teodorastaicu

[teodorastaicu]

Bibliography

Carciumaru, Marin et al. (2017) ‘Amber Deposits in Romania, with Particular Emphasis on Those Located on the Eastern Side of the Carpathians (Bibliographical Considerations and a few Field Investigations.’ Annales d’Universite “Valahia” Targoviste. Section d’Archelogie et d’Histoire, 19, pp. 33-56. [Online] [Accessed on 4th September 2023] https://www.persee.fr/doc/valah_1584-1855_2017_num_19_1_1205

Costin, Claudia (2018) Folkloric Aspects of the Romanian Imaginary and Myth. 1st ed., Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Haja, Gabriela (1999-2001) ‘MANIFESTĂRI TEATRALE FOLCLORICE: ORIGINE ȘI EVOLUȚIE.’ Anuar de lingvistică și istorie literară, Tom XXXIX – XLI ⸱ 1999-2001, pp. 175 – 188. [Online] [Accessed on 31st May 2023] http://alil.academiaromana-is.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MANIFEST%C4%82RI-TEATRALE-FOLCLORICE.pdf

Maci, Mihai (2021) Diferența o va face cultura. Despre limitele dezvoltării orașelor. contributors.ro. [Online] [Accessed on 30th May 2023] https://www.contributors.ro/diferenta-o-va-face-cultura-despre-limitele-dezvoltarii-oraselor/

Mihai, Daniel (2016) CIULEANDRA – TRADIȚIE ȘI ETIMOLOGIE. CRITERIULNATIONAL. [Online] [Accessed on 1st June 2023] https://www.criteriul.ro/ciuleandra-traditie-si-etimologie/

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (2022) The Age of Humans: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Anthropocene. [Online][Accessed on 4th September 2023] https://humanorigins.si.edu/research/age-humans-evolutionary-perspectives-anthropocene

Urdea, Alexandra (2018) From Storeroom to Stage. New York: Berghahn Books.

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Reflection on final performance

I was a little dissatisfied with the final performance. I realized that I should’ve allocated more time in the studio as the scores I created weren’t embodied enough and when I performed with an audience those scores were forgotten. The same happened when I played the guitar. I rehearsed a specific guitar song, related to a traditional Romanian song, but through all the tech-runs before the final performance I kept making mistakes. To be safe, I chose to use a song I’ve known for a very long time, on the performance night I just couldn’t remember it and I felt my mind being stuck. I resolved this by continuing the performance, but I felt disappointed with myself for not being able to play the guitar as intended.

This is a project that has a lot of potential in transmitting a message about the environmental crisis we face more and more each year. I believe that with some updates to the presentation section of the performance this can entertain the public in a more compelling way. For future performances I will change the more theoretical parts of the presentation with environmental facts. Some information about the creatures was revealed but only when speaking the text in Romanian. I was suggested to create a third character, that acts as a mediator between the geologist and the creature and provides more information about the myth of the creature. This is an idea I consider as I think it will ameliorate the confusion for those unfamiliar with Romanian customs and the language.

I was satisfied with the engagement the audience had in the beginning of the performance when they reacted in a positive way by laughing, engaging in giving answers to a question I asked, and joining me on stage. As the performance progressed, I became self-conscious, and I couldn’t create the same engagement with the audience as before. For future performances my aim is to embody better the scores I created and apply them to my characters in a cold and systematic way, so I don’t solely rely on my memory. There were several moments when the characters were lost so I rushed through the last section of the performance. When talking about the set and technical aspects, I am happy with the images I created. I would choose different light ques as I feel some sections were too well lit and now, I prefer the stage to be darker. My favorite image was when all reading cards were scattered around the stage and on the astroturf, creating a field full of litter.

