![]() Once I had conceptualised Re:play, I spent a lot of time reading up resource material on the games through a variety of sources. Given that almost all traditional games have been passed on through generations, I came across multiple versions of the same games. In fact, the same game is played in different ways and called different names across the country. This is also what made my research interesting. From finding out mythological connections and stories to games being relevant in today's 21st century, there was a lot to learn from. From the very beginning, I had the support of Manasi Subramaniam as a dramaturg and writer. We would try and orchestrate material in a way that it became interesting from a point of view of performance. I would also take in some of this material to the studio, work with collaborators and explore possibilities. Once we had a structure in place, we then contacted Kreeda Games, a company dedicated to the promotion of traditional games and sought their support from a research point of view. Through the support of Kreeda, one of the most significant things we discovered were personal stories of people who have played these games through time. Research with Kreeda is still ongoing, for further development of the show. The C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar foundation promotes traditional and folk arts. They had published a book called Traditional folk games of Tamilnadu. I contacted the author of the book, Prof. V Balambal who was ever willing to support this initiative. In my meetings and conversations with her, I gained a lot of insights, which have helped shape this performance. Research has always been the foundation to performance. Re:play is a highly research intensive process. Transforming research content to performative action has been the most enjoyable process over the last 6 months, apart from the fact that I pester people to tell me about all the traditional Indian games that they have played over the years. Re:play premieres on the 19, 20 and 21 of September at the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation(Alwarpet), followed by a public showcasing on the 28 and 29 of September at Spaces (Besant Nagar) in Chennai. Both performances are only on a registration basis, the details of which we will put up next week. The performance will also tour Bangalore and Hyderabad over October and November. Looking forward to Re:play times. - Aruna Ganesh Ram
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![]() What is immersive theatre ? Immersive theatre is about experiencing a piece of theatre as opposed to just watching it. One can argue that watching something can also be an experience. Immersive theatre goes beyond that and seeks to engage multiple senses. This multi sensorial experience of immersive theatre immerses you in a new world, whose rules are slightly different. Through the process of immersion, you cease to become a passive spectator. The concepts of the traditional proscenium, the stage, that divides space between the performers and the audience no longer exists in such kind of work. A new relationship is sought between the performers and audience. Re:play is one such immersive performance with a dynamic relationship between the performers and the audience, the combination of which influences the performance. Through the duration of the performance, the audience will be challenged with simple, yet unique tasks that will shape the way they experience the performance. An element of play is involved, again with a set of rules that the audience will be grasp onto, through the performance. ![]() So what is Re:play? In a line, Re:play is a devised performance duet inspired by traditional Indian games. I have always been fascinated by traditional games and grew up playing many of these. A year ago, I came by an article in the paper about how we no longer play any of these games, given that most of us have moved on to become a part of the digital space. Suddenly, I started composing visuals in my head about how the different elements from traditional games could be composed into performance. I remember picking up a pen and scribbling out the patterns of these board games and how they can spatially be reconstructed in a performance context. This was the beginning. I spent over 3 months in the rehearsal studio in London working with collaborators who were dramaturgs, movement practitioners and performers, to explore the possibilities that these games lend themselves to. Given that we were dealing with games, an element of participation was a key consideration. Re:play asks of the audience a bit more than just being a passive spectator. This is what makes Re:play an immersive performance. A lot in the performance is based on chance happenings, so one may not be in control at all times, but one is in control of his/her experience through the performance. It was really exciting to discover how Traditional Indian games have been played in different contexts through time. Re:play is an experience of the sounds, rhythms, patterns, structures, colours and narratives that traditional Indian games lend themselves to. The performance also explores how these games and their elements are relevant to us by going through a journey that evokes themes of mythology, contemporary events, memory, Indian History as well as Indian folklore. Re:play premieres on the 19, 20 and 21 of September at the C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation(Alwarpet), followed by a public showcasing on the 28 and 29 of September at Spaces (Besant Nagar) in Chennai. Both performances are only on a registration basis, the details of which we will put up next week. The performance will also tour Bangalore and