An Example of Persecution Towards Aborigines Today

Australia: Racism, poverty behind explosion
THE ABORIGINAL area of Redfern near Sydney in Australia exploded in a riot last weekend after a 14 year old died. JARVIS RYAN from Socialist Worker's Australian sister organisation reports.
ON SATURDAY morning Thomas Hickey, a young Aboriginal boy, was riding his bicycle through Redfern. Somehow he fell off, was impaled on a fence and died. The exact circumstances aren't known. But rumour spread through the Aboriginal community that he had been pursued by police.
By Sunday evening there was a full-scale riot. It took nine hours before the police could get control. The police admit they have never seen anything like it. Up to 50 of them were injured. The government has tried to put it down to misunderstanding, alcohol and the very hot weather.
But Redfern was a tinderbox waiting for a spark. The death of Thomas was a catalyst for all the grievances of Aboriginal people. They suffer an 80 percent unemployment rate. They die 20 years younger compared to the rest of the population.
The rate of incarceration of Aboriginal people is incredible. There is hatred of the police. Thomas's aunt was reported in the press saying, "They are nasty. They treat our kids like dogs." Many think the very heavy police presence in the area after Thomas died was a source of the anger. Some of the Aboriginal leaders applauded the young people. Redfern is one kilometre from Sydney's central business district, the wealthiest part of Australia. You can stand and look at that while in front of you is a Third World slum.
The conditions are terrible there. But the area is synonymous with Aboriginal Australia. The people there want to stay. Redfern is part of an inner city area that is being gentrified. The government wants to sell off the public housing and "improve the social mix", which means getting rid of the poor people.
The reaction to the riot from the government and media has had to be very restrained. Sydney is this "world city" with a big problem in the middle of it. And Aboriginal people are angry at the racism they face.
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http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=686

Corones Para Los Muertos - ( A Streetcar Named Desire)

After researching this celebration that takes place in South America and that Aboriginal dancers reminded me of; I found that it was called El Dia De Los Muertos or Los Difuntos, and originated in pre-hispanic Mexico but also takes place in other South American countries such as Ecuador. The original celebration can be traced to the festivities held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli , ritually lead by the goddess Mictecacihuatl (Lady of the Dead), and dedicated to children and the dead. The rituals during this month also featured a festivity dedicated to the major Aztec war god known as Huitzilopochtli, or the sinister hummingbird; tiny, swift and jewel-like.

The festival is usually or greater importance in rural areas of Mexico, in the South of the country which has a stronger Indian influence, and before it was moved to just after Halloween by Spanish Priests, it took place in late July to early August.
What interested me was that this festival is very cheerful and exuberant, as it is used to lovingly remember one’s ancestors instead of fearing them, and from what I already know, the Aborigines also had great respect for their ancestors. Another similarity that I found was the white paint (that looked skeleton-like in Aboriginal dance and skull-like in Mexican Dia De Los Muertos costumes), their use of stilts which instantly draws your attention to them
http://www.inside-mexico.com/featuredead.htm

Here are some passages from the site's analysis of history and traditions:

“From the beginning of time, man has felt the need to explain the mystery of life and death. Many civilizations and cultures have created rituals to try and give meaning to human existence....
...To the indigenous peoples of Mexico, death was considered the passage to a new life and so the deceased were buried with many of their personal objects, which they would need in the hereafter....
...Sometimes, when people of other cultures hear for the first time about the celebration of the Day of the Dead, they mistakenly think it must be: gruesome, terrifying, scary, ugly and sad. Nothing further from the truth, Day of the Dead is a beautiful ritual in which Mexicans happily and lovingly remember their loved relatives that have died. Much like when we go to a graveyard to leave some lovely flowers on a tomb of a relative.
...Markets are filled with the cempasúchil flower; this orange marigold was the flower that the Aztecs used to remember their dead by. Its color represents the tones of earth and is used to guide the souls to their homes and altars....
...Very early in October, all over the country, bakeries offer the delicious Pan de Muerto, Day of the Dead bread, made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, orange peel, anise and yeast. The bread is adorned with strips of dough simulating bones and at the top a small round piece of dough that symbolizes teardrops. These breads are placed on the altars or ofrendas, and are also taken to the tombs in the graveyard...

