Group Performance Blog on In-Class activity

The in-class performance that I have enjoyed the most is the class when we performed the tomato exercise. At first our instructions were to thoroughly describe the taste, touch, smell, sound, and noise of the tomato in a paragraph written in first person. This placed the author of the text inside the story; however, as a twist in the exercise each group had to switch the point of view and the context of the story. In my group, we changed it to second person, which I believe is the hardest point of view to perform or write, in order to make the activity challenging. We also took the original text and adapted it to be performed in the context of a high school basketball star who described the girls using the same adjectives the original author used for the tomato.

In this hilarious (at least to me it was) adaptation, I experienced the inception of an original text to an adapted story. This lesson in performance was enlightening in how performance artists take a seemingly unrelated text and adapt it into something that it was not originally meant to be. The manner in which this adaptation was performed was another exercise in performance studies. With directions from Dr. Taylor, the performers should use as much space as possible and in a way that traditional readers theater performs. As a group of four, the three ladies sat in a half circle facing the audience, and I, the high school basketball star, walked around the space like I owned the place. I think that the distance between the performers maintained the audiences attention.

One unexpected event that happened during the performance, was when I started laughing. I didn't think that the way the text was being performed was particularly funny, but I started laughing anyways. This put an odd position on the other performers, because they didn't understand why I was laughing. This unexpected occurrence during the performance taught me to be more professional when performing and not to let down the other members of the group. In order to stop this from happening again, I would suggest that the performer needs to memorize his/her lines and also take the performance seriously.

Essay # 5

When we read about the early public readers, I asked what made “reader” an acceptable profession for a “lady.” After reading the Gilbert article I ask, what makes “comedian” an acceptable role for a “feminist?” What does this say about the state of gender-based prejudice in the United States today?

Comedy and feminism have not always been hand-in-hand, as Gilbert noted the early female comics regularly recited ‘I’m so ugly…’ jokes. However, in modern times, women are more able to express their inner thoughts through the medium of comedy than ever before. Comedic expression allows the female comedian to break the social boundaries that are erected and sustained outside of the performance space without the repercussions that would normally be instituted, because the humor attached to the feminist rhetoric deems the message funny and, therefore, acceptable.

Here is a video of Wanda Sykes' stand-up comedy that follows this perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8FfFwtL91Q&feature=PlayList&p=53EB3611F8F3BD32&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

A detachable vagina? Really? This humor would seem to be ridiculous anywhere else than on the stage performing in front of people who are expecting to laugh. This clip is an example as to why comedy is a great outlet for feminists, because of the surrealist thoughts, but also because a detachable vagina would be rejuvenating and enlivening in the woman by not having to worry about a male's dominance.

The way that stand-up comedy has been moving is liberating towards women and has a positive effect on how women are viewed in society today. The expression of feminist thoughts brings up new perspectives that were not present in previous time periods, because of the predominantly patriarchal societies of times past. I think that this comedy, not only makes the performer feel a 'truer' sense of self, but also emotes that sense into the audience. Through this humorous, feminist rhetoric, the audience is introduced into a new perspective that might not have been known before such performance. I believe that the more information a person has, the better of a decision they can make; and this is still applicable to comedy, because between all of the jokes about pussies and dicks, there is a belief, a thought, a vision of the future where feminist ideals won't be social taboo, but accepted as common place.

Expression and Romanticism Essay

In his article, Edwards briefly alludes to a connection between “expression” and Romanticism. What linked these two movements? What sort of view of class did each implicitly promote?

The connection between expressionism and romanticism is the suggestion that an artist protrudes during performance. The romantic aesthetics of art were in the artist’s feelings and sensations, while the expression of a piece of art could only suggest such emotions. Walter Jackson Bate claimed that “expression strives, through suggestion, to disclose what is beyond the formal quality of the object. . . The romantic employment of expression seeks to awaken an inference or feeling of the undetermined or undeclared.(1)” Through expression, an artist produced more of an organic, original, individual performance that was an expression of his/her soul.

The expression of art was something that most people agreed was best achieved through classroom teaching and public lectures. Hiram Corson’s motifs of romantic theory suggested that students study poems as complete organisms in order to cultivate the student’s imagination through the emotional associations of the poetry (2). The training of one’s soul to protrude pure, emotional expression through poetry was inherently romantic because of the transcendence of the ideal over its form.

The ability to study vocal expression inherently created a class division. Only the moderately wealthy would be able to study this, because only the moderately wealthy people found honor in the art of expression. The use of artistic expression found its niche in formal performances that limited the audience by the price of admission.

I view the art of expression in a very similar way today as when it was first realized and taught. The ability of an aspiring artist to be taught how to focus on and protrude emotional expression was and is a quality that is not available to everyone. Some in our society are just as fine not needing or wanting to know proper methods of expression, because they won’t use them. Others find these qualities necessary for public speaking events and traditional performances.

What are the sociopolitical implications for the valorization of the quality of 'grace' by the elocutionists?

