group 4

The last performance of the day was done mostly by improvisation. The group had made a structure that had a glass that distorted light and proportion when one stood behind it. The performance started with an even keyboard music in the background and a box in the middle of the stage, a male figure came on and started tearing the cover of the box to reveal a shrunken female figure trapped inside. When the girl escaped from the box, the man was still harassing her, and eventually ate her. The entire time there was a tense and sexual power relation between the characters. The performance was done again, this time without music, and a second male character added to the conflict. This time the two men licked the girl's face, and then they got into a fight.
(note, I still have to find a picture for this performance!)

group 3

The third performance of the day was a lot more dramatic and tense. The uniform beating of a deep drum started the performance with the silhouettes of a man holding out his arm with something in his hand. Gradually the object starts to unfold to reveal the face of a pig. At this point, the drumming had set a tone of increasing anxiety.
The next scene was the silhouette of a shirtless man with a protruding stomach and the mask of a police officer. His movements were slow and brisk, and he ended up kneeling on the ground looking up at the other figure.
The last scene was with both men facing each other holding out the masks that were getting closer to each other. The policeman now had two heads, and the drumming started escalating. The performance culminated with chanting from the actors... and then, finally, silence.
The relationship between a pig and a cop raised political questioning during the performance. It made me think of the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, with themes of corruption and power.

group 2

The performance was a playful and loose reference to Alice in Wonderland. The stage was framed by a ribbon with fringe and pompons as to indicate the audience they were about to witness a fairytale. It started with the silhouette of a girl blowing on a bouquet of flowers. She was offered a cup of tea and after drinking it the screen was filled with colourful planets that moved energetically and changed size, as if the frenzy had been caused by the tea. Another memorable scene showed the girl undressing and taking off a lacy bra and then realizing she's being spied by a man. She shrieks and a giant high-heeled shoe kicks the man out of the screen. The performance was enhanced by live drumming and beautiful wire puppets and props made from wire with intricate lace-like designs that were reminiscent of Indonesian puppetry.
All in all i think this was a wonderful, creative performance that made me feel and enjoy it like I was a child!

shadow shows

One of the activities I have most thoroughly enjoyed during the past weeks has been a shadow show presentation we had to prepare for Video and Performance class at Emily Carr. The class was divided into four groups and we each had to put together a 3 minute show. Below is my personal take on the performances I saw, which i found all to be delightfully entertaining.

improv everywhere

Note: I highly recommend following the link below to watch this video before reading the note on it. It is guaranteed to make you laugh
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/03/09/food-court-musical/

Another performance group that I absolutely love is Improv Everywhere. The group was created in 2001 in New York by Charlie Todd, an actor who decided instead of waiting around for a theater to hire him, he would make his own theater in the city. The group has often been compared to flash mob groups, but Charlie Todd explains Improv Everywhere started long before flash mobbing became popular.
The group goes out causing unexpected, random situations in mundane locations, and causes "scenes of chaos and joy". They have performed, or created over 80 situations in the past years that have gone from throwing a birthday party for a stranger where everyone pretended to know him and called him by a different name and gave him gifts, to getting thousands of people to casually take off their pants on the subway while acting normal. When other people are now aware what is the reason for the odd behaviour they get startled, scared, happy, angry... the important thing is they are moved, and an otherwise mundane, unremarkable moment is now memorable and significant.
I find Improv Everywhere to be truly inspiring because by changing the common behavior of a large group of people in public places they transform the space, they take people out of their ordinary mindset and create possibilities for new ways of doing things.
One of my favorite performances is Food Court Musical, where undercover actors staged a musical at the food court in a mall. A woman working at a hot dog place spontaneously bursts into song, and more and more people keep on joining her. The rest of the people are completely confused and bewildered, they have no idea what is going on. All in all, it was a great laugh... and isn't that ultimately what life is about?

PNEUMUS

Pneumus is the name of a performance project formed in Guadalajara, México.
A group of actors, musicians, and other creative minds came together to form a project that mimics silent cinema from the 20s while performing live music that incorporates the most creative sound objects, including a rubber squeaky spider, pots and pans, whistles, cowbells, and random materials for construction work are all used in unexpected ways.
While the band is playing, one of the performers is showing a set of hand-drawn white on black images that tell a story of a character going through different settings, that include an underwater scene, a train, Venice in the 1920s, and others. While the images are being shown, the music connects to the story, and suddenly the musicians are characters in the story, and so is the audience, as the performers start to interact with them.
I find this to be a most engaging, creative and wonderful performance, like nothing I had ever seen before.
check it out.
www.pneumus.com

inspiring performances

i love performances that take me out of my ordinary mind-set and remind me life is just a game. and these performance pieces that have that exact effect.

The Sultan's Elephant by Royal de Luxe
Royal de Luxe is a street theater group that started in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult in France. They have created impressive productions with enormous mechanical marionettes as bigh as 11 meters high that move through the streets of various cities they have performed in.
The Sultan's Elephant was first performed in May 2005 in Nantes and Amiens to commemorate the centenary of Jules Verne's death and was commisioned by these cities. In 2006 it was performed in London.
When speaking about his work, Jean Luc Courcoult explains, "the aim is to place dream in people’s life", and this is exactly what he achieves. For a period of four days, a giant girl and an elephant toured the streets of London. The puppets were held up by cranes which were controlled by men dressed in red velvet uniforms of royal servants. This was a wonderful performance, a free spectacle that was enjoyed by roughly a million people and for four days it transformed the city into a fairy tale of which the spectators were all a part of.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qBXr15K2uSc