Hyderabad over October and November. Looking forward to Re:play times. ![]() A shot from Gossamer - Creating co-presence Performance has always been an outcome of preparation. Traditionally, this preparation would involve rehearsal, where text was written and parts were rehearsed with the chorus, along with singing and dancing, staging dramatic text in its entirety. In the early nineteenth century, the introduction of the term mise en scène suggested that something is given physical appearance onstage that can otherwise only exist in the readers imagination. References to the term accumulated thereon and the meaning of the verb was 'to stage' and 'to transform into a stage performance'. At the turn of the last century, where literary text ceased to be the sole basis of performance, Edward Gordon Craig noted that "…the Art of the Theatre is neither acting nor the play, it is not scene nor dance, but it consists of all the elements of which these things are composed: action, which is the very spirit of acting; words, which are the body of the play; line and colour, which are at the very heart of the scene; rhythm, which is the very essence of dance" (Craig 1911: 138 in Fischer 2008: 185) This introduced the concept of performance being a collage of its smallest constitutive elements - action, words, line, colour, and rhythm. The staging of these elements was then a matter of choice exercised by the director and this would create the performance artwork. Jacques Copeau considers the text a pre existent 'mental' entity to be transformed into sensual presence through the process of mise en scène. He defines directing and staging as "the sum of the artistic and technical processes with whose help the work complied by an author as written text is transferred from its mental and hidden state of existence into the real and present state of theatre" (Copeau 1991: 341 in Fischer 2008: 186) The concept mise en scène has evolved over time. Fischer links the term to the idea of an event, its staging stimulating action, in a way that elements attract audience attention. "Spectators become aware that they are affected and transformed by their experience of the movements, light, colours, sound, odours and so forth. The mise en scène can therefore be defined and described as a process that aims at the reenchantment of the world and the metamorphosis of the performer's participants" (Fischer 2008: 189) The Gossamer Mise en scène In attempting to devise the mise en scène for Gossamer, careful consideration of the various elements of performance, their relationships with another, the space as well the audience members played a key role in the design of the performance. The challenge was to achieve an optimal balance between the elements, that would enable a physical, mental and emotional transformation for the audience. Given that Gossamer was a bespoke experience, based on the life of audience members themselves, with the mode of address being direct, the intimacy of the event and the creation of a unique atmosphere were careful considerations from the very beginning of the development process. With audience material sourced from social media as well as through friends and family, we adopted a method of converting text to gesture as one of the first aspects of the mise en scène. Anne Bogart in Viewpoints, addresses gesture as behavioural, those that belong to everyday life and expressive, those that express feeling, which is not otherwise directly manifest. "One could say that Behavioural Gestures are prosaic and Expressive Gestures are poetic" (Bogart 2005: 49) This was a key starting point in devising Gossamer. Content would be translated into gestures in the studio with supporting movements as well as sound-scapes and text to create the various parts of the mise en scène. Spatial Relationship as a view point induced the range of possible distances between the elements of performance. "The distance between things on stage, especially (1) one body to another; (2) one body (or bodies) to a group of bodies; (3) the body to the architecture." (Bogart 2005: 11) The placement of the audience member within the performance was therefore a critical aspect of the mise en scène. To further foster the intimacy in the environment, we designed distinct performing spaces within the space and placed the audience member in an intimate spatial proximity that would help performers make connections with the audience at various levels. The spatial relationship also motivated audience members to move around the space, interact with performers as well as experience the event in a way that they chose to. As a performer, it made me feel emotional connections with my audience member and their reception of the piece and reactions to it constantly influenced my performance in Gossamer, enabling the feedback loop between the audience and me, in turn triggering my spontaneity during the performance. Consideration of atmosphere The mood and the atmosphere that the performance space would set was also an important element of the mise en scène. According to Gernot Boehme, "atmospheres constitute the spectators' first sensation on entering the auditorium and enable a very specific experience of spatiality" (Boehme in Fischer 2008: 115) As a part of the aural mise en scène, the audience on arrival into the space were welcomed by a piece of music that was special to them in some way. This was complemented by visual elements such as the blue light and the EL wires (Electro Luminescent wires) that created an atmosphere that was magical, enchanting and welcoming at the same time. I was particularly keen on creating powerful visuals in the performance through gesture, movement and lighting. Through the devising process, I