From Mark Hill to PINA

This week started off as a stressful and overwhelming compilation of work then transformed to be a tranquil thought provoking and mind moving process. It has been an odd week as I hated some parts of it and absolutely adored the other parts. Sometimes, I like how life can fluctuate and vary, showing me different parts of the world and how it can change within perception, but when it differs to an overpowering extent, it can be tiring.

Anyways, this week I got the enormous pleasure and privilege to do two things: meet Sensei Mark Hill and watch PINA - a documentary (more like beautyinspirationmentary) of Pina Bausch's work and an insight of what her dancers learned from and thought of her. Both of these experiences were able to spark new ideas and were able to move me in different ways.

It all started on about Wednesday when my week was starting to look skywards (as Joel might say). In theatre class we first started off with a Korean cleansing - Yahooooo - moved to a miming exercise then moved on to a follow-the-leader type of exercise. Other than temporarily injuring myself, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned so much (about myself and about others) from this experience. It was like every conscious thought in my mind disappeared into thin air and to be honest, I don't even remember thinking that much when I was mimicking or executing my movements. It was surreal. I'm not going to lie; every time we did an exercise where I had to put myself out there, I would close up and feel a bit foolish, but this class, I was able to let myself go and explore my body without actually thinking about it. I think it was a good introduction to what we would learn throughout this week and the next. (I'm wondering if there are any photos from this exercise as I would really like to see how it looked! And thank you Mrs. Moon for taking me through this process. It was, to me, incredibly fulfilling.)

Then we met Mark Hill. This lesson focused not so much on Butoh theatre itself, but rather on the personalities and backgrounds of everyone in our class. I think this was great because there are a few people that I wasn't familiar with in the class. It served as an ice-breaker and an introduction to our future relationship as artists and friends. I think Mark is also here to build upon our relationships with each other. I'm hoping that after he is gone we will all be a part of a family rather than having different factions that isolate themselves from others. After this, Mark gave us a taste of the strenuous work that we would have to face in the future and let me tell you... It's been a day and I'm already sore. Though I haven't really been able to encompass what Butoh theatre is yet, I'm positive that I will grasp its concepts and intentions by next class. I'm 'dripping with anticipation' as El-Fayoumy might say...

And today, I may have watched the most inspirational/thought provoking/beautiful movie that has come before my eyes. The movie barely had any words, but was able to express so much emotion through the power of dance and movement through the body. The work of Pina Bausch was so avant garde... But it expressed so much at the same time. I just adored how she incorporated so much nature in to her work as you can see from the picture on the right. I also enjoyed hearing her dancers' memories and thoughts from Pina. All it took was one sentence or saying from Pina for them to change their outlooks and learn so much. I remember one woman told us how she had to keep looking (through the instruction of Pina) for something even though she had no direction or idea of what she was searching for. That was very thought provoking.  Pina Bausch, from watching the movie, was a woman of amazing ideas and she was able to implement them onto the stage. Sometimes, the dances were so simple, but they meant so much - like the dance to the bottom. It consisted of men just touching and feeling this woman's nose, hair, and body - playing with her as if she were a toy. I thought that this resembled how many woman are given gender roles. I don't know if I am right, but it was so unique and open to your own views that it was like an open canvas. Another dance had women and men just walk up to the front of the stage and do some simple movements. (Such an interesting dance) I could talk about how amazing this movie was, but sometimes there are those things that you cannot describe and you have to go see for yourself.

What I can take away from this week is the power of movement. So much can be done with our bodies, and yet we sometimes mistake that our voices are the power to the engine. And sometimes, there are those things that we cannot form through words but express through dance. I believe that Pina Bausch said something of those lines in the film. I'm exhilarated by what's to come next with Sensei Mark and am keen to learn more about the realm of physical theatre.

To address the question that you had on your blog Mrs. Moon: Is dance an art or a sport? Only once did that question pop up in my mind during the movie. It was when the woman was trapped by a rope and was trying to escape it running to different corners of the room. At this time, I was thinking dance is theatre. But then I thought about So You Think You Can Dance and thought that maybe dance is a sport. I think it varies with perception... But, sometimes dance/art/theatre can be so engaging that we forget about how to define it. We just watch, big eyed and amazed, by the beauty that it radiates. In this regard, does dance need to be categorized? Can it not be both? Do we even have to care if it is both? Is dance everything/anything? These are a few questions that I'm thinking about at this moment.

Now it is time to go to bed, but I'm leaving this week incredibly inspired by both Mark and Pina Bausch. Thank you both, and thank you Mrs. Moon for introducing me to them.

I would just like to say that what I am feeling right now cannot be put into words. The extent of what I discovered in indescribable. I learned so much from hearing so little, but seeing so much and what I feel is so immense that I don't think I can sleep right now. There are just so many questions that are circulating within my mind!!

For now, I'm going to leave, but I would love to have some further conversation on this topic to anyone who is reading this.

Goodnight for now. :)