A boy at a Chinese Shadow Puppet Exhibition in Beijing

A boy having fun at a Chinese Shadow Puppet Exhibition, at the National Art Museum in Beijing, China. 

I'd like to enjoy again the fantasy of a simple theatrical moment like this boy do it.

Of course I recorded tons of material about this astonishing exhibition; just be patient, I'm in the hard work of editing.

Beijing Opera: Mei Lanfang's hand gestures

Mei Lanfang was known thanks to his quality and his ability to perform with details. In the middle of a strong tradition he knew how to make changes, with details; hand gestures were among those changes.

My personal video edition of Mei Lanfang's hand gestures, from films and books I've found about this subject.

Video of Mei Lanfang Hand Gestures

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (Taiwan): 水月 (Moon Water)

(This is a translation by Tadeo Berjon from my post in Spanish)

I’m just back from seeing “Moon Water”, a masterpiece by this Taiwanese modern dance group, and my mind’s ready for writing…

For 70 minutes, my spectator’s mind lived a numbing process similar to the meditation process a newbie goes through: I started by experiencing total beauty, a feeling of purification, certain expectation for what was to come; then, a waiting, no more beauty (or beauty simply remains still), there’s repetition (like with breathing, like with mantras), and there’s confusion, distraction, the feeling of wanting to stop the experience, to cut it short, to change to a different mood or state of mind (there is a struggle); then, just before the explosion (which doesn’t come because I remain there, seated, waiting), there is enlightenment, a feeling of freshness where my spectator mind enters a new stage, letting itself go, and I realize my senses have become numb too, that my mind doesn’t struggle anymore (has it been vanquished?), I see (maybe I should say “I contemplate”) and listen without watching or listening, I’m empty and the image I contemplate fills the void. Unarguably, I’ve entered a meditative state that’s broken by the dark ending, by applause.

Did I watch a performance? Definitively. Did I contemplate a spiritual experience. Definitively.

I once heard or read about someone who had experienced “spiritual liberation” by watching his master in some process. Many, many speak about the spiritual experience of watching a taichi master performing forms for hours. The spectator is not a participant and yet the contemplating of the practitioner causes a revealing experience.

Then, I get lost in the experience, I get lost in the narrative.

Is this the metaphysical theatre that Grotowski was supposedly trying to achieve? The metaphysics where the spectator may or may not be present, where he contemplates the creative processes on stage, the transformation, the ritual dismemberment of the actor and, in turn, is also created, transformed, dismembered?

I don’t know, I never saw any of Grotowski’s last performances, I only have second-hand information about them. My experience has taken me to watch other failed, lost, almost worthless experiments. Today, the performance at the Poly Theatre was different. I wasn’t expecting any performance of this kind and, while it was happening, I didn’t recognize it, and when it was over, I wasn’t quite sure of what I had seen.

I saw taichi (the group has been practicing it for years), I saw breathing techniques and a process of movement meditation (meditation has been part of their training), I saw a dancing technique of highest quality (the best modern dance technique and a formidable training, all evident on stage). But my emotions were eliminated, my reasoning was broken… there was only contemplation.

I also saw how the individuality of the dancers became lost, how they merged on stage, how they became movement, fluidity, image: one, five, twenty dancers, they became a moving mass of spiritual beauty (beauty that even got lost, at some point, due to its repetition, its slowness and fluidity). I accept that, afterwards, I found it scary (since I’m an artist too) that I couldn’t recognize any single dancer as the best one, or as the worst one, I couldn’t remember who was who, they became fused arms, torsos, water, light, Bach’s cello suite. And still, I never forget the image of the director (Li Hwai-min), on the contrary, it’s strengthened. We applauded the company, we love them, but we acclaimed the director, we waited for his words.

Is there some deceit here? Is there a group sacrifice in honour of the director’s genius? Is there, once more, a divine seducer-creator who’s capable of erasing others to put his sublime ideas on stage.

There is a peculiar turn to the idea of the performance itself (that it’s not a normal performance, that it doesn’t tell anything, that it’s an “experience”) but, in the end, that tricky turn, in which we so fervently believe at the end of the performance, is it simply proof of the egotistical ability of the director to erase bodies and minds to achieve his artistic goal?

Then, what did I see?

During my liberating catharsis I remember Butoh and Kazuo Ohno in particular, my body trembles with the memory, my emotion flows full of tenderness and compassion, of love, nostalgia, I can’t remember the choreography or even whether he was the choreographer or it was someone else’s piece. The difference, then, is evident. With Kazuo Ohno and Butoh I see only the modern Orient, modern Japan. With Water Moon I see the choreography of Lin Hwai-min, I see China and I see the fluidity of what I can understand as Tao. Differences… could they be comparisons?

“Moon Water” is a wonderful dance piece, which will remain not in my spectator’s memory, but in my body memory, just like a meditation experience. I can’t remember any one particular meditation, but I can remember the general feeling of meditating, a great meditation is everything; I can remember this great piece of dance-theatre as the fundamental experience of all the pieces of its kind.

Can all this be taken as speaking well of a performance? I don’t know. In the slightest. It’s speaking, simply put.

“Moon Water” by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performed on Saturday July 13th 2007 at Beijing’s (China) Poly Theatre. Some 20 dancers performed on stage under the direction of Lin Hwai-min. The music for the performance was some Bach's cello suites.

Noridan. A big smile during the Singapore Arts Festival 2007.

Mi visit to Singapore lasted 6 days and I had planned to attend three events of the Singapore Arts Festival 2007 plus watching the Vesak parade (the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment).