realised the possibilities that may unfold, when the audience member also becomes a part of the mise en scène in a way that a shared space is created. Co-Presence in Gossamer "[The] original meaning of theatre refers to its conception as social play - A game in which everyone is a player - actors and spectators alike… The spectators are involved as co-players. In this sense the audience is the creator of the theatre. So many different participants constitute the theatrical event that its social nature cannot be lost. Theatre always produces a social community." (Hermann 1981: 19) Max Hermann understood and propagated the bodily co-presence of actors and spectators to constitute performance. "For performance to occur, actors and spectators must assemble to interact in a specific place for a specific period of time" (Hermann in Fischer 2008: 32) If the relationship between the audience and the performer has to shift from traditional passive spectatorship to being an active part of the performance, can the construct of the mise en scène enable this new relationship? Max Hermann mentions that "The audience's physical participation is set in motion through synaesthetic perception shaped not only by sight and sound, but by physical sensations of the entire body." (Hermann in Fischer 2008: 36) Staging proceeds the insight that the bodily co-presence is required to generate the performance. Any definition of mise en scène has to take that into consideration (Fischer 2008: 187) The mise en scène of Gossamer integrated the audience as well as the space into the performance, enabling the bodily co presence of the performer and the audience. This intimate co-presence induces new connections that performers are able to make with the audience members, powerful enough to move them, shake them or even shock them. This co-presence escalates to an emotional level as well, when the performance is about the audience members themselves, which means that the performance will not happened if not for them. The performance material comes from the audience which is then processed into various elements of the mise en scène and presented in an environment of intimacy, creating a shared space, co presence and human connection at every level. This connection also induced physical contact during the performance, when an audience member held my hand and I kissed it- a moment of transformation was experienced. There were also moments of interaction, verbal gestures and immediate reactions from audience members through the performance that highlighted the co-presence and at the same time kept the environment of intimacy and connection. In a way, Gossamer made me understand my audience members better at multiple levels, who outside the performance space, are my good friends and colleagues. In the event of bodily co presence inducing physical contact , the element of liminality generates transformation. "The spectators remain on the threshold for the duration of the performance. Their position is never fixed. They do not control the performance, but their influence can be felt nevertheless. The audience constantly oscillates between these various states, ultimately enabled, defined and triggered by the bodily co-presence of the actor and the spectator" (Fischer 2008: 67) The Gossamer mise en scène was carefully designed and constructed to enable the bodily co presence, yet the way it would unfold with every experience being unique in itself, was to be realised through the process of the performance. Hermann states that in spite of clever and empirically effective staging strategies, the success of mise en scène ultimately cannot be planned; it is to be seen as an emergent phenomenon. (Hermann in Fischer 2008: 189) Bogart adds to this by saying "You cannot create results; you can only create the conditions in which something might happen" (Bogart 2001: 124) Gossamer's mise en scène created the conditions that enabled the bodily co-presence of the actor and the spectator, which then led to transformation at various levels for all involved, inducing a mise en scène of co-presence. Through the process of Gossamer, I have become interested in exploring the concept of co-presence that can be achieved at various levels, through mise en scène. A performance is designed with the consideration of multiple elements, the coming together of which will shape the performance and the experience of it for audience members as well as for performers.. The element of immersion and therefore the creation of shared space, changes the way the performance is received, processed and experienced. I am also keen on exploring the concept of aural mise en scène and if through aurality, co-presence can be created. With a focus on creating work through gesture, sound and movement, I am interested in a mise en scène that will liberate, transform and induce new possibilities of experiencing performance. ![]() Curtains as pillars and moving in and out of it Last week, I attended a workshop on Stage lighting, conducted by Andy Purvees at Central School. As I walked into the room, I saw four distinct areas being lit up, using a variety of lights. After a brief warm up and initiation, we were divided into groups and asked to play around with the equipment that was around in the room. Even before we knew it, art was being made. Having lights at your disposal from day one of your rehearsal can change the way your play takes shape, significantly. The difference being, you are designing a sketch based on the light that is available, as opposed to designing light to a set pattern of moves. This just changes the way you begin to look at the work you are making. In a way, the light becomes a part of the act, a protagonist of some sort and