A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer

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ISBN: 9780415378611 | 0415378613
Cover: Package
Copyright: 12/16/2005

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This the second English language edition of the classic text,A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropologysubtly juxtaposes the visual demonstrations of the performers craft, from a wealth of Oriental and Occidental sources. Whereas most Western research is concerned with naturalism and psychological realism in acting, theDictionaryfocuses on the performer's arduous and eclectic craft. More than just a dictionary, however, this is a handbook for theatre practitioners and a guide for students and scholars of transcultural performance. It is a result of ten years research conducted by Eugenio Barba and the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) based in Denmark. TheDictionary: *aims to expand our knowledge of the possibilities of the scenic body, and of the spectators response to the dynamics of performance *includes practical sections on balance, opposition and montage, among other techniques discusses issues including The Text and the Stage, The Dilated Body, andEnergetic Language *provides over 600 illustrated examples of the performers craft, in black and white and color. This new edition contains three new chapters - Exercises, Eurasian Theatre and Organic Theatre -and 20 new pictures.

Preface	p. 5
Introduction
Theatre anthropology	p. 6
Similar principles, different performances	p. 6
Lokadharmi and Natyadharmi	p. 7
Balance in action	p. 8
The dance of oppositions	p. 10
The virtue of omission	p. 12
Intermezzo	p. 14
A decided body	p. 16
A fictive body	p. 17
A million candles	p. 18
Anatomy
Can the sea rise above the mountain tops?	p. 22
Apprenticeship
Western examples	p. 24
Founding fathers and pedagogical theatre at the beginning of the twentieth century	p. 24
Creative process, theatre school and theatre culture	p. 24
Author's pedagogy	p. 26
An Indian example	p. 28
Guru as parent, honoured preceptor	p. 28
Guru-kula, study in the guru's home	p. 29
Guru-dakshina, gifts and fees	p. 30
Ekalavya, disciple extraordinaire	p. 31
Gurushishya-parampara	p. 31
Balance
Extra-daily balance	p. 32
Luxury balance	p. 32
Extra-daily technique: the search for a new posture	p. 35
Generalisations regarding balance	p. 36
Balance in action	p. 39
Steel and cotton	p. 40
Why does the performer aim for a luxury balance? What does the performer's alteration of balance mean for the spectator?	p. 43
Balance and imagination	p. 44
Brecht's unknown dance	p. 46
Dilation
The dilated body	p. 52
The bridge	p. 53
Peripeteias	p. 54
The negation principle	p. 56
To think the thought	p. 57
Twin logics	p. 58
Seven-gated Thebes	p. 59
The dilated mind	p. 62
Dramaturgy
Actions at work	p. 66
Energy
Kung-fu	p. 72
Energy and continuity	p. 74
Koshi, ki-hai, bayu	p. 75
Animus, anima	p. 76
Keras and manis	p. 81
Lasya and tandava	p. 82
Santai, the actor's three bodies	p. 86
Tame	p. 84
Energy in space and energy in time	p. 84
Braking the action	p. 88
The performer's presence	p. 92
Equivalence
The equivalence principle	p. 93
Dhanu: archery in Indian odissi dance	p. 97
How one shoots an arrow in Japanese kyogen theatre	p. 98
Shooting with a bow	p. 100
Eurasian Theatre
Eurasian theatre	p. 102
Dawn	p. 102
Eurasian theatre	p. 102
Anti-tradition	p. 102
Why	p. 103
Roots	p. 103
Village	p. 104
To interpret a text or to create a context	p. 104
Spectator	p. 104
Incomprehensions and inventions: from the Silk Road to Seki Sano	p. 106
Exercises
Score and subscore: the significance of exercise in the actor's dramaturgy	p. 112
A physical action: the smallest perceptible action	p. 112
The age of exercises	p. 112
Inner life and interpretation	p. 113
The complexity of emotion	p. 114
The real relationship	p. 116
Sport as dance	p. 116
The physical dialogue with the spectators	p. 116
The real action	p. 117
Meyerhold's theatre fission	p. 118
The exercise: a model of organic and dynamic dramaturgy	p. 120
Form, rhythm, flow	p. 120
Tacit knowledge	p. 121
Face and eyes
Physiology and codification	p. 122
The concrete gaze	p. 126
The action of seeing	p. 129
Showing that one is seeing	p. 130
The natural face	p. 134
The provisional face	p. 136
The painted face	p. 138
