Hokay so. In honor of the wonderfully cultural weekend and awesome rehearsal that I had today, I’m going to dedicate a post to art…and dance…and creative loveliness. (And the fact that I took a really nifty picture in Cuba which bears the same message as the title to this post). Here’s to living with lovely art around us always.
Last night some friends and I went to Teatro Ciego’s La Isla Desierta at Ciudad Cultural Konex. Konex (also the home of the awesome drumming extravaganza La Boma del Tiempo put on by mastermind Santiago Vasquez) is one of my all time favorite Cultural Centers and general art spaces here in Buenos Aires. Teatro Ciego, literally “Blind Theater” is a theater company that works by using all senses except for sight. They play on smell, feelings of physical proximity to where the action is taking place in the space, audio techniques, etc., to make audience members feel as though they are inside the theater production…with out the aid of your eyes. The sensation it created was extremely unique and very new to me, and I imagine to many of the other first time patrons…it would also be a lie to say that I wasn’t frightened or uncomfortable at some point.
The show started even before it started. The actors, clad in all black clothing and dark shades, came up and heckled us briefly for our three minutes of tardiness and thus being the last ones to enter the…area, we’ll say. We were instructed to grab the shoulders of the person in front of us, and we were slowly led into an area. The space was in a dark, completely unlit corner of the large Konex grounds and thus was fairly dark from the get go, but as we walked further into this unknown room/space type thing, it got darker and darker until you literally felt you were blind. The transition was bizarre…slightly claustrophobic at the beginning, but then I settled in (despite the horribly uncomfortable chairs). At various points through the 1.5 hour production I purposefully closed my eyes, thinking to myself that it felt like harder work to keep my eyes open when there was nothing to see. More times than not, I found myself distracted by the knowledge of the actors behind, beside or in front of me, attempting to visualize their movements despite my lack of sight, so much so that I completely lost track of the plot line. (Though I would like to consider myself nearly fluent, I’m sure a factor of my space outs came from the language factor as well). The show (which I believe was an adaption of a work of famous Argie writer Roberto Artl’s) continued until, right when I began to get a little bored (and extremely hungry) the story came to a somewhat cyclical close. A bandoneon began to sing a melancholy tune and a few lights turned on at the back of a rectangular shaped theater, revealing the rest of the audience and the actors, who were lined up at the very back of the space. The entire audience on my side then participated in what resembled a bunch of those bobbly-head things that you find in the front of cabs (you know, the bobbly heads? that are always creepy dogs with absurdly pink cheeks or some variation there-of?) as we all fought for a good view of the actors. The tango ended and the whole group walked through the audience to the other side, took another bow, and exited. All in all it was a good show and an incredibly interesting way to incorporate the other senses into the theater experience in a very non-traditional way.
In other arts news, today’s rehearsal was wonderful and the perfect dose of inspiration. Our show has dates! We are going to be performing every Sunday evening at the Teatro Los Angeles on Corrientes…the show itself is a bit more off than other big shows further down on Corrientes, but I’m really stoked with the way things have been going, on excited to see how things are going to turn out. One of the main producers behind the entire gig came to rehearsal today and we did a full run through (“full” meaning the entirety of what we’ve already learned, about two thirds of the show) for him. After some supportive words he told us that (drumrooollll) all cast members are going to have a book made…for free! A professional photographer is coming the 25th (which is a holiday here) to do individual books for each one of us, which is awesome news for me. And hopefully there will be other shows and smaller performances/demonstrations to be had with the them in the future. Not going to let my thoughts run away too far, but wouldn’t it be amazing if I actually got a few shows here…dance ones AND musicals and what not? Gah…a girl’s got to dream.
Alas, all of this talk of dreaming is my cue to go to bed. I’m starting dance classes at a new studio (with my rehearsal director/master mind behind the show) this week, as well as photography classes on Friday. Very excited about both of them, so I’ll definitely have more news on that. Bueno amigos…hasta la proxima…que tengan una buena noche!
I love the photos you are putting up on this blog! can’t wait for the photo class. My serving job starts on the 24th so wish me luck that I get mondo tips and can get camera of my own ( because we know my freelancing is prolific enough to get me one).