I knew I’d miss many events because of my short visit and the ticket prices (impossible to afford) and purposefully avoided them, but I made the mistake of forgetting the whole group of street spectacles, all of them free. But Singapore is a very small city, and walking around I found a few events.

So, while I was leaving the Esplanade after Tandun’s concert, at one of the terraces of this enormous cultural complex and among a crowd of curious spectators, my ears caught some music, the music of the Korean group Noridan, a singular company of musicians performers, some of them very young (I mean, children), who were playing musical instruments (my guess is they were made from recycled plastic and metal).

Companies like Noridan exist all over the world and of indisputable quality in their dance or music, but even then, after a mental comparison, Noridan, because of their short age, their timing on the stage, their rhythm and their energy projected towards the spectators, was a very good and big surprise.

The philosophy of the group is as simple as their music: entertainment with joy and energy, and they achieve their goal. Noridan’s members are talented and imaginative, practical, and that can be seen throughout the performance. Noridan doesn’t have the pretentious ideals of La Fura dels Baus or La Guarda, but they work with practical stage machines, they make music and play it, but only trying to make the spectator happy and show their talent (as with the drums); they dance and yell, play and do acrobatics but they don’t pretend to tell a story or even to show off their dramatic skills. Their work is simple and that simplicity enthralls, it is a pleasure to live their fluidity performing, fluidity which gives a breath to our journey.

Noridan (as Tandun), on the other hand, are still imprinted in my spectator memory. In the end I felt like approaching to say hello, to talk with them, to watch their machines and play those strange instruments, and they were glad about it. I felt like looking into their eyes with my best smile and saying “Gracias”.

Three Shadow Puppet Theatre plays in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The day after my visit to the Shadow Puppets Shop close to Angkor I went to La Noria Restaurant to watch a Shadow Puppet Theatre performance (1). It was the only performance announced those days in Siem Reap so I couldn’t miss the opportunity.

As usual I was very excited, looking forward to experience another kind of Asian Performing Art, in a region where “another revolution” (like in China) had destroyed or almost erased any form of culture. It is true that many efforts are being made in the Capital, Phnom Penn, but as it was impossible for me to visit I thought some group in this province would be, if not fantastic, at least interesting to see how they tried to keep the traditional way to perform. And it was interesting, there is a group trying to keep the art, but they are now at a very beginning level, they are only children.

A French organization has taken care of many Cambodian children, and one way to help them is teaching them some of the Cambodian traditional arts. They are doing well, working hard and performing at least once per week, but it their skills are still immature, I think.

Despite those special conditions, the experience was really interesting: the musicians who play in the show are very good and make the evening more enjoyable, and some traditional chants are very nice too.


Three plays where performed that night: “Two monkeys fighting”, “Buffalo fighting”, and “The kidnapping of Sita”. I took a video of every one (around 10 minutes long each) and I transcribed the anecdote the restaurant provided.

Two Monkeys Fighting (video)

“This is the story of a black and white monkey. The story takes place in a small village where a black monkey is known to steal and eat all of the harvest that the villagers spend so much time cultivating. The white monkey starts to feel annoyed by the attitude and behavior of the black monkey and decides to talk with him, explaining to him the reasons why he should not to do this. The black monkey doesn’t care and doesn’t want to listen. From thus day forth, the two monkeys start to fight. One day, an old women passes by the two monkeys and sees them fighting. She decides to bring them to the monks who are the only ones who can speak the secret monkey language. After a long and wise discussion, the black monkey agrees to behave and apologizes to the white monkey. They return to the village and the black monkey never steals again and even helps the villagers with their daily duties.”

video: Two monkeys fighting

Buffalo Fighting and The Forbidden Bets (video)

“A man –depicted in this story by a long-beaked bird- comes back from a hard day of work in the fields with his buffalo and meets a young woman who also has a buffalo, traveling in the opposite direction. Upon seeing the man’s buffalo, the young woman suggests they bet for a buffalo fight: the loser must give money to the winner. While fighting, one of the buffalo dies and the other one escapes. The man is very unhappy that his buffalo died and asks the woman to give him another one. The woman refuses as she has also lost her buffalo. At this point, the young lady and the man start to argue and to fight. A policeman arrives and asks them what has happened. They start to explain but, as bets are illegal in Cambodia, the policeman decides to arrest them both. It looks like they both lost!”

Video: Buffalos fighting

The Kidnapping of Sita (extract from the Ramayana) (video)

“King Rama is walking in the forest with his wife Sita and his brother. They decide to stop and take a rest. They soon fall asleep after their long journey. Ravana, King of the giants, is very much in love with Sita and would do anything to kidnap her. Cleverly disguised as a deer, then as an old man, he ends up successfully kidnapping his love, Sita.”

Video: The kidnapping of Sita

(1) La Noria restaurant, Siem Reap, Cambodia. June 6th, 2007. 19:30 p.m.

A small Shadow Puppets Shop near Angkor in Cambodia

Cambodian Shadow Puppet. Angkor Wat (2007)

I took the opportunity to visit the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia (May, 2007), place of dreams and poetry. Almost 5 days were enough to see most of this huge wonder of the world. Well I’m a man into performing arts, and I was looking for any of them, and I found some, yes.

I knew that Cambodia had retaken its fantastic tradition of Puppetry and Dancing, but Angkor (or Siem Reap the city nearby where all the tourists stay at) was not the place to look for, as everything is happening in Phnom Pen. Reading about cultural activities near Angkor I found there was a restaurant with a Shadow Puppet show and, in another part of town, a Puppet workshop headed by the German organization House of Peace, with a small shop inside a temple’s grounds.

