Assignment Post: Performing and Performance Processes

Please post at least two thoughtful comments on the reading for this week--the end of the chapter on Performing and most of the chapter on Performance Processes (to page 255). Remember also to add your four del.icio.us links for this week and that we will be using some of class on Thursday for midterm reviews.

Here are some prompts, but you can comment on any section of the text that you choose (as long as you say something awesome).

•Use the 10 steps of the "time-space sequence" to break down a performance you have somehow been involved in.

•Discuss how one of the artists/thinkers highlighted in this chapter presented ideas that have bearing on your own personal artistic practice and interests.

•Examine a performance you have somehow been involved in using the model of the "performance quadrilogue."

•Explore how the recent discussions in the text regarding surgery and legal proceedings may give you leads for papers you may write in this class.

Kathakali

for different images http://images.google.com/images?q=%22kathakali%22&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

for different performances http://youtube.com/watch?v=37Ia7g_ph7w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CMquphTYM3w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T9ofsdeouB0 This one is my favorite, it has a song from the matrix, short but cool
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Kathakali main page of different links

for different information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathakali
http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/
http://www.artindia.net/kathakali.html
http://homepages.vvm.com/~pnair/htm/k_kali.htm
http://members.rediff.com/skanair/kathakali.htm
http://www.webindia123.com/dances/Kathakali/index.htm
Three of these have three different meaning for what it is!
One: The name Kathakali derives from the Malayalam words "katha" (meaning story and "kali" (meaning play)
Two: Kathakali, literally meaning `story-play'
Three: Kathakali literally meaning "story dance"

In the book: pg 186-187 and pg 229-230

Different Uses in Art: training, plays, music, make up, expressions, hand gestures, dance

Interesting Facts: actor never speaks except with his hands, each gesture means something
the make up and the costumes are the charactors, these all have different meanings
done with only physically strong males
training can last for up to 8 or 10 years
one of the oldest forms of theater performance

For Class on Thursday

Just a reminder concerning class tomorrow: you will need to have posted 4 additional links to your de.icio.us page, have read pages 183-206 in the text, and have your third one-page response paper ready to turn in. Our midterm reviews will take place on Oct. 18.

Extra Credit options on Performativity

Here are some essay prompts that you are welcome to address for some extra credit. They regard issues discussed in the chapter on Performativity, so your responses should start in the book, but if you are feeling sassy, you could add some outside research to your mini paper (please cite works appropriately in this case). Your responses can be posted on the blog as comments to this post, or if you are feeling shy, can be turned in to me in class. For extra credit consideration, any and all responses need to be posted or received by Oct. 18.

• Why does Austin call some performatives "unhappy?" What is Schechner's counter argument?
• How does the embracing of contradiction and eclecticism in postmodernism bolster its relationship to performativity?
• Explore the theoretical implications of the difference between representation and reproduction.
• What basic tenets and common applications/operations of poststructuralism reveal its opposition to notions of universal and original?

If you are really motivated and have already answered all four of the above prompts, and just can't get enough theory (or enough extra credit), you can now address some of the prompts answered by your peers during class--provided you already answered the above four, and of course excepting the prompt you already responded to in class:

• Examine from both sides the claim that "reality" is now located in entertainment. (not Heidi)
  
• Discuss postmodern practices such as compression and fragmentation as performance. (not Chris)
  
• Explain in your own words and with your own examples Baudrillard's "phases of imaging." (not Steviee)
  
• For Derrida, what is the connection between writing and power? How is this possible? How is it useful in theoretical or observational application? (not Levi)
  
• Explain how meaning is "always performed." Use the concept of différance to help you. (not Terrence)