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Programme

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Script

The performance uses verbatim extractions from the article Amber Deposits in Romania, with Particular Emphasis on Those Located on the Eastern Side of the Carpathians (Bibliographical Considerations and a few Field Investigations) by Carciumaru, M. et al., extractions from the Geological Survey Ireland website and the online article The Age of Humans: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Anthropocene. The duality of the geologist and the creature that takes over is an analogy I tried to create for the natural/animalic instincts that lie in humans. It is also an analogy for the way we portray ourselves in the public vs the private space. It is interesting to notice this general drift from nature humans have. Humans keep disregarding nature in their evolutionary path, and the environment is seen as only a place for exploitation. I believe humans can co-exist without disturbing nature or mistreating it, but ways of living and monetary interests lead our species to be the main cause for the environmental crisis the Earth suffers.

The title 'Them' is used as a translation of 'ele'. 'Ele' and 'iele' have the same phonetical pronunciation in Romanian, only differing in spelling. 'Ele' (them) is the plural pronoun when referring to a group of women. 'Iele' is one of the many words used interchangeably for the mythical creatures of Sanziene.

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Video used for main projections

https://stummuac-my.sharepoint.com/personal/22558085_stu_mmu_ac_uk/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2F22558085%5Fstu%5Fmmu%5Fac%5Fuk%2FDocuments%2Fnaturesequencevid%2Emp4&referrer=OneDriveForBusiness&referrerScenario=OpenFile

This is a link to the video I used for the main projection. It is composed of several videos to create a sequence that accompanies the performance.

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The PowerPoint presentation slides

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Audio soundscape

https://stummuac-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/22558085_stu_mmu_ac_uk/EvSTSSOcBRhPiz8KuuPzSfgBwM5LidmIejrq4ESOzf4lKA

Please follow the link to access the audio files and the raw unedited audio. I created a simple soundscape to play during the presentation sections of the performance. The audio consists of recordings of birds and an extractor fan. I used the extractor fan recording to signify the exposure people have with pollution, be it audio or environmental. The sound of the extractor fan becomes unnoticeable to me when I am cooking, but as soon as I turn it off I can feel my body getting more relaxed. The birds were recorded in a green area close to where I live. Even if I was surrounded by nature I still couldn't escape the sound pollution cars produce. If the raw audio files are listened to, in the background an engine could be heard sometimes in the files containing birds in the title.

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This video was used toward the end of my performance when the presentation talks about the dangers of cyanide use in the mining industry. The last picture in the video stays on while I deliver information about the human interventions that change the environment. These actions led scientists to start considering the beginning of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, but this topic is still being debated.

Video created out of pictures portraying the damages the mining industry created in Romanian natural environments. The images portray the cyanide spillage in Baia Mare, the Certej disaster (where 89 people died when the tailing dam collapsed flooding the neighboring village), pictures from Rosia Poieni mine that completely changed the landscape, picture from Geamana lake (a flooded village transformed in a dumping lake). The public eye was very active to blame the Romanian government for these incidents when protesting for the preservation of Rosia Montana before the mining complex became part of the Unesco World Heritage Convention in 2021. Rosia Montana was a hot topic to stop cyanide use in gold mining. Since the area became protected, no ecological actions for repairing the damages took place.

More information can be found at the following links:

Rosia Montana: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1552/

The cyanide spillage in Baia Mare: https://reliefweb.int/report/hungary/baia-mare-gold-mine-cyanide-spill-causes-impacts-and-liability

The Certej disaster: https://2celsius.org/media/42-years-since-the-accident-at-the-gold-mine-in-certej-romania/

Rosia Poieni copper mine: https://www.systext.org/node/697

Geamana lake: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/geamana-romania

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Set Design

The set was meant to imitate the feeling of being in nature. With projections on all sides of the room. Initially the audience walks in a room set up for a lecture/presentation and as the performance progresses the space becomes more and more immersive. The seating arrangement was constructed to create a semi-circle out of chairs for the audience to sit in.

