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A Letter from Janice Perry |
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 Thank
you so much for the chance to work with you in South Africa. It was
a great experience to be taken from the flight from the US straight
to the heart of the townships to watch two different theatre groups
rehearsing. This gave me an immediate connection with the Xhosan
South Africans with whom I would be working, something that a more
formal introduction could never achieve. It was immensely heartening
to see my counterparts and colleagues creating meaningful and
powerful performance in the midst of living conditions that would be
daunting, if not devastating, to most Western Europeans and
Americans. It was extraordinary to recognize, in my first hour in
Africa, that artists all over the world are independently working on
the same themes and social issues – Fear, Love, Sex, Death, Greed,
Spirituality. What a testament to the essential nature of our work!
My aim, as a teaching performance artist, is to foster creative
expression and communication of personal experience. It is always a
challenge to teach writing and movement techniques without imposing
my own style or preconceptions. I attempt to present my methodology
in a way that engenders, enhances and supports text and movement,
without dictating or suppressing expression. This approach has never
seemed more necessary or correct than in this South African
experience and I felt strong affirmation of both my creative process
and my teaching .
The opportunity to work with the women from the singing group
“Tambora” was enlightening and educational for me. I had worked
mostly with North Americans and Western Europeans, and knew that my
experience with the Xhosan South Africans would be different. I had
expected that the Xhosas, raised in a living Oral Tradition, would
be more fluid than my Western European and American students in
their performance of text. I did not foresee that ritualizing of
voice and movement would be so pervasive. For example, the same
gesture was used to symbolize “God”, “Mother” and “Love”. My
suggestion that the portrayal of something as fixed and permanent as
“God” could be personalized was met with astonishment. I needed to
find a way to encourage original expression through voice and
movement without obstructing or oppressing strong cultural
traditions. Challenges like this occurred in each workshop and have
had profound and immediate effect on my skills as a teaching artist.
Throughout the workshops, the participants spontaneously employed
ancient theatrical techniques and traditions. Seeing them
instinctively use a Chorus to describe or explain action, change
stage blocking to portray the balance of emotional power, and employ
universal themes and content to solve problems encountered in the
expression of the text that they had written, was like watching a
history of the evolution of Theatre. This deepened my understanding
of my own work, and of Theatre in general. What a valuable gift to
receive after twenty years of performance!
Each workshop confirmed my belief that writing and performing
autobiographically-based text enables both native and non-native
speakers to recognize that English is a living language which can be
used to communicate information about personal experience. Inciting
participants to search for and discover the exact words and
movements to portray universal themes through their personal
experience is a great joy for me. It was clear that the participants
also felt the exhilaration that stems from free artistic expression.
It was a great idea and absolutely invaluable to invite me to travel
to rural schools with Beverly Burkett of UPE’s Language Department
in the first days of my residency. This gave me a chance to see the
countryside and rural living conditions, and it provided a solid
basis of my understanding of the language problems encountered by
Xhosa students or by any student who is living in one language and
learning in another. It was extremely useful and provocative to
learn about the research and innovations currently being created
world-wide by language researchers who are struggling with the
challenges of bi-or tri-lingual teaching in societies where two or
three languages are in use, but deliberately kept isolated from each
other. This also gave me new perspectives on my experiences in
Germany –where students learned English, French or Russian,
depending on their geographical location within Germany- and in
Switzerland, where multiple language ability is the norm.
My workshop with the Primary School teachers at UPE was an
extraordinary exchange of ideas and teaching techniques. I presented
a lecture on my work as an artist and a teacher of creating
autobiographically based performance, and how to use these
techniques to support the teaching of the English language. I then
invited discussion, which was so lively and stimulating, we went on
for hours. It was fantastic to have been the catalyst for such a
rare and long-needed exchange of ideas.
Our overwhelming welcome at the opening of the Community Centre in
St Albans added another important layer of experience. I greatly
appreciated the opportunity to see performances by local groups, to
hear the politicians expressing their goals (in three languages),
and our discussions over lunch with the Minister of Cultural Affairs
and the Education Secretary for the Eastern and Western Cape. It was
a very proud and moving moment for me to represent the United
States, in that huge room filled with people who had never met or
seen a live American, and certainly not one like me. Their desire to
welcome me to their country and thank me for coming to witness their
lives was an unexpected and significant highlight of the trip.
On my return to Europe, I immediately launched into a residency in
Amsterdam at the School for International Training’s semester abroad
program. This was a great opportunity to observe the ways in which
my teaching had been enriched by my UPE work. I have since done
residencies and performances in Germany and the USA and can
unequivocally state that this experience has served to make me a
better and stronger artist and teacher.
Thank you so much for your continued and unwavering support of my
work as an artist, teacher, colleague and friend. I hope that we
will be able to realize our idea of continuing this work.
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