THOUGHTS:
Thinking about yesterday still. I´m pised that those boys have to do this. They should be playing football and be at the beach. Not ripping off tourists-and taking the blame. If I hadn´t seen that hand-off I would have continued to blame them, but i can´t now.
Last night i dreamt about competition. I don´t remember the details, but the spirit of competition is already in the air.
I am still thinking about the image of the cashew or (Caju) tree that Boal talked about last night and how it relates to the TO tree. I would love to see that actual tree. He said when the tree grows they move to accomodate the tree. What an image, what a metaphor...
----
Totally new feeling today. I am overwhelmed. I am scared. I feel like I have been stripped of my security blanket-the language, the culture... i underestimated the degree and speed of my ability to feel comfortable here.
----
Had a rooftop chat and felt relieved. There are others with similar feelings I didnt account for, but they are starting to share because P and I shared. I still feel uncomfortable though. It was private before and now it´s not. I feel shame in a way, and I also feel like T (whose cellphone was stolen in a similar manner) deserves some positive reinforcement too. She´s not being asked to recount her story, but I am... because I got my item back which makes for a happy ending.
I miss the security that i feel when DJ is with me.
----
I was very touched by K´s story today. I thought feeling rejection from my own father at times-having inadvertently carried out his wishes for so long then to have him fail to support me back-
I played the ¨fetal position¨.I think I identified with it becasue it is often my reaction to intense hurt or confrontation.
In the exchnge with B ¨blank character/protagonist¨ we both talked about our reactions to confrontation. It took awhile to get used to the prolonged eye contact, but it was familiar by the time we were finished.
----
My impression of Boal from the first day has been that he is experienced-he has seen the gamut of the things that people bring to TO. Katie´s tears were not something to pity for him, or even exuse. He showed a different kind of empathy that was inherent in the way he interacted with her.
We often do not pause to process laughter, but we do to process tears.
CLASS NOTES:
We had a short group where we were asked to comment on our first impressions of the culture in RIO. I would say, Intensity, Passion, and Poverty. They all seemed to be well-connected, and they are words that have importance to me in terms of my expereince these past two days. Rio is intense-there´s no easing into Rio. Rio is in your face, and I can imagine someone being in NY for the first time and not speaking the language. How brave! I have much more respect for people who do that now.
Watched a video on TO in India by a group called Jana Sanskriti. I felt very moved (to tears, actually) by the work they were/are doing, and how a TO group was able to offer new opportunities to its members, empower them, and do the same for every community they touched. I like too that it was a form of theatre that blended with thier culture well.
I realize that I don´t always know how to communicate with my own people, with others in general sometimes, and how theatre has helped me to do that. Communication is so important, and without it, we cannot urvive in this world together.
Healing thrives on communication. Lack of it breeds manipulation and suffering. It is clear to me that this world is in dire need of a reformation of communications.
0 comments:
Post a Comment