Perhaps, oratorical grace was most important at the beginning of the 18th century when the church decided to train the preachers in the art of elocution, because of the criticism received from boring sermons. Ministers mastered this art by first understanding the text, and then by reading it properly in order to impart its message on his hearers. Several writers dedicated much literature to forming, classifying, and clarifying oratorical grace through elocution.
The elocutionists studied the grace of oratorical action in order to express a superior mode of behavior compared to the spontaneous quality of common speech. Gilbert Austin wrote Chironomia, a book dedicated to the art of gesture. Austin believed that "genuine oratorical grace can only be the result of refined cultivation adorning a superhero understanding, or the rare git of nature to a pure and exalted mind, expressed by the actions of a distinguished person." Austin's elitist stance on grace suggested that only the best of human race a graceful. Austin placed value in the social demeanor of an orator and to always use pure pronunciation in order not to offend an educated audience. Austin claimed that an orator is judged by others according to the excellence of graceful discourse and gesture; however, Francois Delsarte believed that the grace in men is a derivative of the body of God's grace.
Delsarte's philosophy of artistic grace and beauty was dependent on the interconnection of the mind, body, and soul. The true dramatic artist could reproduce in himself and accurately show to others every variety of character and grade of excellence through perfective trashing in bodily freedom rational insight, and an imaginative consciousness. Delsarte believed that oratorical grace is achieved by transcending the limits of a private ego and exemplify the universal form of man.
The use of grace through elocution caught my interest, because that is still pertinent in oration today. Take President Obama, for example, I firmly believe that he would not have been elected if he didn't use graceful speaking in the numerous public appearances he made on the campaign trail. Grace is a quality of speech that is forever an important issue in the art of public speaking.

Why did Renaissance writers emphasize the control of gesture so frequently?

Several Renaissance writers emphasized gesture in the delivery of public speaking, because they realized bodily movements to be effective in communicating intention, desire and emotion. The traditional Renaissance writers believed that rhetoric involved five processes: Invention, Disposition, Elocution, Memory, and Pronunciation. The first four processes dealt primarily with verbal communication, but the pronunciation of rhetoric included how to use the body when speaking. This attribute of public speaking was so important that renaissance authorities urged public speakers to observe and model their movements based on theatre actors.

A standard rule in performing gestures was that the movements must come natural and that every performer has a distinct way of gesturing. John Bulwer, a well-known Elizabethan writer, believed that the rhetorical speaker needed to evoke passion to communicate and evoke it in his audience. Following this claim, Bulwer wrote Chirologia and Chironomia, which compiled descriptions of various gestures which go back to ancient Greece and Rome with lots of illustrations showing how movements of the arm, hand, and fingers, fuse with the spoken word effectively. Bulwer cited Quintilian as the first Roman orator to compile an art out of the subject of gestures and to state that gesture must attend upon every flexion of the voice.

The control of a speaker’s gesture was very formalized. When speaking, one was only to use the right hand, because the left was a sign of inferiority or fault; but I think left handed people are smarter ;). Their reasoning was that the left hand was associated with falsehood and theft, and if a person was caught stealing, their left thumb would be branded.

As a performer, I have taken away a good amount of knowledge about how people in the Renaissance viewed public speaking and acting. They joined the two arts to create a passionate and emotional message that was very persuasive and believable. Their attention to body movements has impacted me the most, because, as I learned in Nonverbal Communication, 60-90% of all communication is nonverbal and it is the most convincing. So far the Renaissance has been my favorite historical period to research, due to their reinstitution of performance arts in the main society. What do you think about the Renaissance practices and the influence they have had on performance studies?

How did performance serve as a way of achieving and maintaining social status?

Performance in the Medieval period was mainly a communal event to glorify Jesus. An example of annually occurring performances was the Corpus Christi celebration in several English towns throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. During the day of celebration, the town would gather for a large feast, followed by a communal procession that would go through the streets. The procession consisted of several gilds each giving a performance derived from the Bible. The Corpus Christi play cycle helped to represent and define the community to the outside world, by gathering visitors and sometimes nobility.
The structure of the town was visually characterized on Corpus Christi Day. In the procession, the local gilds would go all out by lavishly decorating the wagon they would perform in front of and by wearing their nicest clothes. The gilds were divided by trade and were usually given a specific Bible story to perform that coincided with their profession. For instance, the Carpenters gild would reenact Noah and his journey in the arc. Through this string of performances on the street, the community would become aware of the gilds, and subsequently, compare the performances to distinguish the best and most prepared. The play cycle functioned in an egalitarian manner, where change and social mobility were openly accepted to give the newly appointed gilds a good chance at gaining social recognition.
The most excellent plays would bring honor and superiority to the gilds for their hard work and promote encouragement to perform the following year; however, the gilds that underperformed might not have made it back to the festival. I believe that the participants in the Corpus Christi day sought to obtain honor for their gild, but also to represent their community on a more regional scale. In this respect, the festival brought the members of an urban community together to show off for the visiting onlookers. This feeling of 'communitas' is a great way to maintain the social status.
This cult-like ritual in the Medieval times fed the soul of those who participated in the celebration, as well as influenced their social standing. I think that Corpus Christi day was kind of like the way that Americans celebrate the Super Bowl. It is a wide day of participation, where people from all over come to achieve greater social standing. The participants dress up in uniforms that promote their community and ultimately aim to make it stronger with giving the better performance. Plus, people all over the country, whether they favor a team or not, will have a huge feast just to join in on the celebration.
But, that's just me. What do you think?