The idea was to start with a PowerPoint presentation, having a white projection screen upstage, for the slides to be projected on it. Progressing through the presentation, a video portraying nature gets projected stage-left and stage-right on big white cloths. In the end the video was projected on black curtains, distorting the images from the video, giving it an eerie look. Midway through the performance a white sheet is dropped behind the audience and the same nature video is projected onto it. This idea was to create a fake environment and imitate nature. During the development of the piece, I found astroturf that conveyed the same message as the nature projections: nothing can imitate the feeling of being in nature. The astroturf was placed by the projection screen situated upstage. During the performance the set shifts from the starting point, where blankets and pillows were brought on stage and the audience encouraged to sit on them. This was an attempt to imitate a picnic setting. Sticks were brought on the stage, placed in a semicircle opposite the audience to create a closed circle. The idea of closing the circle came from the folkloric belief that, the mythological creatures ‘Sanziene’ leave behind circles of flowers, mushrooms, and burnt grass in the places they danced. Throughout the performance reading cards are spread on the stage as the presentation progresses, creating an image of paper scattered on (fake) grass. An image not far from reality when a lot of people tend to dispose of their rubbish in nature.

An advantage I had was performing in room 104 in the Grosvenor East building part of Manchester School of Art. The room had the possibility to lift its blinds electronically, revealing through its windows the landscape of Manchester city. This was the conclusion of my performance where the blinds lifted to reveal the outside modernized world.

[teodorastaicu]

ActHow festival 11th of August - 3rd of September

Between the 11th of August and 5th of September I was in Denmark taking part in the ActHow festival organized by Nordisk TeaterLaboratorium in Holstebro. Over the three weeks, workshops with different training techniques helped the participants to create several short performances directed by the theatre’s actors. The participants were asked beforehand to read Henrik Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt and select lines from it. This was the basis for some laboratory theatre exercises and used in the performances. Participants were also encouraged to bring songs of their own liking, preferably from their home-countries. I chose to present to the group a Romanian song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtj3_ZTwHwo where women from the village comfort another whose partner chose to marry somebody else, showing their support for her and blaming the ex-partner. Other participants chose songs from their cultures Danish, Italian, Mexican, Chilean, Russian, and Greek. The participants also got the chance to attend several performances: ‘Flowers for Torgeir’ (performed by Roberta Carreri), ‘White as Jasmin’ (performed by Iben Nagel Rasmussen), a visit for barter by African Footprint, ‘Danske sange I Flamenco Kjole’ (performed by Kai Bredholt and Erica Sanchez), ‘Babel Babel Babel’ (performed by Søs Banke). As well as witness and offer feedback for some ‘work in progress’ sessions: ‘The way out/L’uscita’ (performed by Karin Ahlström and Francesca Tesoniero, advised by Valerio Peroni), ‘The Fool in the Full Moon’ (performed by Donald Kitt, directed by Iben Nagel Rasmussen), and ‘Cupid’ (performed by Pablo Lara-Garcia and Gracia Rios Calderon, advised by Alice Occhiali). Another work in progress was scheduled to be shown but the actor underwent surgery before the beginning of the festival. In a laboratory theatre spirit, two work demonstrations were shared with the participants. ‘Traces in the Snow’ is one that is presenting the physical training of Roberta Carreri and the participants only visualized it in a film format as the actress cannot longer perform some of the exercises due to arthritis. The second was, ‘Nora’s way’, where Roberta Carreri held a live demonstration of how she integrates scores in her performances and how she creates scenic material based on text.

During the first week, the first group of actors that coordinated the training were Roberta Carreri and Alice Occhiali, while the morning warm-up was conducted by Karin Ahlström and Francesca Tesoniero. During the first week Roberta Carreri conducted the workshop focusing on the actors’ physical training working on presence. Some exercises focused on the individual presence of an actor while some exercises worked on the awareness of the actor working with the space and creating relations with others. During the training Alice Occhiali observed what moments can be used for a short scene montage that was created during the Friday of the 1st week. The montage was based on the wedding happening in the beginning of ‘Peer Gynt’.

