Antigone: I was first pronounced it as Anti-gone, which later I discover the real pronunciation is beyond my mind which is An-tih-gnee. What happen was, it is not the only word that I mispronounce. There are still few more words which are mostly on the names of the characters. Undeniably, not only the pronunciation of the character, but I discover a lot of things through the study of Antigone. To many degrees, I feel fun in studying the text as it does bring novelty to me.
Before reading the Antigone, I was wrongly predicting the story. As I read and go through the text in class, it is impressively different from what I thought; I supposed that Antigone won’t be too determined to disobey the King as the King’s son, Haemon is her lover. Anyhow, something more sacred and even more vital needs to be accomplished by Antigone; to abide by the God’s law by going against the man’s law. This reflects on the element of Greek’s drama regards to the relationship of the protagonist to the God.
My uncertainty on how the emotions will be presented in the Greek’s Theatre is answered obviously through the study of Antigone. The main character Antigone, deals with a lot of emotions; anger, love and strong sense of determination. Eventhough I only read the play without watching it being acted out, the element of catharsis dissolve in me. When Antigone dared to challenge the King which resulted her to death, and when Haemon goes against the father and died for Antigone, I can feel the mood and the tense which create the empathy towards the characters. The psychological purgative is invoked.
Personally, I consider this is a very good play as I, myself can feel being in their situation. The moves or emotions of its characters and conflict I believe does grip the audiences.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The most engrossing dance; that would be zapin!
As far as I am concern, the dance is famous in the southern part of Malaysia, Johor. During the yesteryears, I only watched the zapin performance in the television. It is entertaining and engrossed me at the same time. Fortunately, last two years, I have this golden chance to watch the zapin performance live. I was stunned for the whole performance; at the very start to the very end.
For its engrossing and fast movement, it does catch my eye. The combination of the melodious melody (by the traditional music ensemble which are gambus, rebana or drum) with the delightful movement resulted the impressive effect for me to watch the show with enduring obsession, which I believe to others as well.
What is so special about this dance? Well, I would say the movement and the rules that had been set in this dance. In terms of movement, they move uniformly and very fast indeed. In addition, I like the “lifting” part; where at first, the ladies lift up their right knee with the hands bend to the knee level and come the men from the back row do the same action. I found out that this is the best part of zapin.
With regards to the rules, in zapin, only the right hand is allowed to move while the left hand is not moving since it has to do a special task. The edge of “sampin” that the performers wear is being rolled (with its special technique) in the left hand and to be hold firmly. So, the left hand remain unmoved but holding the rolled-edge of “sampin’ during the performance. It might have its significance which I don’t know.
The most interesting thing about this dance is that, now, the government of Johor is putting so much effort in popularize this dance by the participations of the children aged below 12. Hopefully this traditional could be preserved with its authentic identity and values that it brings along as the precious cultural heritage of Malaysia.
For its engrossing and fast movement, it does catch my eye. The combination of the melodious melody (by the traditional music ensemble which are gambus, rebana or drum) with the delightful movement resulted the impressive effect for me to watch the show with enduring obsession, which I believe to others as well.
What is so special about this dance? Well, I would say the movement and the rules that had been set in this dance. In terms of movement, they move uniformly and very fast indeed. In addition, I like the “lifting” part; where at first, the ladies lift up their right knee with the hands bend to the knee level and come the men from the back row do the same action. I found out that this is the best part of zapin.
With regards to the rules, in zapin, only the right hand is allowed to move while the left hand is not moving since it has to do a special task. The edge of “sampin” that the performers wear is being rolled (with its special technique) in the left hand and to be hold firmly. So, the left hand remain unmoved but holding the rolled-edge of “sampin’ during the performance. It might have its significance which I don’t know.
The most interesting thing about this dance is that, now, the government of Johor is putting so much effort in popularize this dance by the participations of the children aged below 12. Hopefully this traditional could be preserved with its authentic identity and values that it brings along as the precious cultural heritage of Malaysia.
Mak Yong- a legend?
Since I came from the East coast state; Terengganu, I’ve heard a lot which regards to Mak Yong. Anyhow, I got this misunderstanding on what mak yong is, during my childhood years; I thought that mak yong is totally about dancing and all the dancers are old since it is called “mak”.
