File puptcrit/puptcrit.0611, message 66


From: mjm <mmoynihan-AT-wi.rr.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 23:34:06 -0600
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Delsarte


I had read the brilliant TO THE ACTOR: ON THE TECHNIQUE OF ACTING by 
Michael Chekhov a few years before I heard anything of Delsarte. I have 
used it since in many acting classes & workshops. Also before my 
introduction to Delsarte by mime Tony Montanaro (Tony died in 2002 but 
his Theatre/School still exists in Maine) I met a man and a woman 
teaching eurythmics thru the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, where 
I was a part time instructor. I do not recall their names. They were 
about to leave Milwaukee for Tennessee (I think) where they had 
purchased some land with some friends and were going to start a 
commune/school (that was during the time when lots of rural communes 
were springing up in the USA). I lost track of them.

But the few classes I took led me to other Rudolf Steiner influenced 
things like the Waldorf school movement (which I always was sort of 
skeptical of after I visited one where a friend taught French and I was 
offered a teaching job) and that led to a strange old house in 
Milwaukee that was, it turned out, run by a religious sort of cult of 
young people. They invited us over to have supper and talk about their 
free "creativity classes". They had a small puppet stage area (but no 
puppets) & what to me seemed like an incredible cache of musical 
instruments including lots of electronic and amplified equipment. That 
struck me as rather strange given the Rudolf Steiner/Waldorf Schools 
sort of anti-technology practices. A short time later the place was 
raided by police and it seems they had stolen the equipment and their 
"school" was a cover for their fencing stolen equipment. What a weird 
tangled path it can be...
- m

On Nov 5, 2006, at 6:12 PM, Kathy Foley wrote:
> Regarding Delsarte method.  Ted Shawn's "Every Little Movement"
> (1954) gives some understanding of Delsarte and dance scholars who
> have written on Denishawn are likely to cover some of this material.
> Much American elocution technique was linked to this in the early
> 20th century, interpretive dance, you would probably find that
> eurythmics (Steiner's techniques which persist among Anthroposohists)
> and some aspects of movement choirs are interrelated.  I am not sure
> it will prove the most fruitful path of puppet acting on a world-wide
> basis, but it is fun stuff which links in to 19 C opera, ballet and
> western presentational acting techniques.  Michael Chekov (an
> Anthroposophist) has interesting mixtures of Stanislavski and late
> Delsartian thought.
>
>
> best,
>
> K
>
> -- 
> Kathy Foley
> Professor, Theatre Arts
> Editor, Asian Theatre Journal
> J-15 Theatre Arts
> 1156 High St.
> Santa Cruz, CA 95064
>   tel. (831) 459-4189
> fax (831) 459-5359

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