The beginning of the festival hosted an introduction where everyone from participants to the NTL actors got to introduce themselves and their practice. Over the course of the week the participants attended an introduction about the INUNA podcast hosted by the theatre including a visit to the recording studio where the podcast takes shape. The participants experienced what it’s like to record in a recording studio and what is like to record a radio podcast. They also attended a meeting with all the theatre staff that take care of the administration of the theatre and the technical staff. A group talk was hosted by Ranva Marie Birger Hagen talking about archiving and the way each of the participants takes notes. Ranva also hosted an open discussion with Roberta that has a very thorough approach to notetaking and is very particular in keeping work and performance development journals. Ranva conducted a conversation with Kai Bredholt about barters and oral history. Kai presented to the participants the possibility of barters and how they can be used as tools to exchange knowledge as well as create performances out of what is available. Kai even created a theatre space out of haystacks in the Danish village he’s living in.

The second’s week morning training and creative development was conducted by Zuzana Ďuríková, while Donald Kitt taught the participants how to work with a stick, guiding them in experimenting and creating a relationship with a scenic object. The common thread throughout the weeks was the scenic presence of the actor and the relation on stage with the other participants. Always working with the intention coming from the core and maintaining its engagement. Focusing on thinking through the body and allowing it to make decisions without the mind’s involvement. As the week prior, Friday was allocated to developing a short performance based on a scene from Peer Gynt that would be attended by the theatre’s staff. Zuzana Ďuríková oversaw directing us based on scenic material that arose during the second week’s training sessions.

On a more theoretical basis the participants attended a discussion with Per Kap Bech Jensen (director) and Barbara Manighetti (administrative director) about fundraising applications and what it means to run a theatre in an administrative manner. A presentation about street performances was held by Donald where he explained the approach for this type of performances. He explained how the outside space should be used for the performance’s advantage and how the best approach for the actor is to be as big and simple as possible.

The third week’s training was conducted by Valerio Peroni while Matias Contreras accompanied him with live music on two electric guitars. The training exercises focused on different parts of the body and consisted of a variety of exercises focusing on presence and energy. Kai and Matias were in charged on the creative aspect of the week and focused on music. Under their guidance, the participants got to create short scenic pieces where they were either performing or singing. On Saturday, Søs Banke merged the short performances created in the previous week and the short scenes together, while Karin and Valerio also gave their creative input. This final performance was accompanied by the presence of NTL actors (Roberta Carreri, Kai Bredholt, Francesca Tesoniero, Matias Contreras, and Alice Occhiali) and their scores. This led to a final performance being created where the participants alongside the NTL actors performed in front of a small audience.

The final week hosted a presentation about sound, light and scenography introduced by Fausto Pro and Paul Hales. The presentation was based on describing technical aspects of several productions created by Odin Teatret and NTL. Another open conversation was hosted by Ranva where Alice and Valerio talked about their pedagogical group Vali Theatre Lab. Their group focuses on holding pedagogical performances and workshops aimed at different audiences from preschoolers to team-building groups.

I enjoyed being directed and collaborating in such a manner. This type of interweaving performing, and live music inspired me to adopt the approach in my own performances. I felt that my opinions were valued when other practitioners looked for feedback during the development process of their performance. I thoroughly enjoyed the training and seeing how material can arise from it. Laboratory theatre focuses on generating scores through training that can later be used in a performance context. Participating in such a festival helped my possibilities of networking with the other participants and maintaining connections with a well-established theatre.

[teodorastaicu]

Songs

I made use of traditional Romanian songs in my piece specifically those from the North-East region of the country. The songs are used around the holiday celebrating 'Sanziene' that also celebrates the summer solstice. Some of these specific songs are sang solely by women, describing the customs they have around the holiday. They are sang for good luck in getting married.

For the guitar songs, I wanted to use a traditional song adapted for the guitar. According to Costin, C. in Folkloric Aspect of the Romanian Imaginary and Myth, a belief people had was to bury an instrument at a crossroad and wait for three days then take it out the ground and be able to play it to perfection. During those three days the 'Sanziene' entities would appear and dance with the instrument in the sky giving it magical properties. This ritual prompted me to make use of playing the guitar and integrate the instrument in my performance. 'Hora' is a traditional dance and it used to be a social gathering for village people every Sunday. Now the dance is limited to celebrations and the Sunday gatherings stopped happening almost everywhere in the country.

