Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sanghyang Djaran (Trance Dance) Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Bali.

Sanghyang Djaran (Horse Trance Dance). Ubud, Bali. (By Gustavo Thomas. 2009)

"The word Sanghyang means celestial and refers to trance dance rituals whereby the performers enter an altered state of consciousness called kerawuhan (descent or arrival) or nadi (becoming).  ...  The purpose is to restore order back to the village and to exorcise spirits of chaos." (1)

After reading the last quotation you can suppose that in these days trance dances are rare in Bali (and elsewhere in the world).

What I saw in Ubud after the Kecak performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, the Sanghyang Djaran (or horse trance dance), in July 2009, was a performance for tourists; yes, the dancer was "acting" the trance. For us, ignorants about Balinese rituals, there is almost no difference, but for those who know and appreciate Balinese rituals there are.

So, what's the point of publishing here? Simple: this is a Blog about theatre and performing arts, and I'm sure, this "trance dance for tourists" I saw that evening in Ubud was both of them.

Even though there wasn't a real trance it was a very a good "external" example of it and, indeed, a very interesting one, specially in visual terms. Usually in these kind of works with religious origin Balinese performing artists keep the general and basic structure of the original ritual, and we can see example of it all over Bali.

So, from my point of view, this video is worth to watch, but mostly I think this is another good opportunity to see for first time and enjoy one more of those fantastic and special Balinese performing arts.

Video: Sanghyang Djaran (Horse Trance Dance). Ubud, Bali. (By Gustavo Thomas. 2009)

Sanghyang Djaran, A Balinese Trance Dance Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Bali (2009) from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.
Sanghyang Djaran, A Balinese Trance Dance Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Bali (2009)



(1) Balinese Dance, Drama and Music. A Guide to the Performing Arts of Bali. I Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger. Perilus. Singapore, 2004.

Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Announce about my Butoh Vlog

Butoh Vlog (July 18, 2011) on Vimeo by Gustavo Thomas


My Butoh Vlog has got its own personality, so I decided to publish it in a special page (outside Blogger), a page only dedicated to it:

                                      http://gustavothomasbutohvlog.tumblr.com                                                              

It will no longer appear in this Blog Gustavo Thomas Theatre as part of the main posts, but it will be updated in one of this Blog's pages: Gustavo Thomas Butoh Vlog

I appreciate your interest.

Gustavo Thomas




Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Butoh Vlog (July 15, 2011)


Butoh Vlog (July 15, 2011)

Trying for first time with colors.
This is part of my daily morning training, and nothing else.
After walking and working with some postures and inner images, a short choreography emerges, that's what you see in this Butoh vlog.
The music you hear is not what I was listened to when I was in the training, it was added later.




Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.


Sunday, July 17, 2011

“If you feel that the flower is beautiful, then you are beautiful.” (Learning Butoh with Yoshito Ohno)

(Translated by Tadeo Berjon)


Being a flower. Yoshito Ohno studio. (By Gustavo Thomas. Yokohama 2011.)

