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.