The outlawry song (Haiduceasca) is also used as background music during the performance. It has it's origins in the North-East area and is sang through a wood pipe, predominantly by shepherds.

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Workshop with ‘The bridge of winds’ at Teatro Koreja (Lecce, Italy)

I attend a workshop with 'The bridge of winds' group founded by Iben Nagel Rasmussen. The workshop took place between the 8th and 13th of June.

The 6-days workshop was built as such: 10:00-12:30 physical work & voice work; 12:30-14:00 break; 14:00-17:00 witnessing ‘The bridge of winds’ rehearsals and later working with Iben Nagel Rasmussen on scores; 18:30 film. Most of the days were built as such but on the second day we attended a talk with Nicola Savarese (writer) and Silvia Ricciardelli (artistic director of Teatro Koreja). On the last day the participants of the workshop showed the group the work they have done so far, and the scores created with Iben; they also attended the concert performed by the group and the performance of ‘Ur-Nat’.

The wind dance: I have learned the wind dance from Adriana La Selva who taught me it when I did a university placement at Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium in February 2023. This helped me build a foundation for the exercise that I further built on during the workshop. The exercise is developed on a waltz, the count is 3. Starting on the right foot, sole fully on the ground, with knees slightly bent a slight jump on the tip of the left foot followed immediately by the tip of the right foot and finally landing on the sole of the left foot. This is repeated all over again, following the rhythm and not rushing. Legs should never cross, and feet should never be on the floor at the same time. The action comes from the center, from the pelvis region. I interpret it as the legs being simple instruments to catch the fall where the center dictates the direction and intention of moving through space. When reaching a certain familiarity with the exercise I realized that the direction of the movement can be changed easily. To the base of the wind dance different actions can be integrated: opening, closing, stopping, pulling, pushing, destroying, creating, kicking, defending, attacking. These qualities can be performed with different parts of the body besides arms or feet (for kicking) like eyes, head, spine, pelvis, shoulders, and feet (applied to the other actions described above). This exercise helps me gain fluidity in my actions and not focus mentally on what I will do next. It allows me to create relationships with the space and those around me, if present. It is a soliciting exercise that unleashes an energy that permits the body to think for itself and strips the mental barrier that in other cases would make me stop to catch my breath.

Green: This is an exercise that I familiarized myself with since the beginning of my master’s degree pathway. Patrick Campbell introduced the laboratory theatre group to the exercise and during the workshop I was able to embody it better. In pairs one person holds a ribbon around the partner’s pelvis, chest or head applying tension. Then they move through space slowly while being aware of the pressure point/s as well as facilitating the partner in the case of the person holding the ribbon. Later the ribbon is removed, and the actress should focus on the pressure points while moving. It is essential that this exercise is performed with the knees slightly bent, pelvis tucked slightly in and the stomach sucked in. This exercise allowed me to create a powerful yet slow energy. The gaze is fixed, and my focus is on not having any tension in my body. The energetic quality of the exercise can be applied over scores.

The exercise is not as physically exerting as the wind dance, there might have been a good reason why they were introduced to us in this order during the workshop. Reflecting on the workshop, I’m realizing that the energy from the wind dance flowed into the green exercise offering an awareness over my body and presence when performing it.

Voice work: The voice work started by creating a score. In pairs we alternated between finding ways of pushing and pulling creating 6 actions, then we found two ways of embracing. Moving away from our partners we embodied the score and interweaved the embracing. This score was to be memorised and used throughout the workshop when working with voice. Another part was finding our chest voice while making an ‘a’ sound. We then moved through different resonators, belly source, chest source and head source. To these resonators we were encouraged to add text, reaching a point where we were adding the vocal qualities in a cold way, striping the text from my own interpretation. During this we also worked with different speeds: fast, slow, and irregular. We played with the text applying spontaneously different speeds and resonators. One cliché that most of the participants did was associating a certain speed to a certain resonator (belly resonator with speaking slow, and head resonator with speaking fast). The general advice was to be as random as possible and make changes quickly. The text was applied to the score created and we were told to play with the text freely. We also learned several songs and did an exercise where all the participants were making different rhythmic sounds.

