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Incite/Insight
Member’s Corner
Summer/Early Fall 2018
Incite/Insight
Member’s Corner
First Impressions
The first evening I was there I was able
to enjoy the performance in the park
celebrating the anniversary of Puebla. It
was full of humor and information. It was
so fantastic sitting in a park under the stars
in the center of Puebla, with the Catedral
Basilica de Puebla right in front of us. The
weather was perfect, a nice change from
the still chilly weather in New York.
Later on in the week, I also attended a
dance performance by the dance network
supported by Instituto Municipal de Arte
y Cultura de Puebla (IMACP). The stage
was simple and the dances included a
mixture of classic dance to urban style
movement. It was beautiful to experience,
and I realized that dance surpasses any
language barrier.
I was also able to experience the Frida
Kahlo exhibit that was just amazing! It
was based on her on-again, off-again
relationship with Nickolas Muray. The
photos were taken at the height of their
ten-year relationship and were just
outstanding.
JP Linguistics. It turned out to be one of
the most fulfilling things I participated in
over my sabbatical. I had forgotten how
much I loved the language, and I had
forgotten a lot of vocabulary. I had to be
put in a situation where I could only use my
Spanish to talk among other classmates,
and I enjoyed it so much. Of course, one
or two classes were not going to make me
fluent, but they built my confidence enough
to keep practicing; and while I did lean
on my translator to work with the adults
while in Mexico, I had a little more courage
speaking in Spanish with the younger
children and was able to teach on my own.
They had patience, were more forgiving,
and actually were very encouraging. In
addition, I did notice that many of the
children tried to speak English. Their drama
teacher told me he didn’t know so many
of them knew as much English as they did.
By the end of the week, I was working with
them in Spanish and they were responding
in English.
One highlight of the trip was working with
the people of Instituto Municipal de Arte
y Cultura de Puebla (IMACP) and their
artists ranging from adults to students as
young as age 6. They were responsible for
bringing me there, and I am so grateful to
have had the opportunity to work with their
constituents. Alex and Mau, my contacts
there, planned each detail to support
me and I felt so well taken care of and so
welcome.
Discussion of the Work
Program Nuclear Network
(redes nucleares de danza y teatro)
I was asked to lead these dance and
Summer/Early Fall 2018
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theater artists in sharing skills on how to
collaborate with the communities in which
they lived. I decided to use the power
of Augusto Boal’s techniques, and my
goal was to give them tactics to create
meaningful dialogue in communities. We
decided to split the groups in two. One day
I facilitated a session with the dancers, and
then on the other day I did the same with
actors/playwrights/directors.
I started by sharing some basic activities
from Boal’s book Games for Actors
and Non Actors and mostly used the
activities to show how important it is
to build ensemble when working with
communities--recognizing that unlike
an artistic company, communities often
come together and do not know each
other. In addition, oftentimes we don’t have
weeks and weeks when using this work to
advocate and give community a voice.
I used basic games such as simple circle
get to know you conversations, Columbian
Hypnosis, Invasion of the Brain, 21, and
some basic improv games. We discussed
ways in which to engage the community
in dialogue and also how to challenge
the norms by using theater techniques. I
used Image Theater to explore the steps
needed to advocate on a topic that they
felt passionate about. They decided they
wanted to work together to identify next
steps on how to advocate for more funding
from the government to support the arts.
Participant Outcome
Participants gained an understanding of
techniques related to Image Theater and
how to engage the community in dialogue.
Personal Outcome
I gained a huge understanding from
working with these actors, playwrights,
directors, and dancers that this theme of
support is an important one. Many artists