Finding our way to the shop was not easy, even the guide didn’t know about it, but with a little bit of perseverance, asking here and there, we reached it: in fact it was located in the grounds of a temple outside Siem Reap. The first thing I saw was a small blue-sky coloured sign with the name of the organization above the entrance of a small humble house, and two lion figures at both sides of the door; then the body of a woman sleeping on the floor, a cat close to her (sleeping as well) and dozens of leather puppets inside.

Just as we arrived the woman woke up (not the cat; it stayed asleep during the whole visit), and with a friendly demeanor invited us in to see what she sold there. While she showed each of the puppets the guide translated, then we asked about the prices (between 10 to 80 dollars, depending on the work put in and size), the name of each figure, the characters they represented (mostly from Hindu mythology) and confirmed that they, the workshop, had made the puppets for La Noria Shadow puppet show.

I think the photos and video are very clear showing what happened and how it looked like exactly.

Video: Puppet shop near Angkor

Every figure was made of leather (mainly cow hide), with almost no colour, only black outlining the shape of each character; and with three long sticks to handle and move it, one for the body and two for moveable arms. They were really beautiful and delicate; the moment the lady showed us how the puppets looked from behind a screen she had, as in a show, was a kind of magic instant.

Cambodian Shadow Puppets Workshop in Angkor Wat (May, 2007)

I was so impressed with this shop that I expected too much of the show next day. Well, magic depends on some facts…

Wuzhen (II): A Chinese Shadow Puppet experience

Wuzhen Dongzha has a special spectacle, a Shadow Puppet Theatre. The small company works with traditional chinese stories, music and technique to handle puppets, and of course traditional Shadow puppets made from leather. Even though the performances are mostly shorter than usual, it’s enough to ensure their enjoyment.

That day of March I went to Dongzha, the village was pretty packed with hundreds of children from nearby schools (and of course tourists), so you can imagine how I felt when I tried to get in the small theatre. It was so crowded that I prefered to wait for the next performance, then an employee told me I could see the performance from behind the stage if I wanted, and of course I did and I recorded the whole 5-minute play back stage.

The experience was very interesting: old musicians playing traditional instruments, only one puppeteer (a young woman) with her assistance, and those beautiful puppets of course. It seemed that day they expected hundreds of children so they prepared a simple fight-scene between the Monkey King and other mythological warriors, showing how the Monkey King was able to change himself into anyhting he wanted.

Video: Monkey King Fighting. Shadows Puppet Theatre. Wuzhen China.

After watching from behind the stage, I could watch the performance as any other spectator, and of course I recorded the whole play as well.

Video: (View from Backstage) Monkey King Fighting. Shadows Puppet Theatre. Wuzhen China

The wonderful experience aside, I think it was a unique opportunity to see how one Shadow Puppet performance is done facing the stage and behind it, to study it or simply to enjoy this traditional theatrical culture from two different points of view.

Wuzhen (I): Two Chinese Opera Theatres in one beautiful water town.

Wuzhen, Zhejian Province, China.

Wuzhen is a fantastic small town, just a two-hour trip by bus from Shanghai. It's part of the so called "Water Towns",built between canals and small rivers, and very similar to Venice but without the urban structure that has made a success of the Italian City. All these water towns keep a traditional Qing architecture, but their charm is marred by the masses of tourists (mostly Chinese) going there and the consequences of these visits reflected on the dirty water and the bad conditions of the buildings. Zhouzhuang is the most famous of all of them, but we didn't visit it as we were trying to avoid the masses and pollution, and so we decided to go to this one, a little bit farther away and smaller, called Wuzhen(1). It was a fortunate decision, Wuzhen was full of surprises for us.

Wuzhen is divided in two parts of touristic interest: Xizha (West Wuzhen) and Dongzha (East Wuzhen). Xizha has a special charm, it has just been rebuilt and converted in a huge resort; the whole place is closed during the night and only hotel guests are able to enjoy its charm from 5 pm till next day.

Wuzhen Xizha Theatre

Halfway through the long and narrow main street of Wuzhen, a big gate with a sign marks the entrance to the theatre, then, further inside, a nice stone square opens to us, and at the end a simple building, inside of which is the hall of the theatre; a few steps more and we discover, facing us, one fantastic wooden structure, magnifiscent but simple, decorated but not excessively like other theatres (beautiful, of course) we find in Beijing.

There is no information about this Chinese province’s jewel, nor signs, nor brochures, nor guides who know something about the place, no books either or any Internet site talking about it; even so, the theatre speaks for itself. Because of the conditions of Xizha, just rebuilt and no masses of people walking everywhere any day, there are no regular performances, so there was no hope of seeing anything on stage those three days I stayed there.

At the time I visited (March 26th, 2007), the theatre had been open for just one month; many details could be seen without problem, while in other theatres they have been almost erased by time. There is a big open area in the middle, just for the public, with no roof, though three sections around it are spectator zones similar to "box seats" in western theatres; the wood had been recently varnished, and there were many carvings about Chinese Opera scenes, Buddhist and Taoist passages or simple fortune animals; I have to accept that even the golden carved figures were in good balance with the whole.

The Theatre, following a good practice usual in China's performing spaces, has a small museum where many costumes are in exhibition. As I mentioned before, there is no information about what is exhibited.

I visited the place twice, on different days, and because of that you see some part of the video with a raining ambiance and the other part with a sunny day.

