon telling the story of Disney songs through our dance because of the pervasive familiarity which these songs have. Disney has become such a major part of our American culture; it is rare to find a person who has not seen a single one of the company’s movies. When beginning to brainstorm about which films we wanted to pull the songs from, both Alyssa and I immediately turned to our individual favorites as those musical moments were the ones which had the biggest impact upon each of us personally.

Alyssa chose the song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from the movie Mulan because both the song and the movie are her favorite from the Disney collection. I originally chose “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” from the Lion King for similar reasons, however we felt that the songs were too similar in terms of style; both are very upbeat and fun. Therefore, we decided to contrast the strong, masculine style of dance that we planned on using with “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” with a softer, more feminine style applied to another of my favorite Disney songs “The Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas. We felt that by using both of these styles, we could more fully apply everything we have learned in class so far.

We decided to use the beginning of each song and combined them using a recording program to make one comprehensive performance piece. We then went about choreographing each song separately; then putting them together. Our goal in performing each song was to portray the feeling and story of them both, while still staying true to traditional Asian dance forms. Therefore, when choreographing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, we chose sharp, warlike movements to convey the somewhat violent nature of the song, such as the arrow and stomp moves we learned in class. Similarly,  while choreographing “Colors of the Wind” we decided to use a feminine style because of the sex of the singer and we chose to use moves such as the mudra meaning snake to represent animal. With this piece we wanted to use delicate moves to match the slow, majestic qualities of the song, while still representing the words of it.

After practicing for a few days on our own, we performed it for Guru, who gave us feedback on it. Based upon his feedback, we decided to expand our performance from just standing in one position and moving in synchronized ways to moving around in various shapes, while still mirroring each others movements. He also influenced us to add our own voices to those in our musical selections, which we agreed added a personal touch to the completed piece. Overall, we think it turned out fairly well and accurately portrayed the point we wanted to get across. I hope that our Banjar enjoyed our performance as much as we enjoyed compiling and presenting it!

Midterm Creative Essay Question

I thought I would do a blog on one of the questions from the midterm study guide that was not included on the midterm exam.  I wanted to write about this question because I thought it would be a good way to reflect on the class so far.  The question was, having studied 7 weeks of Asian Theatres, how do you imagine yourself participating in any of the genres or forms we have explored?

If I could participate in any aspects of performance that we have learned about in class so far, I would have to say that I would love to make masks for performers.  I would also really like to be one of the make-up artists for Chinese Opera style performances.  While I do like to learn new styles of dance in class I cannot really see myself performing them for crowds.  However, I could see myself being a mask-maker/ make-up artist.  When watching clips and seeing pictures of masks in class, I find myself very interested in this art form.  It was very exciting to see actual masks when Dr. Palmer brought them in.  My ideal involvement would be either carving the masks, painting the masks, or even better would be being able to do both. 

I also think being a make-up artist for Chinese Opera performances would be my ideal way to participate in Asian Theatres.  The make-up these performers use is so dramatic and colorful.  The designs are very intricate for all of the types of characters they represent.  If I had to pick one of these character types that I would do make-up for I would want it to be the Jing character.  After watching the movie, Farewell My Concubine, in class and seeing the make-up done for the Jing, I know it would be really cool to be able to do that for someone.  The Jing wears so much make-up, using it for a mask, that it would be interesting to learn how to apply all of it to get the desired look.     

Midterm performances

I was pleased with everyones performance today!  I can tell that everyone put in a lot of hard work into their piece and got got really creative.  Personally, I had fun working on our performance- especially making the masks!  Rachel and Jordan did an excellent job with their cat fight scene, the music went really well with the different moods portrayed in their performance.  It was really well put together! Matt, Abhay, and Liz Tait had a really exciting and engaging performance, their foot movements and sounds were funny and entertaining - the storyline was amazing. Fatima & Daisy's narrative was quite interesting and had an excellent plot.  They did a great job coming up with their own storyline for the performance.  I was impressed by Jeffrey Liaw's solo piece because he took the time to memorize a choreography step by step! Props to him!  Yue, Bruno, and Cynthia did a great job with their dancing! They were really in sync as they did their dances - I was really into their story.   I can tell that Stephanie and Lizzie worked hard on incorporating the different themes involving the storyline of Sita and Rama.  Making the "earth" cave in on Sita was a nice touch to their piece.  Spence and Abigail's version of the Wizard of Oz was entertaining - Spence played a great monkey!  It was really noticeable that Daniela and Tyler put in a lot of work into their choreography for "How To Love", the story was easy to follow.  Alyssa and Sarah's choreography to the disney songs were also really well put together! Great Job Everyone! :)

Midterm Performance Sharing

            After watching all of the performances today, I can say that I am very impressed with what everyone in the class came up with.  Everyone brought their own individual elements to their performances and it was very evident that everyone put a lot of thought into their routines.  I wanted to share some of my comments about all of the different groups with the banjar.