Working with Iben: In pairs we developed a score consisting of different actions, 3 ways of pulling, 3 ways of pushing and 3 ways of embracing (in this order). We were then able to reduce the score to our liking (100%, 50%, 20%, 1%). In the same pair we were asked to work with an object and pass it between us 3 times. Over this we added our own piece of text, reciting it whispering and as a dialogue. Then 3 pairs were asked to form a group and pass the object to their original partner. At first, we practiced this standing, but we reduced the score to being sat down. We were split in 4 groups. The first and last group did their entrance with the green energy while the 2nd and 3rd group did their entrance with the wind dance. Everybody was asked to carry a chair, after doing the entrance put it down in sync with your own group, sit down and start performing the score with your partner sitting opposite you. Another layer Iben requested us to add was saying a phrase about what we would miss the most if we were the last remaining people in the world after robots took over. This phrase was to be said while getting up on the chair, say it very loud while performing one sequence of the score then freezing. After every member of each group said the phrase, we slowly got down off the chair and made our exit with the green energy. This was the small piece created that, on the last day of the workshop, was shown to the ‘bridge of winds’ members and the Teatro Koreja staff.

Reflecting on the workshop experience: It gave me a sense of what I can introduce in my practice. Have a training session in the morning and in the afternoon allocate time to creating scenic material. The way Iben worked with us made me see it as a cold way of creating material. Pushing, pulling, embracing are simple actions that can be secluded to creating a score which can later be altered and reduced to the performers liking. It is not focusing solely on reciting text and brining one’s own interpretation on how that should be performed, but rather create a score that by example can be contrasting to the text. This is very helpful in removing certain performative clichés I might be inclined to commit. I believe this way of devising a performance it is helpful because it allows spontaneity, and it strips away the rationality of the brain allowing for impactful and sometimes contrasting ways of overlaying text to scores.

Difficulties: The majority of the participants were Italian so I didn't have a chance on networking fully. This is a difficulty I faced as I don't speak the language. Another impediment I faced is sustaining a foot injury toward the end of the workshop that slowed down my training for the following weeks.

[teodorastaicu]

06.06.2023 - Masterclass with Julia Varley

In pairs we developed scores using a stick (3 push and 3 pull). After establishing the actions, the stick was removed. In the same pair we had to reenact the score while maintaining the core engagement present when working with the stick. Finally, we worked individually on the same score. We switched partners, everybody performed their individual score in relation to the new partner. The score had to be a dialogue between the two performers, responding to each other. The score could vary in speed and size if necessary.

Individually we created a small sequence telling the story of a woman learning to dance from her mother and after she arrived home, she taught the dance to her daughter. I did this using my hands and fingers. Afterwards both sequences were overlayed with each other to the participant’s liking.

We explored walking around the room: the old grandma dancing, the young girl learning, a spider, a mouse. The steps were later integrated into the score. We performed it first with the person we originally developed the score with and later we moved around the room changing partners and performed it in relation to them.

Towards the end of this section the score was performed individually. Here Varley was giving us different scenarios and characters to apply to our scores. This gave my score different qualities without adjusting the sequence.

In the afternoon we worked on voice. Walking around the room we were told to say a piece of text. At first walking normally, then we moved into running, jumping, and slowly going to the ground. These indications were meant to distract the mind from its automatism of rationalizing the text and let the text flow according to the action performed by the body. Jumping was a burst in volume, running was saying the text fast, and going slowly to the ground was reciting the text very slowly.

We then came into a circle and were asked to sing. Overall there were 4 songs that were introduced by the participants of the masterclass. We were asked to sing at the same time, without knowing the lyrics, to memorize the song. It allowed us to connect as a group and to focus on the person that brought the song forward.

We were asked by Julia to use our voices as the thick smog in London, the snow falling on top of a mountain, caressing a cat with our voices, a dog serenading a cat, rain falling on tin roofs, a fisherman selling their catch in Napoli, a hippo dancing. Then we applied these qualities to us singing following the sequence of the songs.