Yoshito tells us that Hijikata used to say: “Your body possesses everything within, you just have to find it” and he would add that the way in which Kazuo Ohno and Hijikata did that was through Butoh.  Moving every day, each moment of their lives, every moment of doubt, of inspiration, of relaxation, of crisis; moving every moment of discipline and work, of dreaming, of pain, of remembrance.  And it’s true, that attitude is completely logical:  else, how could we find the all within our bodies if we don’t immerse ourselves totally in it, rummaging in every detail of our unknown interior?
The search is done initially by walking, and the slow pace would seem a premise.  In our slow walking we discover that the experience is risky too:  if our body contains all, then, besides life and prayer and love, it also contains death itself and its ghosts, that which others suffer and others ask themselves, violence and grudges, fears and anguish, mental labyrinths and hells... everything.
In those games of the logic of being congruent with our Butoh, Yoshito adds other words from Hijikata:  “the dead body always walks risking life.”
Nothing in the studio of master Ohno is compulsory; a proposal for movement is not an order, nobody is forced to search for their hates, their fears or their violence; everything is simple, soft; something is commented, something is told, something is proposed, and then we must move.  The risk appears because it finds you when you move, like a sunlight or a mother that cradles her baby. 
So, while moving in that search of the all within, I could write at the end of my second session:  “I’ve just arrived from my work with Yoshito Ohno.  Today, dancing, I was a three-day flower, a blossoming peach tree that died in the wind, a prayer, and a child’s heart.”
Our body contains everything and can transform itself into anything.  The proposal was always “be”, “you are...”
“If you feel that the flower is beautiful, then you are beautiful” would tell us Kazuo Ohno through the voice of his son,  Yoshito.
Tens of photos, both of Kazuo Ohno and of Tatsumi Hijikata, show them “being” that which they imagined while moving.  I remember them and learn too.
Hijikata being earth. Photo by Eikoh Hosoe. (book Kamaitachi)

Kazuo Ohno, a pond. Book cover of Hidden Body, The World of Kazuo Ohno.


And in that studio, for various sessions, we were dozens of flowers, under different circumstances and conditions; we were silk, and with it we learned the softness and strength of our bodies, by being the characteristics of silk, by touching silk, we discovered in movement the characteristics of our bodies; and we were bamboo too, and with bamboo in our hands, we explored the strength of our exterior and the emptiness of our interior, the hollowness of our physicality.


Silk. Yoshito Ohno studio. (Photo by Gustavo Thomas. Yokohama, 2011)
We were all if we found it in movement.  There are no fixed structures but each session some patterns repeated themselves:  Yoshito talks, shows, demonstrates, exposes, asks us to move based on that, we always do it with music, after some 5 minutes he stops, continues talking about the same subject or changes to a new one.  And so for two hours every session.  At the end, some tea and snacks while we talked about the petty details of life.
How happy I was because I was never judged on whether I really was the flower, silk, bamboo, the sea or the wave!  That’s right, I was never judged, nor were the others: we were invited to be and to move while being, and just that.
Looking at pictures of Rodin’s sculptures we learnt that he, like Butoh, was revolutionary because they didn’t imitate the movement of the body, but were simply the body that was expressed in itself, it was a kiss or a hug or a pride.  We learnt that impressionist painters, like Butoh, were revolutionary because they offered life from other angles, and that those impressionists got their inspiration to discover those angles from Hokusai and, in particular, his piece “The Wave.”
And then we moved being water, being the sea, being waves, being the force of gravity, the moon itself, and the wave again.  We were, in the line of the water (and not always in the same session), the feminine and the moon; we danced to a piece by Chopin, we remembered the mother, the bosom of the mother; we lived the night and retook the sea.
With a piece of cloth we discovered the intensity of our interior:  by stretching it or squeezing it the intensity was bigger; by relaxing its stretching our interior diminished its intensity.  We played with emotions without knowing which ones they were; it was my mind that associated to some, to my past, to my inventions, to my hidden desires, it responded to what the cloth itself was, my body in contact with the force applied to that piece of cloth. 

Working at Yoshito Ohno Workshop. (By Gustavo Thomas. Yokohama, 2011)


Yoshito tells us about the “remnants of emotion”, that which remains after squeezing the cloth of our emotions, that which remains and weighs and drags within.  While he commented he moved, his walking was slow, tense, heavy.  He talked about the difficulty of expressing those remnants on stage, of the so called “forte pianissimo” and he also moved with great intensity but in an extremely soft way: - “forte pianissimo” - he repeated while moving, and invited us to try.  “This is a challenge to face, every day” - he would explain.  Kazuo Ohno was a master of that “forte pianissimo”.
In the line of emotions we made them body and voice:  on a single occasion (and explaining that he did it specially because I was an actor), he asked me to say a sentence on the heaviness of life, in my language, and to say it while walking.  We were all charged with the search for the forte pianissimo.  Then he asked one of the participants to climb on my back and let his weigh drop on me; I was supposed to continue repeating the sentence during all my walking. That night we didn’t talk more.
I felt the flower was beautiful, then I was beautiful...
Yes, that night we didn’t talk more; but some other days we sang...





Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.



Saturday, July 16, 2011

"La danza del Padre" Comic Strip and Video for the Fourth Movement: Le père au foie douloureux


Fourth Movement: Le père au foie douloureux

Original drawing


Comic strip















Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.



Friday, July 15, 2011

Butoh Vlog (July 14, 2011)




Gustavo Thomas Butoh Vlog (July 14, 2011)

This is part of my daily morning training, and nothing else.
After walking and working with some postures and inner images, a short choreography emerges, that's what you see in this Butoh vlog.
The music you hear is not what I was listened to when I was in the training, it was added later.




Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.


Thursday, July 14, 2011

Butoh Vlog (July 13, 2011)





Gustavo Thomas Butoh Vlog July 13, 2011

This is part of my daily morning training, and nothing else. 
After walking and working with some postures and inner images, a short choreography emerges, that's what you see in this Butoh vlog. 
The music you hear is not what I was listened to when I was in the training, it was added later.




Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Butoh Vlog (July 12, 2011)


First try of Gustavo Thomas Butoh Vlog July 12, 2011.
This is part of my daily morning training, and nothing else.
After walking and working with some postures and inner images, a short choreography emerges, that's what you see in this Butoh vlog. 
The music you hear is not what I was listened to when I was in the training, it was added later.

I know I have to work with the camera's angle and the possibility of including the whole body in movement. I'll work with that little by little.

Thanks for watching.

Gustavo Thomas

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Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Kecak Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, in Bali (2009)

Kecak Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja (Bali, 2009)
(Photograph by Gustavo Thomas. 2009)

Kecak (called also Cak) is one of the best known Balinese Performing Arts, a mix between a religious choral piece, a theatre play and a choreographed dance, based on a choir of local men. It is not an old form, it was created from some ancient Sanghyang (trance) forms during the 1930s, adding a theatrical story. Some give the credit to German visitor Walter Spies, while others give it to two Balinese masters, I Gusti Lanang Oka and I Nengah Murdaya.

Miguel Covarrubias (who was there around 1930) didn't know about Kecak, but did know about Sanghyang and the use of the word "kecak" in its chants as an accompaniment of the trance dance. Kecak developed into a theatrical form when it was separated of the trance and stories, wether from the Ramayana or from other Hindu epics, added to it. 

Even when Kecak is the theatrical form without trance, its performance is completed with a short trance piece, the "Sanghyang Djaran" or Trance Dance of the Horse, a piece about which I'm going to talk about in the next post of these Bali performing arts series.

Kecak Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja (Bali, 2009)
(Photograph by Gustavo Thomas. 2009)


To talk about the rhythms in Kecak I'm quoting the book "Balinese Dance, Drama and Music"(1):

"The polyrhythmic vocal chanting that makes up most of the performance is sung in interlocking parts. Most chorus members know at least four different rhythmic patterns: syncopated cak telu (three syllables), cak lima (five), cak nem (six) and the simple non-syncopated pattern cak ocel (three and seven syllables). There is also improvised panyelah (five syllables). Syncopated rhythms require three voices: polos (down beat), sangsih (upbeat) and sanglot (in between). The interlocking patterns of three and six strokes are chanted within one gong cycle and are marked in the melody by a gong-like sound, sirrrrr. The five-stroke and non-syncopated pattern are freer. All patterns are laid over the kajar and the melody. The kajar is the time-keeping gong, vocalized in Kecak with a pung sound. The melody is chanted as yanger yangur yanger yanger yang sir."