not just a support element. Sound was also brought into the space and now we were keeping the mood of the music and varying our rhythms of play with the light sources accordingly. This created some interesting possibilities. It's truly a luxury to be able to have your sound and light from day one of your rehearsal, but I think if you did, your work will end up being a lot different, definitely, for the better. I've also seem to taken a lot of liking towards using other innovative light sources and bringing them on stage. This could be Light bulbs, serial lights or even candles and kerosene lamps. Lighting should be used more than just for lighting up actors and setting the mood. Lights induce new possibilities and gives us room to do more ! ![]() There are objects all around us. Some to use, some to look at, some to be with, some to take help from and some to give away. From furniture to utensils, toys to artifacts, clocks to mobile devices, clothes to shoes to hats and more - Objects complete us in multiple ways. We invest time, energy and money using the many objects we do. Objects come into our lives, serve their duties and disappear. How would it be if these lifeless objects that are so intrinsic to over lives come alive? "The only rule in puppetry is to bring to life inanimate objects" (Francis in Ganesh Ram: 11.11.2012). The thought of possessing the power to 'bring to life' is fascinating. The magic of making anything and everything speak, move, walk and talk seems like a bestowed boon of sorts, waiting to be explored and experimented with. Mark Down, Puppeteer from Blind Summit, focuses on breath and its importance in completing the illusion for audiences through puppetry. Breath and bringing to life go hand in hand. Neither can exist without the other. Though they complement each other, they are essentially one. "'Breath is the engine of all emotion"(Down, 2012). All living things; plants, animals and humans breathe. They breathe to exist and to serve a purpose. A purpose that ensures the status quo. Though breathing is involuntary, it can be controlled. A controlled breath has the power to bring to life objects that can therefore influence. This brings alive characters, plots, stories and situations that transport us into another world, shaping our imagination and creating unique experiences using space, form, rhythm and time. That is what puppetry can deliver. An experience that uses the audience's imagination to construct a new reality. Down also explains that Puppets coming to life is based on four distinct breath oriented functions. "Inhale. Suspend. Exhale. Suspend. Most action occurs on the suspended in-breath, or if you prefer in the controlled exhale: speaking, signalling, starting to walk. The in-breath is literally the inspiration for action, or the intention. The exhale acts as brakes for the movement, and the suspended out-breath is when we assess the action and the results. When the breath pauses, the action is suspended. The scene pauses, but it does not stop."(Down, 2011) The Hindu Yogi science of breath qualifies life as a series of breaths. A toddler inhales the very first life inducing breath and releases it in an long wail while life ends for the aged in an faint gasp, when they cease to breathe. Life and death are both an action and function of breath. Adrian Kohler of Handspring Puppetry relates this aspect to acting, puppetry and theatre. "An actor struggles to die onstage, but a puppet has to struggle to live. And in a way that’s a metaphor for life." (Kohler, 2011) According to Penny Francis, 'The term puppetry denotes the act of bringing to imagined life inert figures and forms (representational or abstract) for a ritual or theatrical purpose - for a performance'. (Francis, 2012: 5). To enable that imagination successfully, an audience have to see, hear and feel a puppet breathe, move, communicate and therefore live. This life is bestowed on a puppet by its operator, the puppeteer. The puppeteer is truly the mother of a puppet, feeding it and nourishing it to stay alive. ''The puppet is an entity which absorbs its operator's energy and is thereby able to convince the spectator of its vitality. It is a matter of transferred, not duplicated kinesthetics. If the puppeteer is projected 'into' the puppet character, it cannot but be the cynosure, it cannot make a wrong gesture; it cannot produce the wrong voice.''(Francis, 2012:28) In the case of 'hands on' or 'hands in' puppetry, a medium where the puppeteer is in contact with the puppet's body in some form or the other, the puppeteer is breathing with different parts of his body to enable life in the puppet and make this life visible to audiences. Nikki Tilroe terms this as 'Muscle respiration' and it being a critical technique to create an illusion of life in a puppet. (Tilroe, 1988: 18-19) Based on the puppet, its form, size, shape and desired attitude, the puppeteer alters his breathing speeds, rhythm, size and form to communicate the story and create the illusion of life, motivating the audience to suspend their disbelief. Basil Jones, co-founder of handspring puppet company believes that breath is a crucial indication of the puppet's life on stage. " The audience can see and feel you breathing and therefore see the puppet living. The rhythm and the a-rhythm of the breath and the way it changes is a very important emotional indicator as to the thoughts and the feeling of the puppet being manipulated." (Jones, 2011) Jacques Lecoq believed that every emotion can be achieved with a push or a pull action. "I push or I pull. I push or pull myself. I am pushed or pulled."