I’ve never watched mak yong’s performance live. But I’ve watched it few times on the television. From the documentary, I knew that mak yong is not basically about dancing, but it also involve theatre act, drama and also comedy; which all of this elements of art collaborate in one whole performance. It is undeniably would impress the viewers.
From what I know, mak yong was meant to be performed to the Sultan as a royal performance. That is why most of the performers’ attire are in yellow; the royal colour.
Mak yong was very popular around the years of 1950s—it was during my grandma’s time. My grandma said, around that time, mak yong was performed during a royal occasions such as the installation of new Sultan near the “Istana Negeri.” This is where the residents around Kuala Terengganu were gathered and exposed to the performance of mak yong.
Anyhow, once it was discovered that the mak yong performance was against Islam which involves spirit possession and the performance and the popularity of mak yong declining. But now, many of the Art and Culture institutions which try to uphold this ancient culture to make sure that cultural heritage such as the Mak Yong will not be forgotten in the midst of global development.
I’ve never watched mak yong’s performance live. But I’ve watched it few times on the television. From the documentary, I knew that mak yong is not basically about dancing, but it also involve theatre act, drama and also comedy; which all of this elements of art collaborate in one whole performance. It is undeniably would impress the viewers.
From what I know, mak yong was meant to be performed to the Sultan as a royal performance. That is why most of the performers’ attire are in yellow; the royal colour.
Mak yong was very popular around the years of 1950s—it was during my grandma’s time. My grandma said, around that time, mak yong was performed during a royal occasions such as the installation of new Sultan near the “Istana Negeri.” This is where the residents around Kuala Terengganu were gathered and exposed to the performance of mak yong.
Anyhow, once it was discovered that the mak yong performance was against Islam which involves spirit possession and the performance and the popularity of mak yong declining. But now, many of the Art and Culture institutions which try to uphold this ancient culture to make sure that cultural heritage such as the Mak Yong will not be forgotten in the midst of global development.
The introduction of drama—my new breakthrough
Impressed! ; That’s the word which describes my feeling as I was in first three classes of EDU 3217, Teaching the Language of Drama. I was impressed with the unfamiliar terms used related to this field especially on the pronunciations and the meaning of those Greek terms such as moira, soliloquy, carthasis etc. Apart, it is quite complicated but it was indeed fun to study the first three lectures on the Introduction of Drama – Overview of the History of Theatre. There are abundance of new things I’ve learnt, to be precise, a lot! Apart from that, the introduction of drama/theatre does give some enlightenment to me as the introduction does provide a clear horizon of what theatre and drama is all about and the distinguish difference of diverse kind of theatre.
It is undeniably pleasurable to learn this as it does endow with vivid view of what theatre and drama is all about through out the development of theatre. furthermore, it had brought up the existence of new and modern type of theatre; from Greek theatre, Roman theatre, medieval theatre, restoration drama and finally up to 20th century drama. It provides the opportunity in exploring a lot of new things which regards to the history of theatre and drama.
The part that I keen on the most is the difference between the two types of theatre; Aristotelian and Brechtian(epic). This is where I can see the crystal clear distinction between both theatre which I previously have “zero” ideas about them. One of the differences that I feel so unique is in terms of what the drama appeals to. In Aristotelian theatre, it allures to emotions, whereas the Brechtian appeals to intellect. What lingers in my mind is that HOW does this two types of drama will present us the two divergent elements; emotions and intelligence? How do those components emerge in the drama?
This gives me “thrill” to discuss and to go further into the study of drama.
It is undeniably pleasurable to learn this as it does endow with vivid view of what theatre and drama is all about through out the development of theatre. furthermore, it had brought up the existence of new and modern type of theatre; from Greek theatre, Roman theatre, medieval theatre, restoration drama and finally up to 20th century drama. It provides the opportunity in exploring a lot of new things which regards to the history of theatre and drama.
The part that I keen on the most is the difference between the two types of theatre; Aristotelian and Brechtian(epic). This is where I can see the crystal clear distinction between both theatre which I previously have “zero” ideas about them. One of the differences that I feel so unique is in terms of what the drama appeals to. In Aristotelian theatre, it allures to emotions, whereas the Brechtian appeals to intellect. What lingers in my mind is that HOW does this two types of drama will present us the two divergent elements; emotions and intelligence? How do those components emerge in the drama?
This gives me “thrill” to discuss and to go further into the study of drama.
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