1. There was
this group of Singaporean girls from NTU which were with us during many of our
adventures in Singapore, who were acting as hosts for us. In a sense, it’s like
they were putting up a performance for us. They were not being “fake” and they
were not necessarily consciously aware of the fact that they were probably
changing their behavior to be good hosts to us, but their kindness and their
willingness to take charge in times of need (like when they wouldn’t bring our
food) made the experience much more enjoyable. Having a local friend becomes
like a sort of key to the real life of the people in the place that one is
visiting and this “host performance” that the girls were putting up for us had
that very effect. It allowed for a friendlier environment. I could especially
notice the difference when we went to a Chinese restaurant without a Chinese
speaker, where we felt like intruders in a foreign world, compared to when one
of the girls ordered food in the food court for us speaking in Singlish
with the cook. The kindness allows for the experience to be much more
enjoyable.
2. Right after
leaving Gala, we saw a couple of pianos laying at the plaza right in front of
the Victoria Theater. While everyone was having a conversation in a circle,
Rodrigo went towards the piano to patiently wait for a man to finish playing Happy
Birthday on one of the pianos. He then sat down and began to play a
beautiful piece with all the engagement of the world. His body was moving, his
eyes were closed (or at least in my memory they are), he was in his own world,
completely disregarding the fact that the rest of the people in the place were
not paying attention to him. I was just enjoying the show by the piano. After a
while, Atoka came and interrupted Rodrigo, begging for a chance to play. She
began playing this incredibly difficult piece on the piano and I could only
marvel at her thin fingers swiftly tapping the keys. Everyone began to gather
around her performance and they were all smiling and in awe. Atoka had just
brought us all together under the influence of music once more. Maybe all this
just happened because we had just come out from seeing Gala, but at least until
Valentina insisted that we needed to leave, we all stood in admiration of the
beautiful performance of vibrations that was being produced in that open space.
3. When we went
to Theater Works to listen to the panel of actors from Gala, it was almost as
if they were putting up another type of performance for us. They were
professional yet casual, and all of them, especially the guy who was the drag
queen, had a sort of natural charm that made the talk engaging and interesting.
They were trying to get at ideas along with us, taking us on a journey through
their rehearsal process using their words, a couple of videos of their solos,
and whatever hand gestures they could produce while on those chairs that felt
natural. In a sense one felt much closer to them due to the casual tone that
they took while speaking, and this improvised performance of theirs achieved
not only the goal of informing us about Gala; but also further accomplished the
goal of Gala in bringing communities together around theater.
I can see that there is a constant theme that underlies the three events you call “performances,” which is the sense of being introduced to another community, whether it is the foreign land, the world of music or the theater community of GALA. This sense of being introduced to another world as a foreigner, but coming out of the performance as a much more intimate and significant subject within the world, resonates with the idea that Richard Schechner has about how audience members go into space with a different body to come out as a person whom they desire to be.
ReplyDeleteIn all three of your responses, you entertain the idea of "mediation" as a way to better engage with a cultural object (meaning the performance of Gala) or with culture itself. Atoka and Rodrigo's performances bridged the idea of who could perform in Singapore's public spaces -- not only its longstanding citizens or people who were brought specifically for and paid for their skills -- but people who were passers by, whatever their background (although one still has to feel enfranchised to be in that space in the first place -- probably workers other than those who were paid to be there don't usually hang out there. And the mediation of our Singapore "hosts" allowed us to penetrate deeper into the culture - mediating the language barriers and allowing us to become visitors, not just "tourists." A few writing points. When describing performance, the people you are referring should be more distinct. Watch for the "they" and "them" - make sure pronouns have a referent. If you are writing about a "group of Singaporian girls" - name them, tell a bit about them (if you don't remember, ask others). Make an effort to give specific detail. And you really have a theoretical lens - pose that as the topic of the post, rather than burying it within the essay. So make the "performance of hosting" the topic and then example as the case study for it.
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