Video: Whuzhen Xizha Chinese Opera Theatre

Slideshow: Whuzhen Xizha Chinese Opera Theatre

The Small Theatre in Wuzhen Dongzha

Xizha is pretty much more comfortable and nice for any touristicinterest, however it doesn't have the life Donzha has. With a very nice (but also in a bad condition) traditional area ,Dongzha is situated in the middle of the current city, populated, polluted and noisy like any other Chinese town. This is the most visited area with dozens of restaurants, souvenir shops and public buildings which are packed full of people. Such movement brings on much entertainment offers: museums, a colourful temple and two theatres with performances all day long. One of these theatres is for Shadow Puppet performances (I will have a special post for it), and the other one is what we’ll talk about here, the small Chinese Opera Theatre.

This is not a theatre itself, we could say it is an open air stage. In one part of the central square, surrounded by the temple, commercial and public buildings and next to the main canal, there is a small stage decorated as many Qing Dynasty Opera theatres(2). Small, but big enough to have two floors with make up rooms and one stage of about 4 x 6 meters. What’s remarkable is its roof, with some Chinese mythological wood sculptures and drama characters.

I didn't have the chance to see anything there, the performance schedules were the same in both theatres, and I preferred to see the Shadow Puppets (3). I didn't regret it and you'll see why when I post about my experience later.

Video: Wuzhen Dongzha Chinese Opera Stage

(1) Not to visit Zhouzhuang had risks of course. First of all, I missed the best of traditional Water Town architecture in the region.
(2) I'm not a scholar and I can make mistakes. In my point of view this small theatre is similar (in different scale, of course) to those in the Summer Palace and The Forbidden City in Beijing, Qing Dinasty’s best examples.
(3) I had the intention to record that shadow puppet performance; there was the chance to record the same performance facing the stage and from behind the stage.

Beijing Opera: A moment with the Monkey King.

Though I'm planning one special post over Huguang Guildhall, I'd like (with my photographs and video), you enjoy a little bit of this character before talking about the theatre building where he is performing.

There is no much to say about it: The Monkey King is a very popular character in China and omnipresent in all its literature since 16th century. Chinese Opera got dozens of pieces where he is the hero, showing magic skills, acrobatics, pantomime, singing and doing any naughtiness you can imagine. Watching him on stage is a truly enjoyment.

Huguang Guildhall is a beautiful theatre built around 1812 and rebuilt many times. There is a Beijing Opera Museum inside and some art craft shops which sale only articles about Beijing Opera (Masks, Puppets, T-shirts, pictures, etc.). It is one of four or five small not in court-theatre working today. Most of their work are addressed to foreign tourism; it seems common Chinese people don't like anymore this kind of theatre, at least in Beijing. There are one big state managed theater, Chang'an, where, they said, work the best actors and Chinese opera companies of our days.

This was one of my several visits to Huguang Guildhall looking, as spectator, for a basic instruction of Beijing Opera. This Guildhall puts on stage only parts of famous and spectacular Beijing operas, never an entire one (usually in two parts with 10 minutes of intermission)and they change of operas every day of the week; so it was easy for me to stay there during one hour or one and a half maximum and coming back every week; without an understanding of it and a bad Chinese comprehension, believe me, it is necessary if you want to enjoy it. After that I could face the Chang'an Theatre and its many large-scale operas.

The part of the Monkey King opera I saw that night lasted for approximately 40 minutes but this is only a 5-minute "solo". I video recorded it one of the last days of October, 2005. We don't see an acrobatic Monkey King but more juggler, playing in a martial art style with this characteristic warrior lance; you will notice, I think, those nice vocal tone and rhythm changes inside his speech. I don't know his name but I recognize him from a few other occasions and I really like his work; maybe without a very fine technique, I have seen him make some mistakes and retake his work very quickly and without big problem, he is very funny and I feel he is very able to stay in contact with those terribly ignorant spectators he has every evening.

A Monkey King Moment in Beijing (2005)

China: Court theatres in the Qing Dynasty. (Part I) The Grand Stage in the Summer Palace in Beijing.

In October 2005, walking as a simple turist through the huge complex of the Summer Palace in Beijing, among its fantastic imperial buildings, I found one of the most beautiful chinese structures I’ve ever seen, the Grand Stage or Daxi lou.

I’d rather more than talk about my experience watching it, to share the information I found about it. At the end (I know it) my experience is felt with my photographs and videos.

This is the first ocassion I made use of scanned photographs besides those of my own, but it worths.

Court Theaters in the Qing Dynasty.

In the period of Emperor Kangxi, an administrative structure called the “Southern Repository” was set up to administer court theatrical performances and training, in order to serve various royal celebrations and festivals. In 1827, the Southern Repository was hanged to the Shengping Office, In the palace and royal gardens, stages were built especially for performances. All these stages boasted elegant and exquisite architectural styles. (1)


Stage complex at Tangle Garden in Old Summer Garden.


This first theatrical complex was a three-storey stage and was located at Tangle Garden in Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Garden), but was destroyed by fire. (2)






The Southern Repository Stage (3)


The Southern Repository Stage was built in the 18th century and used for rehearsals. There was an entrance and an exit at the back of the stage. The entrance resembled the gate of a temple which symbolized a general going out of the city for battle and a minister coming back to court through the temple gate. (4)
(Foto)

Stage at the Imperial Mountain Estate in Chengde

This three-storey stage was located in the Fushou Garden at the Imperial Mountain Estate, but was destroyed by fire. (5)




Deheyuan Theater in the Summer palace. The Grand Stage. (6)


Deheyuan Theater in the Summer Palace is located in Deheyuan (the Garden of Virtue and Harmony) of the Summer Palace. It was the largest theater in Qing Dynasty and it is also the best’preserved and largest-scale palace theater of ancient times in China.

