Making A Charivari

April is the cruelest month for first year students at Dell’Arte International. More tears are shed during April than at any other time of the school year. They are tears of frustration, usually followed by the tearful comment, “I’m just not funny…”

But by the final week of this five week study of Clown, the final public showing is in rehearsal and every student will have at least one brief moment of ‘funny.’

Photos: Students Rosi Hughes (England), Marie-Louise Hoog (Sweden) and Anne Waehrens (Denmark) rehearse their ride in the charivari. Ronlin Foreman gives notes to the cast. (Photos: Joan Schirle)

Clown is the last dramatic territory to be explored in the first year of DAI’s actor-training program, under the direction of Ronlin Foreman. Every bit of skill and insight developed during the previous twenty-five weeks must go into the work— movement, voice, acrobatics, dance, timing, focus, partnering, ensemble play—based in the foundation of our training: to listen, to see and respond, to find delight in the playing.

Each year’s Clown finale includes a charivari, a chaotic circus parade with music. This year’s charivari is based around a vaulting horse (built by our new Technical Director, Daniel Spencer.) Twenty-five clowns leap, dive, roll, straddle, somersault, bounce and more, in a torrent of comic acrobatics. Rehearsals are many, as timing is critical when clown bodies fly in from all directions. Enjoy this video clip, as acrobatics teacher Joe Krienke rehearses the charivari with the Class of 2010.

copyright 2010 Dell'Arte International

www.dellarte.com

Today was one of those days at Dell’Arte. . .

by Joe Krienke, Director of Admissions

Two weeks ago was the deadline for application to our MFA program and the first round deadline for application to the Professional Training Program. It turns out that we have a record number of applications for this time of the year. Today, February 1, was my deadline for sending out acceptance packets, so for the last two weeks I have been jammed reviewing audition portfolios, conducting interviews, and doing my best to get the right people in the right program.

I arrive at the office this morning with two days of work to do in less than six hours. I begin organizing piles of applicants to accept, waitlist, decline… it seems like every file has at least three actions steps before I can send letters. My list is getting longer and longer and I realize that I need my laptop which is sitting in another office, so I dash out of the door through the hallway… and I am arrested by a vibration.

I’m still for a moment and I realize it is a song, and it sounds so good that it has to be a recording… but the vibration is so resonant that it doesn’t seem possible that a recording could sizzle the air like that. I am pulled back down the hallway and up the stairs a few steps… it’s clear now that this song is being sung in the building and my skin stands up.

I’m sucked up the stairwell toward the studio and the sound is breathtaking… it stops me at the studio door- I question whether I should open it. I want to be a part of it, to witness it, but I’m afraid my selfish interruption will ruin the thing.

I dive in and there they are, the first year students in Daily Practice with our Director of Training, Ronlin Foreman. They are all standing solidly on shared ground reaching out of their backs past the walls of the studio into the world around them singing:

…wings that will take me,
where I want to go.
I’d fly from the utmost,
way out into space-
no, no, no, no, no,
there is no hiding place.

Indeed there is no place to hide and it is glorious. If only the applicants I was writing acceptance letters to could see this… they would understand.

My hand reaches for my cell phone and I am able to catch the end of the song, the tangible silence that follows, and the joyous acknowledgment of the people in the room that they have just touched something larger than any one of them and yet so basely human.

When you’re at Dell’Arte there is always potential bubbling under the surface and somehow you never know what is going to happen on any given day… when you’re going to witness something simply remarkable… when it’s going to be one of those days.

copyright 2010 Dell'Arte International

www.dellarte.com

XANTOLO

XANTOLO

An international collaboration in Bali, Indonesia

For the Huasteca people of Mexico, Xantolo is a derivation of the expression "all saints," which is what the Spaniards named the day of death.

The Mexican people transformed this manifestation into one of their most beautiful and popular festivals. During their Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) the heritage of Spanish Catholicism and the solemn ritual of their pre-Hispanic past merge into a single party in which the dead return to eat and dance with the living.

Is this a Death cult? On the contrary, it is a celebration of life ... and the masks are there to confuse Death. Therefore, in the Xantolo everyone wants to wear a mask ... to dance almost to death without ever being recognized.

That's the game-- death wants to live just for the love of being alive, and the people who play with her know they'll never die. --Alicia Martinez Alvarez

Day of the Dead masks come to Bali

Cremation ceremonies honoring the dead and marking their passage to the unseen world are a major part of the Balinese ceremonial and family life. During DAI's annual Study Abroad: Bali 2010 program, our special guest mask teacher from Mexico City, Alicia Martinez-Alvarez, has been teaching us how to dance the masks of the Day of the Dead festivals from several regions of Mexico.

PHOTO:
Alicia Martinez-Alvarez coaches the Xantolo dancers.

Alicia will offer a demonstration of Dia de los Muertos masks to the Balinese mask community on January 28.

Alicia is the director of the Laboratorio de la Mascara, a center for research into the mask; she taught in DAI’s MFA program in 2006. She has brought with her 16 traditional wooden festival masks from the regions of Mexico where Day of the Dead festivals take place. During the cultural exchange, "XANTOLO," she will speak about the Mexican death rites, show photos and videos, and dance several of the masks.

Participants in DAI's Bali program, including our DAI’s 3^rd year MFA students, will also dance these masks. Balinese mask dance as well as mask carving have been part of their program as well.

Photo: Program participant Marte Synevaag, a costume designer from Norway, dresses one of the students in festival mask.The dancers must be completely disguised, with natural materials added to their costumes as final touches.

XANTOLO is a three-way collaboration between DAI, Laboratorio de la Mascara, and Setia Darma, the House of Masks & Puppets in Mas, Gianyar, Bali Indonesia. Setia Darma is a new museum for wooden masks and puppets from around the world . At the end of the event, the 16 masks will become the first Mexican masks to join the permanent collection at Setia Darma.

The address of the House of Masks & Puppets is:

Br. Tengkulak Tengah, Kemenuh, Sukawati

Br. Tegal Bingin, Mas, Ubud

081 760 22234

Photo: Alicia adjusts costuming for one of the oldest festival masks, the Goat.

Photos: Patrick Pasquier, Joan Schirle

copyright 2010 Dell'Arte International

www.dellarte.com