Volume 2 Number 9


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Hi Folks,

Kim's Drama Blog  

Do you ever find that time just seems to get away from you?   I can't recall the last time I wrote this newsletter - I'm guessing it must have been about 3 weeks ago.  SO what have I been up to in that time?  

Well, yesterday, March 20, I delivered a keynote speech to the Educational Computing Association SIGFest after I'd been invited to do so by Mark Weber.  I created a presentation entitled "Arts and Technology: A Creative Alliance" (visit the Numbat Conspiracy Moodle and look for the SIGFest course to see more material on this) that looked at the idea of embracing Risk, Uncertainty and Ambiguity.  The presentation expanded on some ideas I'd written recently for the ECAWA journal "Login" - see their website for the article "Interfacing Drama, the Arts and ICT" [.pdf]  From the feedback I got afterwards it appears to have struck a chord, although a few people said it scared them!  Although there do seem to have been some benefits for me in that I seem to have a couple of speaking gigs in schools.

The week has been incredibly busy - I have Year 11 and 12 in production for a range of pieces...  and my Year 10 class are in the process of creating the necessary resources for mask making - the combination of casting plaster and 26 teenagers makes for high anxiety... and a lot of mess... 

Last weekend I wasn't able to write the newsletter as I was away at the Adelaide Arts Festival and Fringe.  I had a great time.  I went to see Forced Entertainment's "On the One Thousandth Night", an exercise in durational theatre.  And despite any description sounding like the actors did nothing for 6 hours I found it totally inspiring and engaging.  I think Forced's own website description sums it up best...

A story is told, made up live, dragged from memory by a line of eight performers dressed as Kings and Queens, wearing cheap red cloaks and cardboard crowns. It is a long, mutating and endlessly self-canceling story. It is a story which somehow, in its many dips and turns, seems to include many—if not all—of the stories in the world. Moving from the extraordinary to the banal, it mixes everything from film plots, religious stories, children's stories, traditional tales, jokes and modern myths, to scary stories, love stories and sex stories.

Interestingly, as I sat down at the theatre (Royalty in Angas St) I noticed that the row in front was made up of people from Perth theatre - Peter Grant, Monica Main and others associated with Artrage, Rechabites Hall and the Blue  Room.  It made for a fun night out as we progressed to "Higher Ground" a new club venue in Pulteney St Adelaide.  Sitting alongside and around me were a range of people from theatre and academia from around Australia - Hi to Jana from Nepean!

The next day I was able to head off to the Art Gallery and see the PhotoMedia exhibition - which contained some really thought provoking material.  I also managed to go gift shopping for a friend of mine.

The past fortnight has also seen me finding my tickets to Canada for the IDEA World Congress - I'm now certain to be there!!  I'm also gonna be in New York from July 10-13 - so if anyone has a spare room or wants to catch up for a cup of coffee I'd love to hear from you.  I hope I'm going to be meeting a long time correspondent, playwright "Spence Porter", and perhaps catching up with a few other friends and hopefully the crowd at NYU (Philip Taylor, I'm looking at you when I say that!)  It also looks like I'm going to be in Hong Kong from July 13-19 - so once again if there is anyone wanting to catch up for a meeting, a show or a meal... just let me know... I'll be staying at at a friend's apartment in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island.

Teaching teachers is still proving interesting and engaging...  I had a lesson that went off the rails last week - a process drama about the early settlement of Perth in Western Australia...  a great reminder of the risk that exists in Drama.  The students are still keen to see where the process takes us and were able to model from my teaching that when things go wrong - simply own up and recover.

I also went to see the Performing Arts Perspectives a couple of weeks ago - the performers were fantastic, but I really think some teachers who took along students to watch need to drill there classes in etiquette in the theatre - I was ready to leap over the railing and throttle a couple of young people who were so caught up in their own shenanigans that they were oblivious to the disruption and distraction they were causing.  The young ushers at the venue also seemed unwilling to actually put their foot down and stop the offending students from re-entering after the 8th time!!  

I was supposed to get to the launch of Buzz Dance Theatre's new show last night - but the SIGFest saw me getting home very late and tired and 

LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA

This is a very simple idea and can be adapted in many ways.  The basic version is that one student tells a story to a group using only gibberish.  To begin with I use well known fairy tales.  My variation is that when someone in the audience thinks they recognise the story, they get up, tap the storyteller and take over... also in gibberish.  It doesn't matter if the story is the same or not... if the person is wrong the process continues anyway - it is not a competitive game or one that is really concerned with being right or wrong... it is about developing communication skills.

Students could also tell personal real stories and the audience needs to ask questions in order to clarify the details of the story - all storyteller responses are in gibberish.

I had my pre-service teachers take this into another activity where they had to use available materials to build an imaginary space (they had access to blocks, pillows, chairs, etc) and they could only communicate in gibberish... interesting to see how dramatic skills soon emerge.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

Most of the websites I refer to this week have been used in preparing my keynote for the ECAWA SIGFest.

PROFESSIONAL NEWS

PLEASE ADVISE OF ANY UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES AND I WILL LIST THEM HERE

13th - 17th April 2004
University of Canterbury

This innovative, international Conference sets out to provide an important forum for drama educators, researchers and practitioners to come together and consider drama practice in relation to recent brain research and thinking for learning. This Conference will be of interest to not only drama educators but to all educators with an interest in actively developing a pedagogical and aesthetic understanding of drama.

From Michael Anderson:  " let you know about a symposium to be held at the University of Sydney on the 21st and 22nd of May 2004. The symposium called Dialogues and Differences in Arts Education will feature workshops and papers on the connections and linkages between art forms and discuss notions of integration in arts education research and practice. We are excited to announce that Associate Professor Judith McLean has agreed to be one of the keynote presenters. If you are able we would love you to attend and present a workshop or a paper. The call for papers and registration information is contained in the attached flyer which is in PDF format. If you cannot access this attachment please refer to the website www.edfac.usyd.edu.au/profdev ."

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Bodied Spaces: Phenomenology & Performance in Contemporary Drama
Garner, Stanton ··· Softcover ··· Qty Avail: 1
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Ibsen's Drama: Right Action and Tragic Joy
Theoharis, Theoharis C. ··· Softcover ··· Qty Avail: 1
Our Price: $5.99 ··· You Save: $15.96 (73%)
Japanese No Dramas
Tyler, Royall ··· Softcover ··· Qty Avail: 1
Our Price: $6.99 ··· You Save: $7.96 (54%)
Modern Theories of Drama

Brandt, George W. (Edt) ··· Hardcover ··· Qty Avail: 3
Our Price: $39.99 ··· You Save: $50.01 (56%)

 

Kim Flintoff

Copyright © September, 2004

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