Deheyuan Theater, also know as the “cradle of Beijing Opera”, was originaly built in 1891 and completed in 1895 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. It cost 700,000 taels of silver. It is a complex structure comprising a three storey building for performances and two-storey make-up building. It is a theater where Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi watched dramas. The Empress, a lover of opera, would on occasions dress as a member of the troupe, her interest in Beijing Opera promoted the development of Beijing Opera to some extent.

Video: Daxi Lou Grand Stage at Summer Palace, Beijing. 2005.

The Grand stage (Daxi lou) is 21 meters in height and 17 meters wide. It consists of three storey, each having its own entrance and exit. The top storey is called Futai, the middle Lutai and the bottom Shoutai, where differents operas and plays could be peformed at the same time (7).

The theater was designed to expand acoustic resonance and to facilitate performance of immortals and ghost dramas. The small building on The Shoutai was were the band accompanied. There were also performance props such as seven “suspending well” on the ceiling of Shoutai, one “water well” and fice ponds, spinning board, a windlass and a high-pressure water machine which made it possible to enact scenes of gods coming down to earth, apparitions fleeing underground and water spewing forth. The “immortals” could descend from above and “ghost” turn up from under the ground.

Distinguished Beijing Opera actors of the Qing Dynasty, like Yang Xiaolou (8) and Tan Xinpei (9), performed here for the Empress Dowager.

This Gran Stage (Daxi lou) inside the Summer Palace, the Free Tones Pavillion (Chang Yin Ge) inside the Forbidden City (also called "Pavillion of Cheerful Melodies"), and the Clear Voice pavillion in Chengde Summer resort, Hebei Province, were renowned as the three great stages during the Qing Dynasty (10). The Summer palace Grand Stage is the largest of all them.




(1) Page 192. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(2) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(3) I couldn’t find where this place is exactly located, Summer Palace or Forbidden City.
(4) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003
(5) Page 193. “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”. Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003. Of course this can't be the theatre we can see today in Chengde, inside the Lhasa Palace replica, even do, I have my doubts, it could have been rebuilt.
(6) Most of the information about The grand Stage in the Summer Palace come from the sight itself (Information sight); Page 194 of “Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”(Institute of Chinese Drama, China Academy of Arts. People’s Music Publishing House. Beijing, 2003); and Page 66-71 of “Classical dramas and Theaters in Beijing” (Beijing 2005)
(7) “Fortune”, “Salary” and “Longevity” stages.
(8) Yang Xiaolou (left in the picture) (1878-1938) came from an actor’s family and carried on his father’s excellence in the wusheng (warrior) role. Coached by his adopted father Tan Xinpei, yang was called the “Master of Wusheng”. (“Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”… )





(9) Native of Hubei, Tan Xinpei (1847-1917) came from an actor’s family and was first apprenticed to Cheng Changgeng. It was specialized in the laosheng (old soldier) role and is considered “the king of theatre”. His famous performances were done in two important operas: Dingjun Mountain (Dingjun shan) and Yangping Pass (Yangping Guan). He standardized the use of Hubei accent and zhongzhou intonations to form his own singing style. He created the first school for Beijing Opera, the Tan School. He and Wang Yaoqing were innovators and their innovations had vast effects on the development of Chinese drama. (“Pictorial Handbook of the History of Chinese Drama”…; “L’Opéra de Pékin. Quintessence de la culture chinoise.” By Yu Bian. Editions en Langues Étrangères. Beijing, 2005) )

(10) It is possible to visit today this three-storey stage inside an astonishing Lhasa Palace replica.

“Covarrubias in Bali” A book about a Mexican and his love for Bali’s Performing Arts.

I was amazed by this book the moment I saw it on the book-shelves at one of Bookazine’s branches in Singapore in October 2006. For some stupid reason I didn’t buy it, so every time I mentioned or recalled it, I regretted not buying it. Perhaps that wasn’t too bad, since that gave me time to learn more about Miguel Covarrubias and his work.

It was that same year, in December, that looking for English books in another of Bookazine’s branches, this time in Bangkok, Thailand, that I had the chance to see it again. Although “Covarrubias in Bali” might not be the highest quality art book in the market, specially these days when we see an improvement in the quality of art books, for any Mexican (like me) it can represent something important, and for a Mexican my age even more so, and I’ll explain why.

Most of Mexican elementary education books from the 70s were full of illustrations by Covarrubias’ hands, moreover, for many elementary students there were the well known “monografías” that everyone would buy at any stationary. Many of these “monografías” were made with Covarrubias’ illustrations: maps of the world with colourful drawings of traditions and costumes, clothing, important sights of every country, all of them done with beautiful colors and with a simplicity I could call innocent (made, after all, by a caricaturist), innocence that showed a general view of the culture, innocence that taught.

Then, when I saw this book, I didn’t see Covarrubias, I saw my childhood and a big part of my education on World Geography. I was drawn to it because of the time that had passed, because of the memories. I loved that book.

After the surprise of the first encounter I became aware of what I had in my hands, “Covarrubias in Bali”… That was the first opportunity in my life to understand more deeply the work of a man who, under the light of my crude cultural background had been nothing more than an educative illustrator. Since that instant I can see in him a great Mexican artist, a traveler, an scholar, a polyglot, a social anthropologist, and of course the illustrator and, specially for me, a researcher of performing arts.

