4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

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from ritual to theater and back
tourist and the “authentic.” More studies are needed on the exchanges
between what’s left of traditional performances and the emerging tourist
shows. And at what moment does a tourist show become an authentic
theatrical art?
Tourism is a two-way street. Travelers bring back experiences,
expectations, and, if the tourists are practitioners, techniques, scenes,
and even entire forms. The birth ritual of Dionysus in 69 was adapted by
me from photographs I saw in a book about the Asmat of West Irian.
Several sequences in the Living Theater’s Mysteries and Smaller Pieces and
Paradise Now were taken from yoga and Indian theater. Mabou Mines
used bunraku in the Shaggy Dog Animation. Philip Glass’s music draws both
on gamelan and Indian raga. Imamu Baraka’s writing is deeply influenced
by African modes of story-telling and drama. A whole movement
in American theater and dance influenced by Asian forms is
called “fusion.” The list of cross-referencing among the arts of various
cultures could be extended without limit. Many innovators since World
War II (a great war for travel) have been decisively influenced by work
from cultures other than their own. This means, for western artists,
Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The impact of communal-collective forms on
contemporary western theater is like the impact of classical forms on
the Renaissance. The differences, however, are also important. In the
Renaissance all that remained of classical culture were architectural
ruins, old texts, and relics of the plastic arts. This material was frequently
fragmented and corrupt. Also, Renaissance scholars looked
with respect, even awe, at what they found of classical Greece and
Rome. Today’s intercultural feed is mainly in the area of performances;
the shows imported have been seen more or less intact; the originators
of the performances are often former colonial peoples, or peoples who
were considered inferior by populations living around the north Atlantic
basin. In other words, it is logical that today’s influences should be
felt first in the avant-garde. Furthermore, there’s lots of traffic running
back to the Third World. Western performing arts are practiced everywhere,
and, frequently enough, persons who want to preserve
indigenous traditions have traveled to or been educated in the west.
A very clear and provable Asian influence on contemporary western
theater is seen in Grotowski’s work. In 1956, three years prior to the
establishment of his Theatre Laboratory, Grotowski made a two-month