The Danza de los Viejitos, Dance of the Old Men is representative dance of this region. In pre-Hispanic times this dance was performed as a ritual honoring the Sun.”

Change Is Coming

Just a quick message to say expect a lot less messages from everyday theatre lessons, but a lot more inspiration and research than before! I have been starting to try to broaden my horizon and so have been starting to read more, go to art galleries, watch documentaries and take a closer look at fashion! I'm beginning to realise that everything I experience can influence any Theatre pieces that I create- and these experiences could be anything- from a speech by a politician on the news, a song on the radio, a stroll in Dubai's old souks or a trip abroad!

To begin, here are some pictures relating to the Aboriginal workshop that have just started:

These pictures remind me of a celebration that takes place in South America and that I had heard of as a child. I can't remember exactly what the celebration is called nor what it entails, but I will definatly look it up for my next post and see what it has in common with Aboriginal dance! I'm sure it has to do with the white paint used by the dancers on these pictures and which looks almost skeleton-like at times...

Lesson 1: What do YOU know about Aborigines?

When we were asked this question, we shouted our random words like ‘didgeridoo!’, ‘painting with dots!’, ‘boomerangs!’, and even ‘kangaroos!’ We knew that really, we didn’t know much and had a lot to learn. When told we had five minutes to prepare a short presentation about what we knew about the Aboriginal people. As I saw about five people grab a piece of paper and draw what looked like the aboriginal style of painting; I decided to try and do something completely different. Because I didn’t really know much, I decided that instead of standing there and showing Mrs. Dewhurst the extent of my ignorance; I would involve the entire class in an activity so we could help each other out. Out of all the Aboriginal culture that I knew about, the one that really stood out for me was the didgeridoo. I wondered how exactly the deep, pulsating sound was produced. To me, it sounded as though the earth was humming; which gave me my idea. I went first and asked the students, one by one to start humming at different pitches and volumes; but mostly a quite low volume and pitch. As everyone joined in; the melody grew, but I did have to stop and ask them to use distinct notes; as a lot of students were humming the same note. The end result was also a vibrant, pulsating energy of sound but it wasn’t what the didgeridoo sounded like, really. Only Mrs. Dewhurst could remember and she produced the sound which sounded a little like “ouuuahhnngg,” Don’t laugh! It does sound like that but probably not the way you’re reading it.

The other students also presented what they knew, and though many of them talked about the painting and the dreaming, there were some examples that stood out; for example Dan who produced an abstract piece, using cloth, movement and space to explain how The Aboriginal people nowadays often had to take the blame for crimes that they did not commit. The piece was commendable because it was original and was another way of interpreting what Mrs. Dewhurst asked us to do, but it was rather confusing all the same as there was too much confusing movement and the actions weren’t always clear. I really liked the fact that it wasn’t the Aboriginal culture before the invasion that he was portraying but what the issues were today that they dealt with. Adrianna’s piece was also set in the present, but it was different because it was a duologue that she only said half of, letting us interpret the other half; which was very clever. She echoed the thoughts of many Australians who were unfortunately racist against those people whose land and homes they had taken away.

After our presentations, we all realized we only had the clichés in our head; that they were all one big tribe who played the didgeridoo, painted the dreaming and spoke the same language. Mrs. Dewhurst shocked us by explaining to us that before the invasion of the British, there were hundreds of different tribes who all had their separate language and customs. Some tribes did play the didgeridoo; others expressed themselves by painting or by dance. We leant mostly about the pre-invasion times, but caught a glimpse into what these people live through today. I’ll tell you more when I know more!

But I'll just have to teach you it quicky

The rest of Stanislavsky! We might continue the workshop next week for another lesson, but nothing's set in stone. Although the first part of the workshop was mainly talking, today we had a little more chance to act, which is always fabulous. Today we focused on an aspect of this method that has to do with tension. We had different levels of tension, from the most relaxed at 0 to the incredibly tense at 7. All of us were told to lie on the floor in a certain yoga position and relax each part of our body. This was stage 0. Then we were told to imagine ourselves in a certain situation ( spending a pleasant day in London with a friend), and as she told us certain things that we had to portray, for example getting ready , going out and asking for directions, our levels of tension slowly but surely had to increase. Our highest level of tension was at the Tube, when there was a bomb attack and our lives were in danger. At this point, we noticed that people showed extreme fear in various ways; some were petrified in shock and others ran around hysterically.