[teodorastaicu]

Initial outline and ideas

Theme:

Romanian myth – Sanziene – as a base for exploring modernization, drift from nature, loss of ritualistic practices, identity, womanhood, personal heritage, duality.

The performance:

Laboratory and physical theatre; creation of scores.

An interweaving between presentation and performance. The performer, performance, lecture/work demonstration. Create dramaturgical levels. (Back and forth between demonstration and performance)

Cross over between reality and fiction

Create a significant figure (metaphorical) to follow in their footsteps. The geologist

Extra daily.

Ritual.

Femininity, women traditional songs, the position of the woman in Romanian society

The Romanian myth (iele/ sanziene/ dragaica). Through this exploration of songs, lyrics, and dances.

Loss of ritualistic behaviors in present Romania (the west?). A drift from rural to urban.

Costume change.

Music:

Traditional Romanian songs.

Nature sounds.

Bird orchestra.

Guitar, simple acoustic.

Wooden pipe/flute

Sounds made by human voice that don’t sound human (wind, bird, water?)

Projection:

Powerpoint; alternative software for projection film footage.

Dry/ academic presentation (powerpoint).

Projection on cloth.

Create the feeling of being in nature.

Footage:

Forest and field; exploration of light in these outdoor environments.

Scene in tent/ “being there”

Costume:

Jeans

Shirt/ Top

Hiking boots

White dress

Set:

Minimal set

Guitar + stand

Screen/s; maybe big pieces of cloth.

Inclusion of the flowers.

Video camera

Possible inspiration sources:

Triangle theatre; Carran Waterfield

‘The Dig’ by Carran Waterfield

Julia Varley; ‘Talabot’

Dimitris Papaioannou – ‘Medea’

Robert Wilson; working with light.

Kaosmos – Odin teatret; booklet

‘Things hidden since the foundation of the world’ by The Javaad Alipoor Company

Jean-Francois Lyotard

Roland Barthes

Research:

Ielele/ Sanziene

Ritual

Duality; multiplicity

Deconstruction

Liminality

Projection

Palimpsest

Geology and time observation

Folkloric Aspects of the Romanian Imaginary and Myth by Claudia Costin

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Motif for researching Romanian traditional customs

Romanian folklore is very diverse. It is engrained in society, and it changes according to region although there are general similarities. In the rural areas people still benefit from a certain preservation of folkloric life, where customs prevailed out of social need and tradition. The general migration from rural to urban environment diminished social customs and the number of artisans. Romanians are not as interested in personally working in the artisanal art field. Although there is small engagement where people are trying to preserve some dying customs. On the other hand, the more popular artisanal work like the pottery from Horezu is thriving within the country, but I believe it is more because of the monetary income this provides. The customs are preserved in the family or village through generations that pass, rarely the case where an outsider learns the skill.

A key point in this discussion is the discrepancy between the quality of life in the city and in the rural areas. The city benefits form an influx of jobs and resources (transport, current water, electricity, infrastructure, education, health etc.) while rural areas have been neglected with examples of low school attendance (children having to walk an hour to school or having to help their parents around the house with livestock and agriculture), lack of health care, unpaved roads, no access to current water.

In Romanian urban life there is a drift from rural traditions and arts to the point where it creates a separation between classes unrelated to the divide created by financial inequality. For example, certain genres of music like manele (rooted in gypsy songs, with a Balkan/oriental music background, with ludicrous sometimes comical lyrics) or new popular music (popular as in folkloric) are looked down upon compared to western influenced music (pop, rock, rap etc.) and even genres similar in musical style but older. To make my point clearer I will provide some social background.

Alexandra Urdea describes how the urban working class that migrated from rural areas or had close connection to village life were avid enjoyers of folklore performances. This sub-group was formed due to the industrialization in the communist period, where between the 1950’s and the 1980’s people from a rural background moved to the cities to work in factories. Mihai Maci reinforces that the large number of people made it inefficient for acculturation to happen. This led to the creation of two sub-groups in the urban environment, one of educated people that had university qualifications and one of laborers. The later, mostly because of its large number, perpetuated a denaturised rural behaviour that could not be fully erased.

