Dance, Theatre, Community, Life:
The Young Women's Ritual Theatre
By Hannah FoxPhotographs by Karen Glickman
I believe in movement and theatre, and in all forms of art, as important medicine at this time, for all of us to participate in, not just the trained and talented. In a world currently so ridden with confusion and pain, art provides an outlet of expression, a place to be creative and feel powerful as creators, a place to share our intimate selves and play together as the children do.
The Young Women's Ritual Theatre
For the last two years, I have been working intensively with a bunch of teenage girls (13-19), who write and perform theatre about their lives. We call ourselves the Young Women's Ritual Theatre. The word "ritual" in our name refers to this made space of creativity and exploration as being a rite of passage that each girl moves through as she grows into an adult. It is her feelings, questions, and visions on this journey that make up our script.
We use stream-of-consciousness journaling to first help identify which issue is pressing on us the most. After we've uncovered something, whether it's about moving out of our home away from our family for the first time, or about the pressures of school, about friendship, or about the latest clear-cut in a nearby forest, we then go after it, teasing out the excess until we have a finished written piece of prose or a poem.
Next, we decide how this piece of writing could be brought to life and expressed on the stage. Is it a monologue with just me up there? Do I want other actors with me for context and background? Which costumes and props will help embody the symbols and emotions of the text? Each girl creates her own "piece" (and some in tandem with others), in her own language and rhyme, and then we weave the pieces together into a tapestry of their collective experience.
The mission of the YWRT is three-fold: to create a rite of passage for young people in this society; to offer an artistic forum for the community to hear their voice and wisdom; and to confront our society's taboos and question what is "normal." Through this work together I have watched these young people gain a tremendous sense of themselves and give ample support to each other. I teach them as they teach me. They teach me how to be strong inside myself, how to be honest and direct with my words, how to show vulnerability, and how to collaborate. These young women are passionate and articulate as they share their personal truths. They offer us hope, and courage to do the same.
Collaboration and Community
In a world run on the fuel of competition, an aspect to the YWRT process that feels especially precious to me is the work it takes to merge our visions into a common one. We each come into rehearsals every week with our own style and opinion of how things should go, each of us holding a vision slightly different from the rest but equally valid. How can I, as the director, offer my suggestions and years of experience and, at the same time, give them plenty of room to share their own ideas and begin to practice their own leadership skills? How can the girls listen and add to the ideas of another in the circle instead of dismissing them as stupid and replacing them with their own?
These are delicate balances to find when one lives in community. But somehow in the YWRT we do it! We manage to combine our varying perspectives so that the sum is cohesive yet diverse, like a picnic feast. It has taken a lot of sweat and tears and many meetings to find this rhythm together. Our commitment to one another and to honest communication has been our fuel.
Art as Life
My definition of what art is has been changing. I don't view "art" or "artist" anymore as something specialized or only out on the fringe. My definition has become much broader. Art is a sunflower, a droplet of water balanced on the end of a leaf, an improvised song sung by a child on a walk with his grandma...art is a little yellow bird balancing on a black telephone wire, a quiet moment of understanding shared with a stranger, a red painted toe-nail.
I think of Siddha Pokhari, a tiny village tucked up into the foothills of the Himalayas, where I lived for seven months. There "art" is not defined, just lived. There is no electricity or machinery, no police force or shopping malls, no theatres or galleries...just a handful of extended families surviving together and living their lives simply. As I would sit for hours watching them plant and harvest, carry water, sew, weave, cook, build, paint bright colors onto the mud walls, joke and laugh with one another all day long I would be amazed at how beautiful they and their crafts were. Without even trying or putting labels on it, art was everywhere. I saw this native life as a peaceful and contented one, not only for the humans but also for the earth and animals around them.
The art of being present; the art of feeling content and in control of one's life; the art of loving ourselves and one another. This I feel is what my dance and drama work is about...stomping around in the mud puddles and letting ourselves be.
Hannah Fox teaches and performs dance and theatre throughout the world. She specializes in PLAYBACK THEATRE, a form of improvisational theatre based around personal stories spontaneously told by the audience. Hannah is the co-director of Eugene Playback Theatre and director of the Young Women's Ritual Theatre Co. Please contact her with comments and questions or if interested in classes and workshops. 1555 Jefferson St. (rear), Eugene, OR 97402, (541) 345-5152, or email: [email protected].
�1998 Talking Leaves
Summer/Fall 1998
Volume 8, Number 2
Art and Ecology
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