What I saw that night at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja in Ubud was a performance by Taman Kaja Community. Most of the members of that group, as its name says, were from the same neighbour (called Desa), in this case Desa Pakraman Taman Kaja. 

That was a powerful and energetic performance, full of life and interesting images, visual and vocal images. Yes, the voice of those a hundred men chanting is still in my memory today, their sound provoked to my whole body a vibration difficult to forget. It was a very unique experience watching this also very unique theatrical form. 

Luckily I was able to record almost the whole performance, so you can see photographs and video of it. You have to understand that night it was raining and the visibility was poor, plus my seat was very close to the stage.

Program of Kecak performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Ubud (2009)

This is what the program says about the story to see (original redaction):

The story is a fragment from the Ramayana, the hindu epic. (...)
Prince Rama, heir to the throne of the kingdom of Ayodya, and his wife Sita have been banished from the kingdom by King Dasarata as a result of trickery by Rama's stepmother. The story begins with the arrival of Rama and Sita accompanied by Rama's brother Laksmana in the forest of Dandaka.
The trio have been observed by the demon Rajwana, King of Alengka, who lusts after the beautiful Sita. Rahwana sends his prime minister Marica to try to isolate Sita so that Rahwana can kidnap her. Marica's magical powers turn him into a golden deer and he enters the forest and when Sita sees the golden deer she is so enchanted by it that she asks Rama to capture it for her. Rama chases after the deer leaving his brother Laksmana behind with strict instructions to protect Sita. When Sita thinks she hears a cry for help from Rama she forces Lasmana to go after Rama by accusing him of cowardice and he goes off to help Rama with great reluctance after drawing a magic circle on the ground and telling Sita that she should not under any circumstance step outside the circle.
Sita, left alone in the forest becomes an easy prey to the trickery of Rahwana who has disguised himself as an old priest and begs Sita for some food as he is cold and hungry. Sita falls for his trick, she steps outside the circle to give the old priest some food and Rahwana grabs her and takes her to his palace.
Once back in his palace in Alengka Rahwana tries everything he can to seduce Sita without any luck.
In the meantime Hanoman, the white monkey, a good friend of Rama, is searching everywhere for Sita.
In the palace of Alengka Sita pours out her heart about her cruel fate to Rahwana's niece Trijata, who had come to love Sita, when Hanoman appears telling her that he is Rama's envoy and proving it by showing her Rama's ring. Sita gives Hanoman a hairpin to show that she is still alive and sends him back to Rama with a message to come to her rescue.
In the meantime Rama and Laksmana are wandering in the forest looking for Sita when Meganada, Rahwana's son, appears and engages Rama and Laksmana in battle. Meganada uses his magic powers and shoots of an arrow which magically turns into a dragon which overpowers rama and Laksmana and they are trussed up in ropes.
The bird Garuda, King of all the birds, a good friend of King Dasarata, has observed the trouble Rama is in from high up in the sky and comes to the rescue freeing hte brothers from the ropes.
Rama and Laksmana continue on their way to rescue Sita and are joined by Sugriwa, King of the monkeys, and his monkey army.
This fragment of the Ramayana comes to an end with the battle between Sugriwa and his monkey army and Meganada and his demon army which ends with the defeat of Meganada.


Kecak Performance at Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Bali (2009) from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.






(1) Balinese Dance, Drama and Music. By I Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger. Periplus Editions, Singapore, 2004.



Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.



Friday, July 1, 2011

"La danza del Padre" Comic Strip and Video for the Third Movement: Le père emmène le frère au cimetière


 Third Movement: Le père emmène le frère au cimetière

Original drawing


Comic strip












(*) 
"The Mystery of Preludio .mp3" 
by orang_redux_777
2007 - Licensed under
Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)



Texts, photographs and videos in this Blog are all author's property, except when marked. All rights reserved by Gustavo Thomas. If you have any interest in using any text, photograph or video from this Blog, for commercial use or not, please contact Gustavo Thomas at gustavothomastheatre@gmail.com.
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