Next we had to do an exercise in which we were stuck in an elevator. Each character has a level of stress from one to five. My level was two, and I did my best to show the audience how relaxed i was through my unclenched body posture, slow and calm tone of voice and also the way i whistled calmly to myself. Mihika was at the other extreme; she rocked back and worth, wailing, on the edge of hysteria. The audience had to guess at which level we were at, and it was surprisingly easy. Perhaps we're just very good actors? :)
The various levels of tension make the action on stage suddenly much more realistic, as people are all different and react in different ways.
Stay unique!

Love & Sunshine

Soph

The fabulously rude play :)

Living in a muslim country, it's not often that we have the opportunity to act in racy or daring plays, so acting out the first scene of "Too Much Punch For Judy" is a great change from ecology and humanity! Not that I don't care about all of those causes, of course. It's just that it's fun to do a play that isn't about a subject that is rammed down your throat so often. Right: Too much punch for judy is actually a tragic play about a sister who drunk drives and gets into an accident that kills her sister. But as the first scene has to be a contrast to the rest of the play, the silliness must be exaggerated to the extreme. We were separated into two groups, and our directors were Meghna and Alyazia. Meghna took the male characters, and Alyazia worked on Celine and I. I enjoyed working with Alyazia because she let us act and improvise until she decided at certain points to change certain aspects, rather than telling us what to do and not letting us have any input. The only trouble that Celine and I had was that we took the text to the extreme and for the next lesson when we will work on this play, we have to tone down our movements and learn to synchronise them.
Can't wait to continue with this play!

Love & Sunshine

A happy actress!

My first shot at directing (bossing people around)!

And it was probably the most interesting lesson so far! Not only was it just us grade 12 chicas (which frankly makes me more comfortable, although that's gradually starting to change), but directing? Always wanted to give that a try, but since everyone in our class has wanted to for ages, I had to hold back to give everyone a fair chance. Until today! We continued our theme of humanity (and were told that we couldn't escape it, as it was IB theatre art's official theme for a couple of years... ) and one by one, were asked to direct!

The first director was Farah, and it was unlucky for her, because she couldn't learn from anyone's mistakes. Her vision of it was one people, one tribe all joined together in a celebration which involved different levels, tones of voice, sounds and movements. From her method of directing, we learned that directing a whole group at once turns into chaos most of the time, and it's far better to split actors into two or three groups, so that they all focus on their task rather that try to tackle all of the beasties at once (applies typically, but not only, to children). We also learnt that it was important to have a fixed idea of what you wanted in your head, but also how to communicate it properly to your actors without them getting too confused. And another thing: although some actors cannot work unless they have been given strict orders, most actors love the chance to experiment and improvise. And it's also great for directors who have run out of ideas! That's why I used some improvisation when i directed. I had a clear idea of what I wanted the actors to do, I told them exactly when to enter and when to freeze, but however I only told them a continent that they had to portray, rather than telling them what they had to say and do, because I wanted to see what they would come up with. They surprised me (in a good way), especially Alyasia the Australasian, who declared that she liked koalas, kangaroos and SEX. I think that if I have another chance to direct, I would definitely let my actors improvise.

There are three types of directors, we learnt, the dictator, the compromising director and the free for all director. The first is Hitler on a stage; not the type of director that I appreciate, but that type is sometimes necessary, for example as with actors who love following instructions but don't have much imagination. The compromising is the type that knows what they want but allows their actors to give plenty of input, so that they work together as a team, rather than director v/s actor. And the last director flirts with disaster and utter chaos by letting his actors run around like maniacs. Because most actors are a little touched in the head, otherwise they couldn't be as passionate and dedicated about their art :)

Love & Sunshine

A COMPLETE MANIAC