Covarrubias traveled with his wife, the American dancer Rose Covarrubias, to the island of Bali on two occasions in the 1930s; there, they observed, studied and took notes on every aspect of the island’s performing arts in the island. Bali is a special case, an even unique one, in human history: a small portion of earth possesses such richness of theatrical manifestations such as dances for rituals and entertainment, ritual theater, opera, music, and puppet theater.

The Covarrubias couple worked during those two stays getting practical information for the promotion of Balinese culture around the world, and they succeeded in their time: many editions of sia Magazine, interviews, articles, commercial confection of Bali style clothing, world recognition of its theatrical wealth, etc. Bali arrived to forever stay in the world of the common western man (who Covarrubias always addressed) thanks to this couple and some other artists and researchers who visited this Pacific Island looking for a sanctuary away from the stressing technological and consumerist moment they lived.

The importance of this illustrative and photographic material can’t be measured. Every dance seen by them has a drawing with all the general aspects of the performance, and many others with the main poses, steps, movements; Rose took dozens of photographs of all that, and I hope, somewhere there are even films.



The Covarrubias diary and field notes become a delicacy for our eyes, thanks to the beauty of the lines and strokes, for the interpretation of movements and the specialness of the subjects.

As a Mexican I felt proud for what a compatriot did exploring strange worlds, but as a performer and a man of theater I felt deeply grateful because of the material he left for us; this book is a source he opened almost 80 years ago.

Slideshow of the book(1):



“Covarrubias in Bali”
By Adriana Williams and Ye-Chee Chong
Editions Didier Millet
Singapore 2005

(1) If the site is blocked (I live in China) you can find the video with the URL address on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkv8UDnkyeo
or in my Youtube chanel:
www.youtube.com/teatroesferico

Beijing’s Modern Puppets Company, a big disappointment.

I’ve been living in Beijing for one and a half years and during all this time I’ve tried to find a traditional big sized puppet performance, but when I asked about where to go and see it the reply I got was to go to the provinces and look for shadow theatre, not big puppets. The Chinese Puppet theatre was born in the South of China, and the place with the major tradition is Fujian Province (1); although I plan to travel to that region, I expected Beijing, as a capital city of a reborn Empire, to support (as part of its cultural plans) a National Puppet Company, or at least to give money for some performances by traditional trouppes. One day I found some big puppets on sale in Panjiayuan’s artcrafts market in Beijing, and another day in the central city of Xi’an I found another kind of big puppets, but never a performance. Should I wait for my Fujian trip or even go to Taiwan, where they say you can find the highest techniques of puppet work (2)? Maybe it’s bad luck, I thought.

It was at the beginning of this year, 2007, with the celebration of the Chinese New Year, that one Puppet Company from Beijing decided to perform one traditional piece about the Monkey King story, making use of that kind of puppets I wanted to see. The advertisements said it was a rare opportunity to be a spectator for this kind of theatre. I was very excited, of course.

Finding the theater was easy, the taxi driver knew very well where the theatre was located; it seemed to be a venue for Beijing’s children he said. Like a bad copy of a Western medieval castle, the theatre facade was not the best introduction to the spectacle; trying not to compare that with my experience at the Bunraku National Theatre in Osaka (3) and The Joe Louis Theater in Bangkok (4), I went to the pink and orange colored building and took my seat.

It was a disappointment. What I saw was a ‘modern’ attempt to imitate traditional Chinese Opera with medium sized puppets and, worst of all, a very poor technique. Yes, it sounds strange, Chinese traditional artists are known for their high technical level. Well, not here. Imitation is not creation. Children entertainment is not an Art. I have to recognize that the “puppets” were nice and attractive like many puppets are, and it was funny to see their movements, specially since I know the movements that belong to the real Beijing Opera, but nothing there was no amazing technique or work like in Japan’s Bunraku or like at the Joe Louis Theater in Bangkok.

The video tells everything, not just my words(see new addition); I hope to finish soon the editing of the visual material I have about Bunraku and Thai Puppets and to present a good point of view and of comparison between those theatres.


We do know this: Mainland China and India are the sources of Performing Arts in Asia, and China without doubt is the source of the Asiatic Puppet Theatre, but I’m sure that, now, it is companies from Japan, Indonesia and Thailand that perform with the highest technique in the world, and not mainland China anymore. Has China lost the sources of its tradition and all it has left is its Shadow Theatre in the South? After my trip to Fujian I will answer this question.


(1) About one Fujian Puppet performance:
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/205147/
(2) About a taiwanese master and its company in France:
http://www.hexagramm.fr/petitmiroir/anglais/histoire/maitre_uk.php
(3) I visited the Bunraku National Theatre in Osaka in July 2006.
(4) I visited the Joe Louis Theatre in Bangkok in December 2006.
(5) Link to my videos in Youtube recorded in Wuzhen village (close Shanghai) showing one Chinese Shadow theatre performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq4fVPPvhD8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfuyqjD1v20

ADDITION:

After one comment about the way to say my judgment over this performance, I decided to put the raw video and photographs I took that ocassion. It shows, in my point of view, in a claire look what I was talking about.

Non edited video:

(Noh Theatre) Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō: Nō appreciation event.