            Rachel and Jordan’s performance was one of my favorites.  I really enjoyed the storyline they created and humor of their performance.  They did a nice job executing the idea they wanted to share.  Matt, Abhay, and Liz Tait’s group created a strong portrayal of the scene from the Ramayana.  The fight scene between Matt and Abhay was well done.  And even though Liz was not always the focus of the scene, she always was very precise in her movements.  Fatima and Daisy shared a fun story that they had written.  I especially liked how Fatima told the story while she and Daisy performed the actions.  Rachel, Tatiana, and Jasmine’s performance was another one of my favorites.  Their homemade masks were a nice touch and the storyline of their performance was really cute.  Jeffrey’s performance was really interesting to watch.  His movements were very exact and it was obvious that he put a lot of effort into preparing for his performance.  Yue, Bruno, and Cynthia also did a nice job presenting a scene we have learned about.  Yue and Cynthia looked very graceful performing as the nymphs.  Stephanie and Lizzie are another group that I would have to say gave one of my favorite performances.  I liked Lizzie’s strong movements contrasted with the softer movements shown by Stephanie.  Spence and Abigail took a modern storyline and made it look Balinese.  Spence did an amazing job portraying the monkey and really committed to the part.  He had great facial expressions and movements.  Abigail looked very graceful and her movements were well done.  And last but certainly not least, Daniela and Tyler were another group that made a modern idea look straight out of Bali.  Their routine flowed very well.      

          It was really cool to see everyone incorporate all of the different aspects we have learned into the performances.  I enjoyed watching every group go today and just wanted to share a little of what I liked about each one to give some feedback.

    

 

The Banjar

Rehearsing and practicing for the midterm performance was completely new for me.  Aside from never having done theatre in my life, the fact that the theatre I was attempting to portray I had only known for 8 weeks was very intimidating.  So I was very surprised with myself when I was not nervous.  I think that not only exposes a very unique quality of our class but of the community here at William & Mary as a whole. 

When I came to class and we performed for the first time back in January, I was surprised that I was not embarrassed or scared then too.  I have never really been the type of person to dance (in general), sing or act in front of even some of my closest friends, let alone strangers.  Being able to create an environment that encourages trial without fear of error is something extremely rare that I have only experienced a few times in my life.  The banjar and class itself upholds this delicate environment though.  I know I would normally laugh at myself because I am uncomfortable performing, but I have never laughed in class due to feeling foolish.  Students and professors at this College of William & Mary and specifically those who sign up for classes American culture does little to justly expose, are key components of such and open learning space.  I believe the reason such a learning space is hard to achieve is the fact that if even a single person in the room comes off as judgmental, it makes others insecure.  This results in individuals not giving their full attention, mind and heart the art.  Such behavior is contagious and soon the environment disintegrates into an unconstructive, embarrassed place where true learning will not be experienced. 

After watching the performances today though, it definitely confirmed in my mind that our environment does encourage trial and learning without fear of judgment and error.  Meaning, everyone in our class bring an attitude of support and openness along with a desire to learn every day- a truly amazing feat to me.  I guess the best rasa to encompass this would be comfortableness.  I am so grateful to be a part of a group of people who encourage such behavior and learning and support me as I took what I thought would be a nerve-racking dive into theatre.

Death, and our perceptions of death

All throughout my life, my parents have shielded me from death: when our neighbor collapsed from heart failure, I was taken to the basement where I wouldn't be able to see the paramedics arrive. The same happened for the elderly woman living above us - when she passed from cancer, I was taken to my aunt's house while my parents dealt with the 'situation.' I was always never allowed to attend the funeral - my parents always felt that it was inappropriate for children to attend. However, when it came time when my uncle, a once lively man, passed away from cancer at 35, I was again shielded from death. Even though I was 16 then, I was not allowed to attend the funeral: my parents insisted I stay in school while they took time off from their jobs to travel to Canada where he lived. As a result, I always viewed death and loss as foreign to me - I waited for my mother to come home, not knowing how she would respond to the death of her brother. I expected to see her depressed, or grieving, but there was no sign of it. Both my parents came home, and resumed their daily lives like nothing happened.

Confused, I spend the next few years sporadically asking, and inquiring about the relationship between my mother and uncle. Why the apathetic repsonse? Were they simply not close? What I found was that she, and presumably the rest of my family, viewed death as a very different event than simply the end-all: where a life is lost forever. She believed that my uncle was still with her, and watching over her. This summer, I even found out that she was keeping a Jasmine plant, grown from cuttings taken from my uncle's home. She told me that it keeps her in touch with my uncle. When I asked whether she meant she can see or hear her, she responded "of course!" To her, my uncle never really left. She explained that, when she was growing up in Burma, death (as Professor Aguas explained) was not kept a secret, or away from the community: when a neighbor died, their home was open to the entire community - she said that neighborhood kids would attend the funerals, weaving in and out of the crowds. Of course, it was stressful when a loved one died, but everyone accepted it as a part of life. My mother also mentioned her own death, and how she was making arrangements in preparation for it.

I will admit that I still do not understand my mom's views of death, or the grieving process (having never been as deeply exposed to it) however, I would tend to agree that loss is viewed very differently in Asian culture. Yes she admitted that she missed her brother, but seemed to accept the loss without a pronounced grieving process. Maybe that is the difference, as it was said in class, between how the western world views death, and how the eastern one does - rather than it being a negative experience, it is rather celebrated as a person's life moving on.