Following are excerpts from the actors’ and choreographer’s responses to their Chinese theatre workshop experiences.

 

This week’s schedule includes the first reading of the entire script.  Also we are going to start to work on costumes.  Check back here for an update in another week or so and we’ll tell you how it’s going.

 

TOM:

The workshops with Yuhang were fascinating for me, who has had decades of Western movement styles (ballet, jazz, mime) programmed into my muscle memory. Some concepts, like the masculine & feminine movements were a good fit, and others (especially hand positions) I found very challenging.

 

Having to sleep with a pillow under my knees two nights in a row after our first movement workshop…Dongshin told us that we would have to do so because our quad and calf muscles would be sore, but I didn’t think that mine would actually be as sore as he said they would be!  I mean, I am a certified aerobics instructor…I take dance classes three to four times a week, and run twice a week, and sub step-aerobics classes on top of that…but still, I got extremely sore from our movements just like he said I would.  

 

PAUL:

Having never studied dance far less traditional Chinese dance, it was challenge at times to grasp the movement, but very rewarding when you did. The attention to detail is extraordinary, a facet that I would like to pay even more attention to in my acting.  The movement is highly stylized and I am eager to explore how the cast & crew will blend Chinese dance and movement within a Greek tragedy written by a French playwright...LOL, as the workshops have already proven it will be loads of fun!

 

 

TOM (again):

I hope the audience is aware of NOTHING of the techniques that we may use in performance. I want them to be so involved in the story that we tell that they don't have time to think of the tools we use to tell that story.

 

SUSIE:

The "wiping away the tears" movement resonates with me
because it reveals vulnerable and private moments. The workshops challenged us to be precise in every gesture. Ultimately the distinctions between the movements render an understanding of important thoughts, secrets, emotions and actions. I hope the audience will enjoy the intimacy shared in our passions (the flirtatious maiden's walk), anxiety (the heart thumping movement), losses (the
falling flowers gestures) and sorrows (the wiping away the tears movement).

 

CARA (again):

On the surface the Chinese movements that we learned seemed uncomplicated and somewhat easy, but when executed I found them to be very difficult.  I learned that the objective of these movements is to make them appear simple—a hard thing to do when each type of movement has such specific components to them.  I see now why people train their whole life for one role in Chinese Theatre; even if one is able to accurately execute the movement, it is the little nuisances within each movement that ultimately makes each movement so powerful.