On Saturday July 29th 2006, in Kyoto, Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō (1) presented a special Nō appreciation event at Kanze Kaikan (Kanze theatre). It was summer and children were on holidays, it was a good opportunity to reach and to teach them how to appreciate Nō theatre in a practical way. The next day the same company would perform a full 6 hour long session of Nō and Kyogen. (2)

The program of the Saturday appreciation event read: ‘Young performers will give a demostration of Tamoe, Ikkaku sennin, and Tsuchigumo, as well an explanation on costumes and a small lesson of Nō performance.’ Tickets cost ¥1,500 (¥1000 for students). (3)
From 10:00 am to 2:00 pm entire families, in a Theatre full to capacity, amused themselves while learning about one of their most precious national treasures.
As I wasn’t able to understand Japanese I decided only to record on video some scenes of the demostration and some part of the explanations and lessons. I’ve always thought that’s the best way to share online my visit experience .

This was the event’s schedule:

9:30 Entrance.

As the organiser asked, we arrived at 9:30, yet the whole theatre was already full of people. Most of them were children but there were also old people.





10:00 Demostration of Nō plays: Tamoe, Ikkaru sennin, and Tsuchigumo.

They started on time and presented part of three plays, with explanations about movements, ways of singing and stories.

The video shows one of the Nō players performing a whole scene without a costume, which helped explain the choreography and the perfection of the details. (4)

12:00 All the next activities took place at the same time (5):

Theatre’s hall: explanation of costumes, masks and texts.

The hall was divided into four sections for the explanations: one for costumes, one for masks, and another one for texts. As all of them were done in japanese, so I decided to enter the theatre and see what was going on inside.

Theatre stage: lesson on how to wear a costume, mask, and on walking with them on.

These are extremely beautiful images of professional Nō players dressing up children with real costumes and masks and showing them the right way to walk wearing that on stage.

First floor: small lessons on singing, holding a fan, dialogue, choreography with objects, etc.

People were happy and excited waiting their turn for the small personalised lessons on singing, dance and dialogues; I say personalised, because Nō has only one way of teaching its acting: from master to student, one on one.

At that moment, Nō had become a family experience, an entertainment, and an exceptional way for one strange meeting: the common people of our age with a refined traditional performing art.

Slideshow of photographs of Costume, Masks, Fan and Recitation Workshops.

(1) Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō is the Nō company in charge of managing the Kanze theatre. As many other Japanese theatre companies its structure of power consists mainly of a big family, recognised for centuries, though today some parts of this structure have changed and some non-family members can be accepted.
(2) See post of 21th of february, 2007:
http://gthomastheatre.blogspot.com/2007/02/kanze-seinen-nekyu-n-three-n-plays-and.html
There I give detailed information about that performance, including a sinopsis, video and photographs.
(3) Of course, I didn’t translate the theatre brochure, I took one extract from a note inside an English language magazine. About the costs of tickets, I could get a student discount thanks to my chinese Qinghua university ID card.
(4) It’s a pity I lost the other part of the video where the same player shows the same movement and choreography with the whole Nō costume.
(5) That way of giving the explanation and lesson was not problematic at all, it was even exciting, as it created a brilliant work dynamic where everyone could do something, wherever you went you’d find somehting interesting to learn. It was a kind of No carnival, joyful and noisy. A fantastic experience.

(Noh Theatre) Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō: Three Nō plays and one Kyogen.

On July 30th, 2006, during my visit to Kyoto, Japan, for the first time in my life I had the chance to see one complete session of Nō and Kyogen at the Kanzai Kaikan (Kanzai Theatre). My experience seeing this kind of theatre includes two occasions at some Theatre festivals in Mexico City, where troupes from Japan performed short sessions of Nō. This time the Kanze Seinen Kenyu Nō performed for 6 hours, three Nō plays and one Kyogen piece. Among the pieces presented there was Hagoromo, or The Robe of Feathers (one of the most famous Nō plays in Japan), and a short play, Shimizu, which belongs to Kyogen, the comic part of this dramatic art.

Nō Theatre in Japan is one of the national performing arts treasures, with a long tradition and commanding high respect, and around the world this kind of Theatre is seen as one of the finest artistic manifestations of humankind. As a simple spectator of Nō, I preferred to look into scholars’ papers to explain some parts of it, to give a simple description about my experience and to share one video, some photographs and my impressions of the performance.

The session of that Sunday 30th of July at Kanzai Kaikan started at 11:00 am and finished at 5:00 pm; it was performed in this order:

1- Tamura 田村 (Nō) Author: Zeami (1).
2- Shimizu 志水 (Kyogen) I don’t know who the author is.
3- 10 minute break.
4- Hagoromo 羽衣 (Nō) Author: Zeami.
5- 10 minute break.
6- Performance of some ritual chants.
7- Ukai 鵜飼 (Nō) Author: Enami no Saemon (2).

Tickets cost ¥2500 (US$25,00) The theater was about 50% full, mostly with old people, and almost no foreigners.

1- Tamura 田村 (Nō) A priest visiting the Kiyomizu-dera hears from a boy working there how the temple was founded by Genshin under the patronage of Sakanoue no Tamura-maru, after the priest had met a manifestation of Kannon. The child points out the famous spots around the temple and then vanishes into the Tamura Hall. The priest recites the Lotus Sutra throughout the night, until the ghost of Tamura-maru appears and tells of the divine assistance he received from Kannon in his task of bringing peace to the land and driving away devils. (3)

Tamura, dance of the ghost:

2- Shimizu 志水 (Kyogen): The story of the lazy servant Tarokaja and his master. Tarokaja is told to fetch water for his Master's tea ceremony. Tarokaja shirks his duty by telling his master that he was attacked by a demon before he could fetch the water. The master goes to fetch the precious water container that Tarokaja left behind, and Tarokaja attacks him while wearing a demon mask. The master is frightened at first, but sees through the disguise when he recognizes Tarokaja's voice.

