On Tuesday October 3rd, we had our first Skype group discussion. Since, I didn’t know what to expect, I felt unprepared and quite nervous about it.
Once it started, we proposed different topics such as school policies, autism, ethics at work, reflecting on interviews as professionals, political influence in theatre and the differences between cultures.
While the group discussion was going on, Adesola advised us to do critical thinking. She urged us to question where our ideas came from, what ideas we took without filtering, what things we assumed and why were we influenced.
Henry’s topic “political influence in theatre” was what I found most interesting. During the conversation, I could have asked him why he felt it was political? What was the phoenix dance theatre showing? What made him look at it from that perspective etc. Instead, I agreed with him. I concurred that it is very important for us as performers to have a voice about social issues. I thought being an actor (singer and dancer as well) meant having the privilege and responsibility to remind people about the act of sympathy. Audiences watch our performances to get inspired and to see what it’s like living through another point of view.
We also talked about “Authenticity.” This means original. Knowing if something is authentic could be the way to insight on essential issues. We are living during the innovation of Technology. It became extremely easy to get informed via social media, TV, internet and newspaper. However, it is very important to be able to criticize what we hear or see in a neutral way, questioning to find out what the true issue is. That way we can develop our skills to reflect our own perspective to learn about our own character.
Dear Jae,
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that for professional reasons I couldn't be in the discussion I agree with this view. As artists, we have some kind of power not only to inspire other people but also to make them think multifaceted. Of course, it will be a fact that every single person should have their personal voice one above if this person is a performer ( actor, dancer, singer, etc. ) The condition of all these is to have the ability to filter what we hear or see and keep only the primary substance for more research and other thinking. Authenticity is everything! You have to take the right information to filter it with critical thinking and to keep it authentic. After this process, you are ready to complete your puzzle of your voice to see who you are what is your point of view and finally to be the reason that someone inspired today.
Hello Maria,
DeleteThank you for the comment. It encourages me knowing that someone else has similar thoughts and perspectives on perfomers’ voices. Yes, I am practicing critical thinking since the last group session. I am trying to filter what I hear and see. Hopefully, I can balance between false and authentic truth in order to develop my own perspective
Hi Jae,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how there are certain topics as performers we don't question anymore, as the are just things we accept and understand to be apart of our industry. I remember this topic first being brought up to me in my first year at college - we were given a theoretical task to write an essay response to 'Does life imitate art or does art imitate life'. How politics influences arts came into question during that session, as did how art has influenced politics, as at the time the Obergefell v. Hodges case was happening. We started connecting and arguing how art had possibly changed political and societal views on homosexuality and made it more 'acceptable'.
Just thought I'd share that, as unfortunately I was unable to attend the session too but I'd have loved to be apart of the discussion - I'm doing the 12:30 session today if you are too?
Matthew
Hello Matthew,
DeleteThank you for sharing your experience and mentioning the Obergefell v. Hodges case. I was interested in your example, I looked up the court case to understand what you wrote. I started to understand more about homosexuality and accepted them after getting to know them personally during my time in college. I agree with the views that they influenced social views positively on homosexuality. They usually have very unique and open-minded perspective towards arts and have contributed to the development of the arts industry.
Sorry. I saw the comments right after the 5pm session. Hope to talk to you during the next group discussion ;)
Jae