This reflects in the consumption of certain music media. Etno TV (a folklore channel of lesser quality than the content broadcasted on the national television channel) and Taraf TV (broadcasting manele and associated with the Roma ethnicity) have audiences consisting of rural and urban working-class populations. This genre segregation from mainstream mass media reflects on the partial social exclusion of the working classes and people of Roma ethnicity from public spaces. The engagement with folklore can sometimes lead for one to fall victim to classism and elitism. The more one person engages with folkloric music or performances, the more it is frowned upon in the more educated urban areas.

[teodorastaicu]

Folkloric origins and the 'Sanziene' myth

The origin of songs used to be the sheepfold, village gatherings (sezatori) and gatherings where women would weave wool. Although the creative spirit of sezatori was dominated by men, old women were the ones transmitting to the younger generations the ballads and old songs. These gatherings were the most important environments for folkloric creation where a new creation would be heard, learned, and later spread through the whole village. The mode of transmission was through spoken words and the origins of songs was unknown. Because of the oral medium and being widespread the traditional songs gained numerous variations reflecting the social factor and geographical region. The gatherings were also the source of proverbs, riddles, callings, fairy tales, customs, superstitions, beliefs, and weekly village dance – hora – taking place on Sundays and danced by young girls and boys in a circular motion accompanied by live music (nowadays the custom limits to only being danced at special events like weddings and baptisms). According to Haja, the peasant games (This is a direct translation I chose to use, games it’s referring to dances and performative customs and peasant doesn’t have an exclusive negative connotation in Romanian as it does in English, here peasant it referring to a rural inhibitor) are older than the date they were written down by several observers and they’re not an exception for the European environment. These rituals are part of a universal history typology of popular theatrical art. The Romanian games are linked directly with popular theatre manifestations from the European zone based on a genetic relation. Old and traditional elements are prevailed in folkloric creation happening on a wider scale of the sacred in the profane. The sacred obscured by the profane in the ritualised manifestations is linked with individual existential moments (baptisms, weddings, funerals), agricultural cycles and annual holiday celebrations. The enchanted thinking is expressed through masks dances and theatrical forms. Besides the contamination of layering of pre-Christian elements with Christian ones, the folkloric manifestation had a functional evolution. The popular/folkloric mentality shifted from the religious function towards a more aesthetic one without losing magic ritualistic elements or at least traces of them.

A good example is the celebration of John’s the Baptist birth, a Romanian holiday happening on the 24th of June with an underlaid pagan root. Daniel Mihai explains how the pre-historic Dacians (the inhabitants of Dacia that was located roughly within Romania’s borders), a subgroup of Tracs, were celebrating the sun.

He links a popular dance “ciuleandra” with the veneration of the sun, similar with the dance “hora”, danced in a circle and believed to link into marriage men and women. Hora is like other eastern European and Balkan dances: Bulgarian koro, Serbian kolesca, Russian morovod, Polish colomeica, Greek choreia and Albanian valla. Mihai argues that the dance ciuleandra is the root of the Sanziene/ Dragaice myth. In Folkloric Aspects of the Romanian Imaginary and Myth, the celebration of Sanziene is a representation of the ritualistic restoration of time and it connects three elements: mythical representations of the vegetation, the holyday itself and the flowers with the same name (Gallium verum) in bloom close to the 24th of June.

The Sanziene are believed to be mythical beings. They are portrayed as fairies, beautiful girls that live in the forest good natured, but dangerous when disrespected. The book by Claudia Costin retraces these beings to the roman deity Sancta Diana, while also inheriting astronomical significance from Dacian ancient astrologers.

The Sanziene holiday is mostly prevailed in rural areas through premarital practices, where girls of marriage age made wreaths out of the flowers or in other regions slept with the flowers under their pillow to dream of their future husband.