Group Meeting - notes

November 6, 2012

Present: Amu, Yash, Aanchal, Bopana, Mallika, Shena, Rudy, Pali, Shibani

Also 'present': Kriti, Niranjani, Arushi

Future: Andy, Keshav

 

Some notes from our discussion and assessment meeting.

Our reasons for joining TDWK:

·         Earlier work had begun to feel uninspiring – this is something new that connects directly with people

·         Sharing

·         Generally to laugh and have fun

·         Fun

·         Interactive

·         Trusted, and knew would want to work with the people who were involved

·         Enjoyed the idea of no borders between audiences and performers

·         The sense of the unexpected

·         Had begun hating the city of Delhi – [it’s difficult being a girl in Delhi] – this is a claiming of the city, a way in which to affect spaces and relationship with the city / small interventions that could eventually change thought

·         Sharing of theatre – and what goes into the making of ‘theatre’

·         Also a way to give back to Theatre

·         Joy

·         To inject colour and fun into our – and others’ – often drab lives and surroundings

·         Desire to get back to theatre being fun and simple

·         To increase personal levels of focus and concentration

·         To grow as an artist – take risks, be in the moment, connect with one’s artistic discipline

·         Belief that arts and culture can influence the way society thinks

·         Because we love Public Art!

·         Because we love things that are FREE!!

·         Working with an unsuspecting crowd – connecting with an unexpecting audience

·         A way of opening theatre to all the people who want to do theatre

 The kinds of things that TDWK will do/not do:

We began by discussing whether Street Plays or Street Acrobatics performances could be tdwk. Also, whether pranks could be tdwk, and Visual Arts / Audio Visuals…

We realized that what makes a tdwk performance different from many other street shows is that it is not done for money.

We decided to limit ourselves to PERFORMATIVE elements only – i.e. only performances that involve actual human beings and the exchange of energy via engagement between people. This rules out Art Installations, AV shows, etc., for tdwk. After all, as Bopana pointed out, the dog has to KNOW!

We also ruled out Pranks – not only because people may get annoyed or upset, but also because most pranks are done with the idea that the person being pranked does not KNOW what’s going on… whereas a Doggie Do’s intent would be more about sharing and engaging with people.

We concluded by saying that the INTENT with which we approach our performances is the most important thing. This includes Respect for audience, with the idea of sharing as opposed to simply ‘presenting’.

On our Blog and Facebook page:

To Video or not to Video… and then to put a Video up or not to… hot debate raged around this! One faction believed it’s almost criminal not to SHARE the work via video; that, in fact, we MUST share videos as it would be selfish not to do so. The other (Rudy loudly) believed that videos would make people passive viewers, by the very nature of the medium; that some of the mystery would be lost…

We watched Yash’s video of Sarojini Nagar Do, and were blown away.

“How can you NOT put this up!!”

So… we decided to put this one up, and then one more from the India Gate Do, and that then we should all speak with various people to get their views on whether or not to put up more videos,  and if so then in what format and how often and so on.

It was noted that the video Yash has made does not really give much away as such, as it’s edited in a sort of ‘highlights of’ fashion, rather than in any linear way. In that respect it seems like the kind of offering that we might prefer to put up, rather than straight documentary-style video clips. Some felt that videos of audience reactions are better than videos that focus on the performers – at least for what we put up.

Whether or not we ultimately decide to put up lots of videos as we go along, we decided that we certainly must video document as much as possible for sure.

We discussed the possibility of putting up a video once every few months or so, rather than with every Do.

AND… we must translate at least all the main pages of the Blog into Hindi.

The PRESS

We unanimously decided that none of us would speak to the Press about tdwk, if asked for interviews or comments etc. We feel there is no need to make tdwk into a ‘news item’. Blog will carry schedule, so anyone can reach a Do and make up their own mind based on what they experience, if they’re really interested.

(This came up as we’ve had a couple of enquiries from Press)

Documentation

Most conversation here revolved around the presence of the cameraperson. Large sized cameras are conspicuous, but maybe not if the cameraperson is not obviously with the group. Is it possible for the cameraperson to remain incognito? Conspicuous cameras change performance energies, and also distract audiences. Sometimes we do want shots which require the cameraperson to be as close to the performers as possible. Telelenses are not always a good solution. Different performances and different spaces require different techniques… etc…

The grand solution to all these points was to simply leave it up to the cameraperson! Yash (or whoever comes in) would have to work out for himself the ways in which to engage with the process, and adapt his technique to each Do that he finds himself in. We’re all in the same boat of ‘feeling our way around’ this – and he’s no exception!

Who can join?

We did start by saying “anyone, of course.” Carrying it a little further though, Mallika raised the question of ‘groups with politics that don’t agree with ours/mine’, and we grappled with that for a while. One thing we realized was that ‘joining’ really just consisted of whether we put up something on the blog or not… which boils down to being able to decide on a case to case basis for any performance.

The Core Group was seen as a collective that would be able to decide whether we ‘like’ something well enough to put it up on the blog.

It was also noted that we would like to extend support and knowledge sharing to anyone who wished to attempt a Doggie Do on their own – ideally with someone from the Core Group attending, if possible. We want new people to join, it doesn’t matter if they’re trained in theatre or not – the idea is to share as far as possible.

Repertoire and Material

Can we have social issue motivated Dos? Can anyone suggest an idea for a Do? Can we use our personal stories/selves as fodder? After some talk, we decided yes, yes and yes! The reason we okayed socially motivated Dos is that if personal experiences are being brought in as material, then we must acknowledge that each person’s life includes their political and social selves – and not just their ‘innerlands’ (the word was used, yes).

It would be nice to develop a repertoire as we go along (as has been happening naturally) – though we should try not to repeat the same idea too often in succession. We already have – Freeze Stories, Slo Mo Race, Mirror work, Partner postures of coming together and breaking apart, imitating audience members, and (briefly done as a demo) Push & Pull energy work.

We’d like to meet for a day or so about once every three months as a group to rehearse, discuss and hone the repertoire.

Admin and Carrying On

We will rotate who Coordinates a Do. The coordinator will also be responsible for writing it up, or ensuring that someone does.  

That’s all folks!