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

312
magnitudes of performance
must be exercised to gain the pliability to give a broad frown. . . . While
the facial mask is exercised, the young student must also learn the
nine basic facial expressions which correspond to the nine permanent
bhavas [feelings] and the corresponding rasas [emotions aroused in
performer and spectator]. At first each facial expression is taught in
purely technical terms.
(Zarrilli 1984: 133)
In the hands of a kathakali master these disciplines are not constraints,
but the means to precise and spontaneous performances.
The Natyasastra – and the arts based on it – insist on what Ekman’s
experiments show: there are links between “mechanical acting” and
feelings; the causal chain can go in both directions: feelings can lead to
stage action while the practice of specific stage exercises can arouse
feelings in the actor. In a definable way the performer can be moved by
Plate 8.11 A trainee at the Kerala Kalamandalam practicing his eye
exercises. Facial expression, including precise control of the
eyes, is essential in kathakali. (Photograph by Richard Schechner)