(Lecoq, 2006: 22) Breathing functions similarly. A push or a pull in breathing can communicate different emotional responses. Rhythm in the simultaneous push & pull of breath is central to perceiving the state of the puppet. "Shock and surprise for instance are achieved by the inhale action at different speeds."(Tilroe, 1988: 19) The emotions pain and exhaustion can be achieved through an exhale of the breath. Emotions such as joy and sorrow can be achieved with both inhale & exhale. However, the way a puppet moves in relation to the breath is also important in fulfilling the desired illusion. A puppet would mostly move backward to portray shock and move forward for exhaustion, while it could move back and forth for joy. In bringing a puppet to life, the role of the puppeteer and the relationship with the puppet is vital in making effective performance. Tadeusz Kantor, a visionary Polish theatre-maker and designer propagated that "There must be a very close, almost biological symbiosis between an actor and an object. They cannot be separated. In the simplest case, the actor must attempt to do everything for the OBJECT to stay visible, in the most radical case the actor and the object must become one." He calls this state a BIO-OBJECT. (Kantor,1993: 240 in Francis, 2012: 20). Francis adds yet another dimension by involving the audience into the equation and introducing a relationship that is shared between the puppet, the puppeteer and the audience. "A delicate triangle of projected energy and response from the puppeteer through the object to the audience has to be formed, but is rarely sustainable for long." (Francis, 2012: 18) This triangle of energy also indicates a shift in focus of the viewer from puppet, to puppeteer to the technique and back to the puppet. "This changing focus is evidence of an alternating belief and un belief in the puppet's autonomous existence. This condition has no scientific label that I can find, but has been described (poetically) as the 'Opalisation effect' (Jurowski, 1988: 41-42) and (confusingly) as 'double vision' (Tillis, 1992: 59). Probably the most accurate word 'oscillation', is used by TA Green and WJ Pepicello (Green, 1983: 157)"(Francis, 2012: 21) To the initiated, the confluence of the puppet, puppeteer and the technique will create the illusion. To the uninitiated, the invisible equation will still facilitate illusion, but they may not be in a position to appreciate the aspects at play. In National Theatre's War Horse by Handspring puppetry, life sized horses are represented using puppets. Three puppeteers, one playing the face and neck of the horse, the other the heart and fore limbs and the third playing the hind limbs and tail, together create the illusion of the horse breathing, moving and reacting to stimuli through the performance. This demands harmonious coordination between the various puppeteers, including breath, movement, rhythm and synchronised reactions that together create the bigger picture for the audience as well as for other members in the performance. Miniscule movements of the horse, the way its body twitches, the up and down action of the body indicative of breath, is clearly visible even from the last rows of the performance auditorium. This is the precision that can be achieved with puppetry. Little did one know that cane and fabric bunched together artistically could come alive as war horses, puppeteered diligently. As a medium, puppetry also offers the unique advantage of portraying situations that are beyond human reach in a performing scenario. Explicit Murder, brutality and other grotesque realities that may be difficult to portray using one's own body, may apply puppetry techniques to show and soften the impact that the performance may render to audience sets. Dancer and performer Dan Hurlin in the context of comparing dance and puppetry says "While Dance pushes the body to its limits, puppetry can explore what lies beyond those limits." (Hurlin in Animated Bodies, 2009: 7) In essence, Breath and therefore breathing is a starting point to almost any form of creative practice that one chooses to undertake. Puppetry uses the operators breath and the object strives to make it its own and therefore comes to life. The human therefore is the technology that the puppet employs to spring to life. As actors or performers, our own breath, its controlled rhythm, size and variation sets our energy levels on stage and outside of it. Apart from contributing to successful artistic creation, breath and its control can be critical starting points in training for personality development, communication skills and voice practices too. Breath is that engine that runs our body, mind and what the combination of body and mind can achieve. What is the difference between being a performer and an actor ?
A performer performs and an actor acts. This would mean the former is a more truthful portaryal of what one feels and what one one believes in. Acting however, is mostly imitation. You create impulse or stimuli that you want to be influenced by and therefore respond to them in a way that you are motivated to. Performance is about honouring your own beliefs and your own stimuli that is predominantly intrinsic. When a musician is creating music with his violin, you dont say “he’s a great actor”, but you say “he’s a good performer” The same would apply to a dancer, a Circus acrobat, a magician and a puppeteer. Over the last 3 months, I have come to realise the power of being a performer over being an actor. Being a performer is more gratifying. It feels good when Aruna plays Aruna on stage as opposed to playing Martha or Bettie or Olivia. Playing creatively with what comes naturally to you is a basic start to making performance. This does not mean that you don’t learn new things. For example, if performers decide to invest in a new skill