Feet
Microcosm, macrocosm	p. 140
On point	p. 141
Foot grammar	p. 146
Hands
Physiology and codification of the hands	p. 150
The hands: pure sound or silence	p. 151
How to invent hands in movement	p. 154
India: hands and meaning	p. 156
Hands and the Peking Opera	p. 158
Hands and Balinese dance	p. 159
Hands and the Japanese theatre	p. 160
Hands and classical dance	p. 161
Two examples from contemporary Western theatre	p. 162
Historiography
Energetic language	p. 164
Henry Irving under the microscope	p. 165
Living marble	p. 166
Underneath Harlequin's costume	p. 168
Stanislavsky's 'system'	p. 170
Stanislavsky's words	p. 170
'The simplest human condition': the organic body-mind	p. 170
The mind makes demands: perezhivanie	p. 171
The body responds appropriately: personification	p. 171
Organic body-mind, character, role	p. 172
Conditions for meaning and the pre-expressive level	p. 172
Meyerhold: the grotesque; that is, biomechanics	p. 174
A plasticity that does not correspond to the words	p. 174
The grotesque	p. 175
Biomechanics	p. 176
Montage
The performer's montage and the director's montage	p. 178
The performer's montage	p. 180
The director's montage	p. 180
Further montage by the director	p. 182
Nostalgia
Nostalgia or the passion for a return	p. 185
Omission
Fragmentation and reconstruction	p. 191
The virtue of necessity	p. 193
To perform absence	p. 194
The virtue of omission	p. 195
Opposition
The dance of oppositions	p. 196
The beauty line	p. 200
Tribhangi, or the three arches	p. 201
The shadow test	p. 204
Organicity
Organic effect	p. 206
Organicity, presence, scenic bios	p. 206
That which is organic for the actor / that which is organic for the spectator	p. 206
Natural and organic	p. 208
Organic and natural	p. 208
Performance as an organic unity	p. 208
Always nature, but a different nature	p. 209
Working languages	p. 210
Presence	p. 210
Axe, shinmyong, taksu	p. 211
Matah, mi-juku, kacha	p. 211
At work with physical actions: the double articulation	p. 212
The first articulation	p. 212
The second articulation	p. 213
General principles	p. 214
Pre-expressivity
Totality and its levels of organisation	p. 216
Inculturation and acclturation technique	p. 219
Physiology and codification	p. 221
Codification in the East and the West	p. 222
The fictive body	p. 225
Martial arts and theatricality in the East	p. 227
Martial arts and theatricality in the West	p. 230
Body architecture	p. 233
The spectator's preinterpretation	p. 234
Restoration of behaviour
Restoration of behaviour	p. 235
Bharatanatyam	p. 236
Purulia chhau	p. 237
Trance and dance in Bali	p. 239
Rhythm
Carved time	p. 241
Jo-ha-kyu	p. 243
Biological motions and the body's micro-rhythms	p. 244
Meyerhold: rhythm is essential	p. 246
Set and costume design
The costume is the set	p. 248
Daily clothing, extra-daily costume	p. 255
The water sleeves	p. 256
Technique
The notion of body techniques	p. 258
Biographical list of body techniques	p. 258
Techniques of birth and obstertrics	p. 259
Techniques of infancy: rearing and feeding the child	p. 259
Techniques of adolescence	p. 259
Techniques of adult life	p. 260
Consumption techniques	p. 262
General considerations	p. 263
The spine: energy's helm	p. 264
The silent scream	p. 266
Pragmatic laws	p. 268
Sats	p. 268
Logos and bios	p. 269
Text and stage
The culture of the text and the culture of the stage	p. 270
The sound of two hands clapping	p. 270
'Poor' text and 'rich' stage	p. 271
Dramaturgy	p. 272
Role type and character	p. 274
Training
From 'learning' to 'learning to learn'	p. 276
The myth of technique	p. 276
A decisive phase	p. 276
Total presence	p. 277
The period of vulnerability	p. 278
Training interculturally	p. 279
Training and the point of departure	p. 281
Preliminary considerations	p. 281
Exercise models	p. 281
Acrobatics	p. 282
Training with the master	p. 286
Views
The view of the performer and the view of the spectator	p. 288
Bibliography
Previous editions of this dictionary	p. 302
Collective works	p. 302
General bibliography	p. 303
Acknowledgements
ISTA: International School of Theatre Anthropology	p. 312
Invited artists	p. 312
Scientific staff and special guests	p. 313
Illustrations	p. 313
Photos	p. 313
Author Biographies	p. 314
Index	p. 315
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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