Shimizu is a comedy but it doesn’t seem anything close to it; it provoked some smiles in a few spectators, but nothing more. The history of Kyogen is absolutely interesting: its evolution from a sort of popular pantomime with simple dialogues to this cold technique and monotonic speech make me curious about how it evolved this way.

In ancient times, Kyogen was a comic, very useful play that would lighten up the heavy ritual of Nō, using words and dialogue closer to that of the common people, with simple plots and less technical movements.

Today, the Japanese spectator doesn’t understand anymore this kind of dialogues, so he needs to follow the text with a transcription and even a translation of it.

Of course, there are differences between Nō and Kyogen. If we compare the two styles of theatre I saw that day, we’ll find many differences in rhythm, tempo and technique: some moments in Shimizu could be called “surprising” and quick (when Tarokaja wears the mask and scares his master, for example). But simply put, nowadays, if we want to enjoy Kyogen as it is performed, we must have a deep understanding of this Japanese performing art.

Tarokaja scaring his master.

3- Hagoromo 羽衣 “The Robe of Feathers” (Nō): Some fishermen are walking at Matsubara on Mio Bay when one of them finds a beautiful robe hanging from the branch of a pine tree. He is about to take this home when an angel comes to claim it, explaining that is a feather robe from Heaven. This makes the fisherman determined to keep it as a national treasure, but when the angel tells him that without it she can never again ascend to Heaven he is so moved by her distress that he agrees to return it if she will dance for him. He at first refuses to give it back before she dances for fear again, but when the angel tells him that such behavior is only to be found in the ways of men, the angel puts it on and dances. Then, calling down blessings without number on the land, she disappears up to Heaven among the mists and clouds. (4)

I expected too much from this play. I had read about it and had even found the English translation of the text on internet. I wanted to see the dancing moment, in my way of picturing this spiritual style of theatre I thought an angel dancing with her feathered robe would be impressive. Hagoromo has been a success since ancient times (Zeami talks about how people liked the play), but for my uneducated eye it resulted a very slow dance and without spiritual feeling, and I couldn’t see anything special about the physical technique of playing it.

I could not take video from the play but I found a short one in Youtube, and you can picture a little bit about the performance:

Video in Youtube of "Hagoromo", a performance. (Video by Takipon)

This disappointment of mine is not only the result of an uneducated eye, I’ve seen performances for more than 25 years with depth of understanding and I’ve always thought about the ways of putting anything on stage. It’s clear that Japanese Traditional Theatre has lost something during its own evolution; reading Zeami and his contemporaries, the descriptions about how Nō was performed and the new studies analysing its history I found many interesting topics as causes of this amazing but cold theatre we see today. Oriental theatre, mainly in China and Japan, is media that plays an important political role as a recipient of its country’s culture, which means that changes in it are essentially related to mental health, patriotism and nationalism. We know that many put their hands in the conformation of its actual style and its internal political power structure, and that many were suppressed and silenced on the way; here, tradition means power.(5) The text of Zeami shows movement, scenography, even a possibility for improvisation, but that is past, and now Hagoromo is part of the Nō and Kyogen of the 21st century, part of Japan’s national treasures, and it’s performed like a jewel, technically perfect.

4- Ukai 鵜飼　(Nō): When two travelling priests meet an old cormorant fisher one of them recognises him as the man who gave him shelter two or three years ago. The old man then tells them that as he broke the strict prohibition against taking life in the nearby river by fishing there nightly with his cormorants, he has been drowned in the river as punishment. In return for the priests’ promises to pray for his soul he shows them how the fishing is done and then disappears. Nichiren (one of the priests) takes up some stones and after writing part of the Lotus Sutra on them, throws them into the river. Emma, the King of Hell, appears and tells them that although the fisherman deserves to suffer for his sins, he will send him to Paradise because of the kindness he showed the priest. (6)

This last play was a real surprise. I’d never before in my life experienced the feeling this performance gave to me: that fantastic moment when Emma, The King of Hell, dances; there was that perfect technique of voice and movements, but also very dramatic changes of rhythm. I felt a demon, its mask became a real image of Hell and its movements beat on me with energetic explosions. It’s a pity that I don’t have a visual recording of it.(6)



(1) Zeami Motokiyo or Kanze Motokiyo, c.1363–c.1443 is the father of Nō theatre, a very respected figure of Japanese culture. Actor, playwright, director and the first theorist of Japanese theatre; his texts have been studied and recognised by the most important Western and Occidental theatre theorists
(2) Enami no Saemon, actor and playwright. No further information available about him.
(3) P. 185 Tamura (Translation by Peri). “A Guide To Nō” by P.G. O’Neill. Hinoki Shoten (Publisher). Tokyo, Japan.
(4) P. 47 Hagoromo (Translation by Waley) . “A Guide To Nō” by P.G. O’Neill. Hinoki Shoten (Publisher). Tokyo, Japan.
(5) P. 203 Ukai (Translation by Waley and Renondeau). “A Guide To Nō” by P.G. O’Neill. Hinoki Shoten (Publisher). Tokyo, Japan.
(6) For Chinese theatre see: Jo Riley: “Chinese theatre and the actor in performance”. Cambridge Studies in Modern theatre. New York 2000. For Nō theatre see: Eric C. Rath: “The Ethos of Noh. Actors and their Art.” Harvard University Asia Center. Harvard, EEUU 2004; and, Kunio Komparu: “The Noh Theater. Principles and perspectives.” Floating World Editions.Tokio, Japan 2005.
(7) I could take photos and video of Tamura and one photo of Shimizu, but then someone politely told me it was forbidden.