through training, that becomes a life skill more than just a skill for a particular show. Performers can learn to Juggle or skate, and then their acquired skills are displayed when they’re performing This way, you are not acting like you are skating, because that’s just not possible. I always believed that I was a hopeless actor. However, over the last 3 months, I seem to develop a strange confidence of being a performer, where I play with material that’s mine. Material that i can personally connect with. Material from my own life – Personal Material. This does not mean that we cannot approach adaptations or scripts that already exist. We just have to approach them in a slightly different manner. Focus on what the play means to you as opposed to what it generally means. Creating performance also inspires you to make original work that’s inspired by what you have seen and experienced. A sense of attachment comes through when performers create work that has their personal stamp on it. I am looking forward to create performance that is devised, original and involves personal material, stories and experiences. Let’s see how and where this goes ! ![]() For a long time, I thought pots, made out of clay, were natural things that you could just dig out from the ground. Of course with time, I realized how they got to being the way they are. Even as a kid, I was very interested in making things out of clay. I remember when I was about 9 or 10 years young, I used to make some random shapes out of red clay, that My mom used to buy to plant her money plants. I made some small coasters, small bowls and what not, with really withered edges, cracking at almost every end. I used to make these, and leave them at the courtyard to dry. After about two good days of sun bathing, these models of clay were ready to be my play toys. In Tamil, we called this ‘choppu saaman’, meaning small things used in the kitchen. I remember how I filled up these bowls with rice and gram and all sorts of things including water and mud itself. I can’t really recall what happened to them after that. I remember throwing some of them into a well because i dint like the way they turned out. My mom did complain about muddy water a week later, but I decided to keep quiet. About 4 years later, we had a class trip to Dakshin Chitra (an art hub of South India), where I saw a potter use his wheel and magically make pots of different shapes and sizes. I was totally wowed by it and immediately got to dirtying my hands there. With this help, I made something that resembled a pen pot. Not bad for a proper start, I thought. After that, I almost forgot about my love for pots and how I thought that I would make a great potter some day- not of the magical type though. Recently, when Karthik and I were drawing up a wish list of sorts, pottery cropped up again and I wanted to go learn pottery and make some really awesome stuff. How difficult could it be to just move your hands in a pattern to create some great shapes, I thought. After i quit my job, i did have a lot of time in hand, which i call my creative sabbatical. So i decided I would spend the while doing artistic things that would further stimulate my right brain. I did my research, made a couple of phone calls and before anything else, I realized that learning pottery was really expensive, especially in Singapore. But I was quite determined and after about a month, I found this place call Sam Mui Kim pottery, that offered basic hand building classes at about 500 sgd. I signed up and there I was, in front of a little hand building metallic disc that I was supposed to rotate in an anti clockwise fashion to create magic. Within the first 20 minutes, I was faced with cruel realisation that pottery is not just about artistic building, but a lot about achieving technical precision. What I thought would stimulate my right brain, ended up being an enormously consuming left brained exercise. I was making concentric circles, measuring the centre of a clay flat, cutting the clay out at particular diameters and looking for balanced symmetry. None of that seemed artistic to me from any angle. Over and above all this, there was yet another quality of mine being put to test – Patience. Pottery is about patience. The creative mind goes searching and wandering to find as many things within a given time, the logical brain is also almost like that. But I had to whip both these senses of mine and commonly produce a state of being called patience. At may points during my first session itself, I wanted to give up. I wanted to tear the clay away as it was being built. However, I kept motivating myself thinking that when this is done, I can now call myself a creator. A creator of a perfect pot. After three hours, a successful pen pot was made, not perfectly symmetrical though. I was happy about the asymmetry. Nw I can call the pit artistic. The expert potter Mr Kim Told me that I was very good for a beginner. I knew it was his way to let me know that I should come back for the next class. My palms were aching, my fingers were numb and I was in pain. Creation is bloody painful ! Over the next 3-4 classes, I sort of got used to the rhythm and routines of hand building. And when I saw my first pot all fired up and painted, I felt great. I felt even better, when friends of mine asked me where I bought the pot, when I showed off my new creation. Now I have made pots, bowls, vases and even a tea pot, all in just about 30 hours of painful work and patience. Now I know that I can never look at a pot the same way I did before. I can look beyond the pot now, and understand what would have gone into creating this and that, is my pot of learning |
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