NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

At the end of March, the Australian organization “Back-to-Back Theatre” organized an international masterclass “CAMP[1] International”, in which five representatives of creative fields from Latvia participated with an assistance of New Theatre Institute of Latvia (NTIL): Agate Bankava, Reinis Boters, Katrīna Dūka, Linda Krūmiņa and Ada Mihalina. The “Back-to-Back Theatre” is known for the fact that people with with mobility, visual and hearing access requirements also participate in its performances as full-fledged artists.

These masterclasses were also attended by people with autism, Down syndrome, visual and hearing requirements, which is an underdeveloped practice in Latvia not only in the performing arts, but also in culture events and fields as such. “Back-to-Back Theatre” offers a different approach to traditional performance and production practices, breaking down stereotypes about people with requirements and mental health needs, their access, ability to act and their relevance in society.

Each participant participated in at least 2-3 masterclasses, which sometimes took place at 5.00 AM in the morning. At the end of the masterclasses, the participants shared their insights and impressions about the experience gained – reflections on various, sometimes everyday things that people with requirements encounter.

Dance dramaturg Linda Krūmiņa participated in the masterclass “Faulty Instructions” by Scottish theatre director Andrea Cabera Luna. With the help of purposefully inaccurate or incomplete instructions, its participants tried to perform various prosaic, everyday activities in unusual ways. For example, one of the tasks was to take action slowly, almost invisibly. Linda shared her experience saying that this opportunity allowed to think about the thinking process as primary forming structure: “Although watching slow motion can be very captivating and mesmerising, the task of the masterclass was to focus on a different paradigm of thinking and what values it reveals.” Linda adds that the experience had a subversive nature in terms instructions and instructing someone. “Any deviation from the strict form or language of the instructions was considered an error or omission, so the masterclass helped the participants to break down the idea of an error as a failure or something unacceptable,” she remarks.

Linda Krūmiņa also participated in the masterclass “How Things Come Apart” by artist Kate McIntosh – in this workshop the task was to “divide into multipliers” various selected objects, thus presenting the essence and essence of these things. Many things are often given an emotional and subjective historical context, material significance and other immeasurable factors that make it difficult to give them up or lose them. The hands-on masterclass allowed participants to look from the sidelines at the things that surround us on a daily basis and to realize the extent to which our ideas can change the nature of things. “I do not believe that only through interactivity the spectator’s emotional and mental involvement can be achieved,” Linda continues, “by bringing the process of creation closer, the spectator can be given other relationships with the ideas, visions and paradigms of thinking of works of art.”

Australian artist Samara Hersch’s “Radical Ways of Being Together” masterclass explored the conversation as the main creator of the show, focusing on its lightness, truthfulness, vulnerability and openness. Representatives of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities and professions took part in the masterclass’ talks. During the workshop, Linda managed to experience conversation not only as an element of communication, but also as a performance element. Conversation is the simplest form of communication, but it is relatively difficult to have an open conversation on a daily basis, so various symbols, similarities, bodily hints and other elements are used, which makes communication less inconvenient. For Linda this masterclass allowed to experiment with the linguistic approximation and metaphorization – she thinks that these abstractions combined with precise instructions, open up an interpretive space for the spectator / participant, and then offers a wider range of experiences than potentially envisaged by the author.

Artist Brenden Borellini, a representative of residency “Crossroads Arts”, and inclusive art practitioner Autumn Skuthorpe in the masterclass “Tactile Senses / Tactile Maps” explored how we feel through poetry, movement and bodily sensations activating and using all your senses. Artist Katrīna Dūka and producer Ada Mihalina (Poland) took part in this masterclass. Its participants formed communication with other participants, including young people with access requirements, through movement, feelings, and different senses, working both in groups and in pairs and looking for different new ways of communication. “It was a perfect example on how to create safe, inclusive space,” recalls Ada. She adds that in this masterclass which took place online everyone felt welcome, paid attention to other people needs (for example, through inviting the facilitators to participate in the workshops), were mindful of others, gave the participants opportunity to come and meet half an hour before the workshop. Most importantly, according to Ada’s opinion, “quite simple (yet not always obvious and unfortunately not that often practiced) strategies and actions make a lot easier for the participants to try out the new ways of expressing themselves and to start the creative process without the fear of being judged.” In the end of “Tactile Senses / Tactile Maps”, each participant wrote a tactile poem using their own body, thus making the feeling of insecurity disappear and creating an understanding that the boundary of communication between different people is imaginary and very easy to overcome.

The masterclass “In Our Rooms” by physical performance creator and artist Robbie Synge was built as an experiment that brings people together by playfully changing body and landscape spaces. Choreographer Agate Bankava and producer Ada Mihalina (Poland) participated in the masterclass. During it, participants had the opportunity to discover themselves and their space as a comfort zone, for each masterclass participant from all over the world. The experiment allowed participants to open up, making themselves vulnerable and sharing information that even their closest peers and family members may not be aware of. Agate adds that the structure allowed artists to reach an openness and reflect about the concept of “home” as a “nest”, “safe space” and “a borderline of intimacy” from which you can observe the wholeness of “outside”.

Californian photographer Eliza Gregory’s masterclass “Photography and Tenderness” sought answers to the question, what happens to our identity when we are flattened in two-dimensions of the image? This experience allowed Agate to realize that the most compelling part of the image message is behind it and is invisible to the naked eye, and the image is like a symbol of strength and power that carries the visible past and forms history. “Through images, access moments in life that are invisible to others but visible only to me,” Agate concludes. 

Actor Simon Laherty and director Kate Sulan’s masterclass “Oops! .. I Did It Again” and quiz questions, sought answers to the question of why celebrities are idealised and where obsessions with celebrities come from. After this masterclass Agate noted her own path words. “You only need a blanket to incarnate in your favourite idol. And the recommend activity for everyone during lockdown, is dancing at home in the background with Britney Spear’s video. Also, only by talking about celebrities and idols, I felt that I was far away from everything,” she emphasized the remoteness of the situation.

Performer and artist Marcus Ian McKenzie took part in the masterclass “What We Stream About When We Stream About Streaming” and during which a performance was created with a computer screen using a series of language folding techniques that accept text as a texture and vice versa. Participants performed various exercises related to language deconstruction and creativity. Due to the tastes and work style of the master class leader, creating a show about his computer’s work desktop was especially memorable.

In Bron Batten’s masterclass “Improvisation and the Devising Space”, Reinis and other participants took part in various sketches in which everyday objects were given a different identity through imagination. For Reinis the usage of a toilet paper while carrying a sentimental and emotional value was the most memorable and notable. He adds that this experience was a valuable addition during pandemic months – some elements, methods and thinking modes Reinis would like to incorporate and test in his own praxis. 

During the masterclasses, participants were able to meet different people with different physical abilities and disabilities, different professions with different skills, experience, and knowledge, which has led to thinking about the inclusion of everyone in society and that involving different people in art creation processes can make art a little more accessible to all and less elitist. Such experiences allow to overcome stereotypes and skepticism about communication with each other, even if it takes place online. All participants appreciated the professionally created masterclasses of the theatre organization “Back-to-Back Theatre” and the experience gained in it for the inclusive approach, which also made the participants feel belonging and better understood.

The article was prepared by Lauma Purmale, within the Specialization Practice of the Latvian Academy of Culture

[1] CAMP – Come and make performance

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